Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …