Bereavement services, in common with all health, social care and counselling programmes and interventions, are increasingly required to demonstrate their clinical and cost effectiveness. This paper describes the main ethical and practical issues raised for one service (a hospice-based bereavement support service), and how they were overcome. It offers advice to other organisations and researchers on important aspects of the process, including the need to ensure good relationships with staff and professional supervision and support for the researcher. It also challenges the common view that participation in research may be harmful for bereaved people. Participants in this survey welcomed the chance to talk about their feelings, and to make a contribution to furthering understanding of the bereavement experience.