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The Role Of Emotions In Qualitative Analysis: Researchers’ Perspectives, Hilary Lustick, Xiaoye Yang, Abeer Hakouz
The Role Of Emotions In Qualitative Analysis: Researchers’ Perspectives, Hilary Lustick, Xiaoye Yang, Abeer Hakouz
The Qualitative Report
Qualitative research is an inherently social and relational endeavor that relies on and engages our emotions. Yet, researchers receive little guidance on how to engage emotions without being swayed by personal biases. Lustick (2021) developed a framework called “emotion coding” for systematically engaging thoughts and emotions in qualitative data analysis by asking what a chunk of data can teach us about ourselves, our participants, and our study. In this study, we interviewed 15 researchers who had tried using the emotion coding technique, about their impressions of this technique and the role of emotion in qualitative research overall. Framed by Goffman …
My Journey In Researching Depression Among Black People: Experiences Of A Researcher In A Sensitive Study, Brightness L. Kgatla
My Journey In Researching Depression Among Black People: Experiences Of A Researcher In A Sensitive Study, Brightness L. Kgatla
The Qualitative Report
The interest in qualitative research on mental health within Black communities is rapidly growing. However, there are still debates on the conceptualization of depression among the Black community. This paper focuses on the researcher’s experiences as a young Black South African experiencing depression, and their reflections on interpretivist qualitative research focused on the realities of Black South African youth experiencing depression. The paper highlights the importance of reflexivity in a qualitative study and how the topics researched by a Black South African experiencing depression which is still considered a taboo within some parts of the Black community. If a researcher …
Photovoice: A Method To Interrogate Positionality And Critical Reflexivity, H. Shellae Versey
Photovoice: A Method To Interrogate Positionality And Critical Reflexivity, H. Shellae Versey
The Qualitative Report
Photovoice is a visual method for interrogating subjective perspectives. Rather than solely relying on investigator-developed tools, photovoice allows participants to inform research by “showing” their lived realities through photographs, resulting in a more collaborative, inclusive, and community-informed process. Though applicable to a wide range of social science research, photovoice remains relatively underutilized, especially as a tool for interrogating reflexivity. Given its power to reveal the unseen, this paper considers the potential for photovoice as a self-reflexive tool by turning the lens towards the investigator. Though typically used by the researcher to enhance transparency and navigate power differentials in community-based participatory …
Sexuality Research During A National Lockdown: Reflexive Notes And Lessons From My Ph.D. Fieldwork, Tshepo B. Maake Mr
Sexuality Research During A National Lockdown: Reflexive Notes And Lessons From My Ph.D. Fieldwork, Tshepo B. Maake Mr
The Qualitative Report
The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for qualitative researchers since many countries had to implement lockdown policies to control the spread of the virus. Within the South African context, research on sexual minority identities and experiences is automatically sensitive and risky given the extent of intolerance and high regard for heteronormative ideologies and beliefs that continually exclude sexual minorities from the “normal.” The sensitivity is intensified during a national lockdown since there is an excessive reliance on digital public spaces to recruit participants and conduct interviews. Based on the experience of Ph.D. fieldwork, this paper pays attention to a sexuality researcher’s …
On Restorative Validity: Reorienting Inquiry Toward Peace, Justice, And Healing, Giovanni P. Dazzo
On Restorative Validity: Reorienting Inquiry Toward Peace, Justice, And Healing, Giovanni P. Dazzo
The Qualitative Report
This work begins with a simple premise: (re)imagining a healing and restorative space for inquiry. Drawing on the work of John H. Stanfield II (2006), who first suggested the restorative functions of qualitative inquiry, this manuscript forms the basis for an axiologically-actuated conceptual model, restorative validity, which asks what it would take to (re)humanize researcher and researched alike. Beginning with the knowledge of co-researchers in our collective, the formulation of this framework was organized to understand the importance of orienting our research and ourselves toward relationships, justice, and liberation. After this review, I discuss a series of reflexive questions, rooted …
Reflection, Reflexivity, Learning And The Influence Of Formalised And Experiential Piano Training, Dorothy Li
Reflection, Reflexivity, Learning And The Influence Of Formalised And Experiential Piano Training, Dorothy Li
The Qualitative Report
This autoethnographic study examines how music learning is influenced by teachers and socio-cultural environments and how this influences not only our musical journeys but the way we view our lives, of the progress we have made, the goals in which we hope to achieve, and the way we perceive we will achieve them. This study explores how my musical background, understanding, learning, music-making abilities, and skills have shaped my present beliefs, attitudes and identity as a musician, educator, and researcher. Focusing on teacher pedagogy and practice, the study reveals how prevailing teacher-centred and didactic approaches to teaching impact the perspectives …
Navigating Rigor: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Templating And Crystallization, Heather Stewart Dr, Harsh Suri, Deborah Delaney, Vishal Rana Dr
Navigating Rigor: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Templating And Crystallization, Heather Stewart Dr, Harsh Suri, Deborah Delaney, Vishal Rana Dr
The Qualitative Report
In this autoethnographic exploration, we engage in a dialogic investigation to examine how templating and crystallization shape rigor in qualitative research. The use of templates in qualitative research has been widely used as a means of enhancing rigor in organizational research design yet comes with caveats especially when wanting to push boundaries. With the interplay of templates and crystallization, the researcher is encouraged to apply iterative and reflexive modes. The aim here is to inspire and invite researchers to pursue the multiplicity offered by qualitative methodologies and expand the discipline through authentic, trustworthy, and credible approaches. To explore the development …
The Case For Computational Competence And Transversal Skills: Using Digital Tools And Spaces For Qualitative Research, Elizabeth M. Pope, António Pedro Costa
The Case For Computational Competence And Transversal Skills: Using Digital Tools And Spaces For Qualitative Research, Elizabeth M. Pope, António Pedro Costa
The Qualitative Report
When digital tools or spaces are involved in the design and implementation of qualitative research projects, the researcher is faced with the need to develop another type of competence, computational. Digital tools and spaces are growing avenues which facilitate data collection and analysis in new ways, such as through online surveys, videoconferencing platforms, social media sites, and qualitative data analysis software (QDAS). To utilize these tools, researchers need both computational competence and transversal skills. These skills allow the researcher (or research team) to transfer their knowledge of designing and implementing qualitative research to the digital realm, assuring trustworthiness and ethical …
Knowing Me, Knowing Them: Using Penned Illustrations With Known Participants, Lewis Barrett-Rodger, Sally Goldspink, Hilary Engward
Knowing Me, Knowing Them: Using Penned Illustrations With Known Participants, Lewis Barrett-Rodger, Sally Goldspink, Hilary Engward
The Qualitative Report
In practice-based studies, participants are often known to the researcher as part of their professional realm. This can result in the researcher bringing preconceptions of the participants to the study, which may influence the findings. In this paper, we demonstrate how researchers can utilise reflexivity and imaginative curiosity to expose often unconsidered presuppositions about such participants using penned illustrations. We suggest that penned illustrations of known participants should be undertaken to unpack preconceptions of the known participants creatively and imaginatively. This paper provides an applied demonstration of how penned illustrations can be used in a hermeneutic phenomenological study, along with …
The Dilemma Of Socrates’ Position: Interview Methods And Feminist Empirical Bioethics, Michiel De Proost
The Dilemma Of Socrates’ Position: Interview Methods And Feminist Empirical Bioethics, Michiel De Proost
The Qualitative Report
There is a growing body of bioethics research that addresses the importance of adapting empirical, predominantly qualitative, methods to generate debate on ethical arguments. However, there is an absence of illustrative work examining how this could be realised from a feminist perspective. This article, seeking to address the research gap, examines interview methods through a reflexive lens. Drawing on the doctoral research I conducted through interviews with women who were interested in social egg freezing (i.e., healthy women freezing their eggs in anticipation of future infertility), I describe how I encountered a dilemma because of my gendered positionality and the …
Assessing The Learning Of Qualitative Research Through A Critical Reflective Essay, Elida Cena, Stephanie Burns
Assessing The Learning Of Qualitative Research Through A Critical Reflective Essay, Elida Cena, Stephanie Burns
The Qualitative Report
Despite a longstanding commitment to the notion of reflection as an integral part of qualitative research, there are few explicit learning tools or published assignment guides to aid understanding of this important aspect of student learning. Reflection both as a researcher and within the context of an educational perspective can be challenging; however, creating reflective assignments can help students consolidate and assess the learning of qualitative research skills in practice. This article describes a critical reflective assignment highlighting the challenges, rewards, and reflections on designing and conducting an interview process as part of a qualitative research methods module with postgraduate …
On The Outside Looking In: Difficulties In Obtaining The Opinions Of Muslim Religious Leaders’ Views On Domestic Violence Experienced By Married Muslim Women, Muhammed Suleman Dr
On The Outside Looking In: Difficulties In Obtaining The Opinions Of Muslim Religious Leaders’ Views On Domestic Violence Experienced By Married Muslim Women, Muhammed Suleman Dr
The Qualitative Report
In this paper I discuss the difficulties I faced in getting access to respondents in a qualitative study on the opinions of Muslim religious leaders on domestic violence experienced by Muslim married women. This in turn highlighted the need for me to reflect carefully on my own assumptions about my insider status and take into account how prospective participants identify me as a researcher. For the study on which I am reflecting, I chose an interpretive research paradigm which falls under the umbrella of qualitative research. This research paradigm was necessary as it places emphasis on context and nuanced meanings …
Crossing The Gender Chasm For Productive Field Engagement, Raghunandan Reddy
Crossing The Gender Chasm For Productive Field Engagement, Raghunandan Reddy
The Qualitative Report
The paper aims to demonstrate that while researcher’s background could be a factor in gaining access to research participants and to the organization, other elements like trustworthiness, reflexivity, and engaged participant listening help in overcoming gender barriers in interviewing the research participants. This paper is a reflexive account of field experience as a part of doctoral research aimed at establishing that not only could gender barriers to access to research participants be overcome, but also that a gender-outsider positionality offers insights into women’s workplace experiences that are shaped through the discourses and practices of managerialism. The field experience highlighted the …
Negotiating The Insider/Outsider Researcher Position Within Qualitative Disability Studies Research, Elizabeth C. Mohler Ms, Debbie Rudman
Negotiating The Insider/Outsider Researcher Position Within Qualitative Disability Studies Research, Elizabeth C. Mohler Ms, Debbie Rudman
The Qualitative Report
The subjectivity of qualitative researchers can be a contribution to qualitative research which at the same time requires commitment to on-going critical reflexivity regarding one’s positionality. More specifically, we address how to navigate the possibility that researcher subjectivity can culminate in role-confusion when the researcher is highly familiar with the research setting or research participants, when positioned as an “insider.” We do this by adopting a critical paradigm approach that investigates the efficacy of “unlearning” as a strategy for challenging one’s assumptions as a researcher, particularly those assumptions that challenge the co-construction of knowledge that extends from research presuppositions. Drawing …
Soundtracking: Method(Ological) Development Via Intuitive Feminist Inquiry, Maria P. Rybicki-Newman, Earle Reybold
Soundtracking: Method(Ological) Development Via Intuitive Feminist Inquiry, Maria P. Rybicki-Newman, Earle Reybold
The Qualitative Report
How does one be different, methodologically, and/or socially without being ignored, invalidated, or even erased? This is a conundrum for qualitative researchers who are with tasked with valuing difference within socio-political education systems fixed on ideas of truth, rightness, and validity. To explore these tensions, we provide an authentic and transparent illustration of how intuition, an often-invalidated way of knowing, instigated the development of a novel method(ology), soundtracking. Proceeding from an embodied, engaged feminist perspective, we re-conceptualized reflexive praxis as critical, compassionate, and actionable. We explored method(ological) development via layered reflexivity: self, epistemological witness, and social contexts. Through our inquiry …
Studying South African Black Gay Men’S Experiences: A First-Time Researcher’S Experience Of Reflexivity In A Qualitative Feminist Study, Tshepo B. Maake
Studying South African Black Gay Men’S Experiences: A First-Time Researcher’S Experience Of Reflexivity In A Qualitative Feminist Study, Tshepo B. Maake
The Qualitative Report
Qualitative research on gay experiences in South African society is slowly gaining momentum. However, it is accompanied by serious ethical implications and positionality dilemmas that should be considered in carrying out such research. Black gay researchers’ discussions of reflexivity in research that focuses on gay identities and realities in South Africa remain minimal. This paper focuses on a first-time gay male researcher’s experience of being reflexive in a qualitative feminist study on the realities of Black gay men in mining workplaces. It highlights the importance of reflexivity and how it is enacted by a gay researcher who studies a gay …
Informing Without Conforming: Applying Two Frameworks To Enrich Autoethnography, Annmarie Dull
Informing Without Conforming: Applying Two Frameworks To Enrich Autoethnography, Annmarie Dull
The Qualitative Report
This article explores my experiences using two frameworks to guide the design, implementation and reporting of an autoethnography. I used Hughes, Pennington, and Makris’ (2012) framework for translating autoethnography to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Standards for reporting empirical research to inform the structure, design, and process for the autoethnography, and Milner’s (2007) framework for researchers to examine seen, unseen, and unforeseen dangers to guide my reflection, support reflexivity, and examine the development of a dynamic positionality. In this article, I illustrate how using these frameworks enhanced the rigor and reflexivity of my autoethnographic research.
Navigating Methodological Concerns At The Data Collection Stage: Lessons From A Qualitative Indian-Irish Adoption Study, Sahana Mitra Dr., Valerie O'Brien Dr.
Navigating Methodological Concerns At The Data Collection Stage: Lessons From A Qualitative Indian-Irish Adoption Study, Sahana Mitra Dr., Valerie O'Brien Dr.
The Qualitative Report
This paper was written to describe the experiences of the researchers in designing cross-cultural research on the culturally sensitive topic of adoptive parenthood, a field in which there is a dearth of literature. Taking the experience and examples from an Indian-Irish study on domestic adoptive parenthood, the paper details the steps as to how the researchers used their own relationship with adoption, and the different cultural contexts to which they belonged, as a starting point in designing and implementing this research. The discussion utilizes a conceptual framework involving insider-outsider positioning, reflexivity and five philosophical assumptions (ontology, epistemology, methodology, axiology, and …
Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury
Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury
The Qualitative Report
While volumes of procedural guidelines are available on how to conduct fieldwork, in practice a researcher encounters various challenges and dilemmas in the field. This paper presents a holistic view of the puzzles this researcher encountered in gaining access, negotiating positionality, application of the pre-determined methodology, and ensuring ethics during his fieldwork with microfinance program participants in a non-Western setting. This paper contributes to the fieldwork literature by enhancing a researcher’s understanding of the unanticipated challenges.
Reflexivity Through A Yoga Class Experience: Preparing For My Health Promotion Without Borders Excursion To Mongolia, Shelby L. Deibert, Stephen D. Ritchie, Bruce Oddson, Ginette Michel, Emily J. Tetzlaff
Reflexivity Through A Yoga Class Experience: Preparing For My Health Promotion Without Borders Excursion To Mongolia, Shelby L. Deibert, Stephen D. Ritchie, Bruce Oddson, Ginette Michel, Emily J. Tetzlaff
The Qualitative Report
In this paper, I (S. L. Deibert) share my story of discovering the relationship between reflexivity, autoethnography, and yoga through a meaningful experience. Yoga has been an important influence on my physical and mental well-being for over a decade, but I did not consider its implications in my academic life until I was asked to write a reflexive assignment for a course. The task was exploring who I am in connection to my master’s thesis project; the challenge was finding a starting point for my reflexive journey of self-discovery. Frustrated by the latter, I turned to yoga for refuge; instead …
External Disruptions To Qualitative Data Collection: Addressing Risks Relating To Brexit And Researcher-Participant Rapport, Shukru Esmene, Nick Kirsop-Taylor
External Disruptions To Qualitative Data Collection: Addressing Risks Relating To Brexit And Researcher-Participant Rapport, Shukru Esmene, Nick Kirsop-Taylor
The Qualitative Report
In this paper we present the importance of detailing the contextual conditions of a qualitative study to highlight any potential participant-researcher tensions. We emphasize the importance of understanding context in rich detail to expose societal complexities while maintaining positive participant-research rapport. Through two cases, this paper considers that bracketing, reflexivity, and transparency can be applied to form appropriate strategies to deal with external disruptions to qualitative fieldwork. The cases draw on Brexit’s impact on two studies conducted in the United Kingdom. In so doing, we argue that time, relevance, and the individuals involved can coalesce to express varied influences on …
Negotiating With Gatekeepers: Reflexivity In Exploring Turkish Men’S Engagement In Domestic Violence Perpetrator Interventions In The Uk, Zeynep Turhan Phd, Claudia Bernard Phd
Negotiating With Gatekeepers: Reflexivity In Exploring Turkish Men’S Engagement In Domestic Violence Perpetrator Interventions In The Uk, Zeynep Turhan Phd, Claudia Bernard Phd
The Qualitative Report
This article explores methodological and ethical challenges and complexities in negotiating access with gatekeepers in research that examines Turkish perpetrators’ engagement in domestic violence interventions in the UK. This research presents the examples and conceptual information about the process of working with gatekeepers based on the sensitive research topic. This paper draws on the first author’s own experiences and the emotional impact of undertaking such sensitive research where community leaders held patriarchal beliefs. It also argues that there are challenges in building trust and rapport with gatekeepers which are related to gender power relations; stigmatisation in the community; ideologies around …
“Listen And Let It Flow”: A Researcher And Participant Reflect On The Qualitative Research Experience, Charity Anderson, Monique Henry
“Listen And Let It Flow”: A Researcher And Participant Reflect On The Qualitative Research Experience, Charity Anderson, Monique Henry
The Qualitative Report
Ethnographic research involves prolonged and often personal interaction between the researcher and research participants. This paper is a collaboration between a social work researcher and a research participant who became acquainted through the researcher’s ethnographic fieldwork for her dissertation. Despite differing in numerous and significant ways, not the least of which are age, class, education, and race, the two women developed a quasi-friendship after the researcher exited the field–a time when many researcher-participant relationships wane or terminate entirely. The two recorded and transcribed a series of informal conversations wherein they reflected on their experiences in the research process. Of particular …
Confronting Shifting Identities: Reflections On Subjectivity In Transnational Research, Jiyoung Kang
Confronting Shifting Identities: Reflections On Subjectivity In Transnational Research, Jiyoung Kang
The Qualitative Report
As researchers’ identities impact the research process, researchers need to take a reflexive stance toward their positionality in the research. The issue of positionality is especially important for research focusing on multicultural issues, which necessarily involves dynamic power relations among different racial/ethnic groups. Drawing from reflections on my research focusing on South Korean adolescents’ understandings of migrants, this paper illustrates when and how I confronted my positionality. My positionality as a racial/ethnic minority in the United States affected the process of selecting the research topic and the theoretical framework as well as analyzing interview data while my positionality as an …
A Research Tapestry: Stories Woven Into Stories, Laura Colket
A Research Tapestry: Stories Woven Into Stories, Laura Colket
The Qualitative Report
This autoethnography highlights the subjective nature of narrative research and illustrates the ways in which both micro and macro forces impact the research process. Through this article, I present a research tapestry in which the experiences, perspectives and stories of the participants weave together with my own experiences, perspectives and stories. I draw from my dissertation research, a narrative inquiry focused on the experiences of Haitian educational leaders working to create systemic change after the 2010 earthquake.
Contemplating Reflexivity As A Practice Of Authenticity In Autoethnographic Research, Adam Wiesner
Contemplating Reflexivity As A Practice Of Authenticity In Autoethnographic Research, Adam Wiesner
The Qualitative Report
This personal narrative shares a perspective of a non-binary trans qualitative writer who engages in the reflexive practice of evolutionary astrology. The author focuses on vulnerable, healing and therapeutic aspects of autoethnographic writing, and his quest for being authentic while dealing with difficult emotions related to his “misfit feeling” when crossing the boundary lines within Slovak academia.
Finding A Good Book To Live In: A Reflective Autoethnography On Childhood Sexual Abuse, Literature And The Epiphany, Karen D. Barley Ms
Finding A Good Book To Live In: A Reflective Autoethnography On Childhood Sexual Abuse, Literature And The Epiphany, Karen D. Barley Ms
The Qualitative Report
The topic of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) remains a prevalent issue globally and despite the best efforts of welfare organisations, it would seem that as a society we are no closer to a resolution. CSA is a topic that is discussed in vague terms, but the real impact of CSA on the child is rarely divulged, except behind closed doors. This autoethnographic study traces the life and experiences of CSA of the author and how she used literature and writing as a coping mechanism. Using this powerful methodological tool, the author has been able to expose the implications of the …
Life Is Like A Box Of Derwents - An Autoethnography Colouring In The Life Of Child Sexual Abuse, Karen D. Barley Ms
Life Is Like A Box Of Derwents - An Autoethnography Colouring In The Life Of Child Sexual Abuse, Karen D. Barley Ms
The Qualitative Report
This autoethnographic study contains vignettes from my life of unrelated but interconnected experiences of sexual abuse which profoundly impacted my life through moments of epiphanous transformation. I am using my voice as the researcher and researched to write authentically and evocatively as a way of truth telling about a difficult subject. This autoethnography invites you to walk in the shoes of myself as the storyteller and for that reason the vignettes are deliberately provocative and expose aspects of my life that have previously been hidden. The vignettes weave together stories that have had a profound impact on me which eventually …
Using Emphasis-Purposeful Sampling-Phenomenon Of Interest–Context (Eppic) Framework To Reflect On Two Qualitative Research Designs And Questions: A Reflective Process, Michael E. Kalu
The Qualitative Report
A satisfactory research question often signifies the beginning point for many researchers. While this can be true for quantitative studies because of pre-defined research questions, qualitative research questions undergo series of revisions through a reflective process. This reflective process provides the framework for the subjectivity associated with qualitative inquiry. The continuous iterative reflective process is an essential component for developing qualitative research questions that correspond with the various qualitative study designs. Although qualitative inquiry is term exclusively subjective, there is a need to use a framework in developing qualitative research questions. The Emphasis- Purposeful sampling- Phenomenon of interest – Context …
Examining Researcher Identity Development Within The Context Of A Course On Par: A Layered Narrative Approach, Meagan Call-Cummings, Melissa Hauber-Özer, Giovanni Dazzo
Examining Researcher Identity Development Within The Context Of A Course On Par: A Layered Narrative Approach, Meagan Call-Cummings, Melissa Hauber-Özer, Giovanni Dazzo
The Qualitative Report
In this paper we explore the ways in which a group of doctoral students grapples with the epistemology of participatory action research (PAR) in relation to their own personal and professional identities and research agendas while taking a course on PAR. As a professor of research methodology and two doctoral students, we examine the entangled and often hidden processes of teaching and learning PAR in order to identify experiences or events that seem to prompt or deepen novice scholars’ understanding and foster confidence in their ability to enact the methodology themselves. Through analysis of participants’ course journals as a type …