Negotiating Power

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-412
Author(s):  
Karen Campbell ◽  
Corinne Hart

Learning to do qualitative research that is grounded in a critical perspective can be a turbulent time for graduate students and supervisors. The influence of power is omnipresent and can create significant problems for graduate student experiences. This article uses the graduate thesis research experience of one student and supervisor dyad to highlight the relational factors that we found to support learning: vulnerability, trust, and patience. For our dyad, negotiating the power structures surrounding us was one strategy that helped foster the development of a critical qualitative researcher. The relational factors that characterized our student-supervisor relationship, similar to those in the critical qualitative research process, provided a basis for discussion and growth through a graduate thesis in a nursing program.

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Ersoy

The aim of this study is to understand initial qualitative research experience and the qualitative researcher identities they try to build via diaries they reflect. This research is a analytical research model. Research data were obtained 25 diaries which were selected by criterion sampling from 60 doctoral students' diaries that they wrote in qualitative research methods course between the years 2008 and 2014. Content analysis was applied to the data. As a result of the analysis, "becoming a qualitative researcher" category which consists of "I learned from my experiences", "I discovered my researcher identity", and "I discovered myself" have emerged. I learned from my experiences themes that compose "I learned from my mistakes", "I read, implemented, reflected", and found out that "I realized that I wasn't a qualitative researcher." I discovered my researcher identity theme includes subthemes such as "I should be open-minded", "I should try to understand", and "I should be patient." I discovered myself theme consists of subthemes such as "I realized my prejudices", "I learned criticizing myself", and "I saw the limits of my abilities." It has emerged that researcher diaries are functional tools to understand the research experiences of PhD students. Therefore, doctoral students can be encouraged to write diaries in the research process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-431
Author(s):  
Chizuru Nobe-Ghelani

While reflexivity has been taken up as an important concept in critical qualitative research, there are few texts that illustrate explicit approaches to practicing reflexivity. Drawing on my doctoral research experience, this article fills this gap and explores how the practice of mindfulness may guide us to a rich engagement with reflexivity during the critical qualitative research process, in particular within the context of interactions with research participants. More specifically, mindfulness is put forth as a practice to invite an embodied and holistic form of learning that goes beyond cognitive knowing. I argue that a mindfulness-based reflexivity has the potential to open up a space to learn from the messiness and discomfort experienced in the research process and deepen our understanding about the operation of power relations in critical qualitative research and beyond.


Author(s):  
Charity Anderson ◽  
Monique Henry

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 salience is the research participant’s perspective of the immaterial benefits she experienced through her participation in the research and her perception of the qualities of a “good” qualitative researcher: one who approaches listening as a practice and cultivates relationships with participants slowly and naturally. The authors’ reflections indicate that participants may be able to offer valuable feedback on the research experience, and researchers might use participants’ unique perspectives to alter their research approach and/or techniques.


Author(s):  
Leigh Ausband

This paper relates how the author, a novice qualitative researcher, uses the familiar process of quilting to help her clarify the research process. Other novice researchers are advised to look around for similar connections they can make in their lives to assist with their research.


Author(s):  
Gabrielle Brand

This article describes how writing personal research narratives during my doctoral research journey challenged my role as a health professional and my personal beliefs and values in fundamental ways. In qualitative narrative inquiry, the reflexive account of the research experience is a key element in conducting ethical, rigorous, and meaningful forms of qualitative research. However, as a novice researcher, I was unprepared for the unlearning journey I experienced during the research process. This uncomfortable experience cut to the core of my identity by dismantling unexamined belief and value systems that lay dormant and hidden from my everyday consciousness as a health professional. In the spirit of transparency, reflexivity and “good” qualitative research, this article presents an explicit account of my exquisite and sometimes excruciating reflexive research journey that profoundly changed how I relate and work with people. I believe health care professionals should adopt a narrative view of experience that creates the “looking glass space” to locate their own stories within the broader socio-cultural and historical context of their lives, especially in relation to their health professional identity. Exchanging diminishing dialogue with deeper dialogue honours both the complexities of young peoples’ lives and social worlds and encompasses socially-conscious methodologies of promise and hope.


Author(s):  
Matthew Robison

If you are looking for a book written about the qualitative research experience, you can find it in Victor Minichiello and Jeffery A. Kottler’s (2010c) edited volume Qualitative Journeys: Student and Mentor Experiences with Research. For a neophyte qualitative researcher who is finding his voice as a budding qualitative scholar, this book serves as an inspiration. This easy-to-read book gives a firsthand look at what other new, and oftentimes struggling, qualitative researchers experienced as they began their research journeys. Overall, the book builds a sense of excitement and interest in the qualitative paradigm; and, after reading it, I am energized to move forward with my own qualitative journey.


Author(s):  
Stephanie Hoover ◽  
Susan Morrow

Motivated by researcher reflexivity, the author sought to learn from participants about the sensitive, ethical issues of the qualitative research process. The current study followed up with eight women who had previously participated in an interview-based study about sexual assault disclosure. Multiple sources of qualitative data were triangulated, including interviews, follow-up interviews, interviews from the original study, and participant checks. Phenomenological analysis yielded five themes: (a) Meaning of Participation, (b) Trust in the Researcher, (c) Connection with the Other Participants, (d) Changing Comfort, and (e) Recommendations to Increase Participants’ Comfort. Based on these results, recommendations are provided for researchers conducting reflexive qualitative research practices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Winter

With his path-breaking The Qualitative Manifesto. A Call to Arms (2010), Norman Denzin calls for qualitative inquiry to be carried out with the aim of contributing to the empowerment of subjects involved in the research. He pleads passionately and vehemently in favor of a research process that is led by the ideal of social justice. My contribution wants to plead for making radical equality between researchers and research subjects a core element of qualitative inquiries as well. For this purpose, I will turn to the work of the French philosopher Jacques Rancière, who has been largely ignored in qualitative inquiry. His work, though, is of central importance for critical qualitative research. The idea of equality opens up a new and more profound understanding of politics that would allow us to specify the political meaning of qualitative studies in late capitalism more accurately.


Author(s):  
Dorcas Matowe

The title of Robert Yin’s (2016) book, Qualitative Research from Start to Finish, second edition, aptly summarizes what he intended to accomplish and did. The author’s writing and organizational style made for an enjoyable and engaging read given the subject matter. For the student, teacher, or researcher seeking an in-depth understanding of the entire research process, this book covers it all, including an exhaustive reference list on qualitative studies in varied disciplines. In keeping with his training as a social scientist, Yin incorporated his global research experience and understanding of human behavior to produce a book with something to offer researchers at various levels. I integrated my perspective as a doctorate student with intermediate experience in qualitative and quantitative research, highlighting what I found most useful.


Author(s):  
Diane Watt

Learning how to conduct qualitative research may seem daunting for those new to the task, especially given the paradigm ’s emphasis on complexity and emergent design. Although there are guidelines in the literature, each project is unique and ultimately the individual researcher must determine how best to proceed . Reflexivity is thus considered essential, potentially facilitating understanding of both the phenomenon under study and the research process itself . Drawing upon the contents of a reflective journal, the author provides an inside view of a first project, making connections between theory and practice. This personal narrative highlights the value of reflexivity both during and after a study, and may help to demystify the research process for those new to the field.


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