A research framework aims to provoke a critical analysis of relationships between human, nonhuman, positional and discursive elements across the micro, meso and macro level. This is required to understand how midwife navigators provide woman-centred care for women labelled ‘high risk’ when barriers to woman-centred care exist in health services.

Methods. This article presents a discussion on the philosophical framework that will be used to explore the perceptions and practice of woman-centred care across the micro, meso and macro level. A constructivist grounded theory research design that incorporates Clarke’s situational analysis method and a critical feminist lens with Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis as an overarching theoretical perspective is proposed.

Discussion. This framework was carefully considered for its critical analysis of relationships between human, non-human, positional and discursive elements across institutional hierarchies of health care. It aims to examine discourses related to woman-centred care at organisational level, practice by services and health professionals at operational level, and the perceptions of women who have been managed under the model described as woman-centred care.

Conclusion. In keeping with grounded theory, the first step to seeking out answers is to share the research design. This research framework intends to embrace the complexities of ‘real world’ situations, enhance reflexivity of the researcher, elucidate various perspectives in the data, work against the silence of minor voices and perspectives and move beyond the knowing subject of interviews to include analysis of discourses and power.