Researcher Positionality

This chapter presents researcher positionality within the context of two systematic methods of inquiry for the examination of self-as-subject: autoethnography and heuristic inquiry for doctoral-level research. These ways of knowing and understanding the lived experience of the self are meant to further inform not only the individual experience, but the collective or cultural experience at large. The articulation of researcher positionality is an essential precursor to doctoral inquiry, the supervision of which often requires doctoral research supervisor agency to oversee the heuristic introspection. While the doctoral scholar may not initially choose the approach as creative research, outcomes of the research may result in enhanced creative thinking and arts-based research products as representations of findings.

This chapter presents reflections on the use of self-as-subject research within doctoral education as a pathway to explore meaning of study phenomena to uncover new knowledge from the individual of the self. Knowledge is contextual and discoverable from within this rich internal experience of the researcher-participant and extant and contemporary perspectives are presented to illustrate the importance and appropriateness of the selection of self-as-subject research methods including autoethnography and heuristic inquiry for doctoral-level research. The importance of the relational aspects of the doctoral researcher and doctoral research supervisor is briefly considered as well as contextual and institutional aspects necessary to inform doctoral researchers who may choose these methods of inquiry.


2022 ◽  
pp. 136-153
Author(s):  
Robin Throne

This chapter presents reflections on the use of self-as-subject research within doctoral education as a pathway to explore meaning of study phenomena to uncover new knowledge from the individual of the self. Knowledge is contextual and discoverable from within this rich internal experience of the researcher-participant and extant and contemporary perspectives are presented to illustrate the importance and appropriateness of the selection of self-as-subject research methods including autoethnography and heuristic inquiry for doctoral-level research. The importance of the relational aspects of the doctoral researcher and doctoral research supervisor is briefly considered as well as contextual and institutional aspects necessary to inform doctoral researchers who may choose these methods of inquiry.


Author(s):  
Rochelle Fogelgarn

Teacher educators often encounter novice pre-service teachers who naively declare that their chief motivation for choosing a teacher training course is their passion for teaching children and young adults. Our challenge is to sustain that passion and transform it into effective pedagogical practice. As education is a profession with a crucially important affective dimension, preparing pre-service teachers for the rigors of daily teaching requires more than facilitating the acquisition of pedagogical technique and strategy. Heuristic inquiry is a methodological approach that affords teachers-as-researchers the means to portray the lived experience of teaching so that both pre- and in-service teachers can identify with, and learn about, the holistic experience of teaching. In contrast to other methodologies, the heuristic researcher’s own experience regarding the phenomenon informs, guides, and interacts with the lived experience of the study participants. The multidimensional, multiperspectival, and multifaceted “story” of the lived experience of teaching which emerges from a disciplined heuristic inquiry provides pre-service teachers with a window through which they can vicariously experience the joys, challenges, and risks inherent in the work of teaching. Being more deeply aware of what to expect may better prepare novice teachers to remain within the profession with their initial passion intact. As a methodological approach, heuristics involves self-inquiry and dialogue with others in order to discover the meaning, significance, and implications of pertinent human experience. Knowledge crystallizes within the researcher in consequence of sensory input, perception, transpersonal communication, belief, and judgment. The individual and composite portrayals and the creatively synthesized essence of the phenomenon that evolve from heuristic exploration coalesce to give a powerful picture of human experience. When heuristic inquiry depicts the dedicated efforts of dynamic teachers who have managed to make a real and enduring impact on their students’ learning and transformative growth, insight is likely to emerge regarding how to ensure the vibrant sustenance of inspired, effective teaching.


This chapter presents current research insights into the selection of heuristic inquiries for a doctoral-level inquiry. Heuristic inquiry within social science research allows for self-as-subject representations in search of the essential meaning of phenomena or constructs explored and through the analysis of the individual experience, results may inform larger sociocultural contexts. While receptivity of heuristic inquiry as rigorous doctoral-level research varies by discipline and institution, the research design in doctoral education remains widely accepted for doctoral-level inquiry as it often appeals to the doctoral scholar due to the deep introspection expected in the phases of analysis. While heuristic inquiry emerged within psychology, doctoral scholars use the introspective research design across fields of study, the doctoral degree program, and institution to meet all institutional requirements and ethical assurances. Like autoethnography, the relational aspects between doctoral scholar and research supervisor are vital to successful heuristic inquiry and the doctoral scholar's development as a new investigator.


2022 ◽  
pp. 154-169
Author(s):  
Crystal Lewis ◽  
Robin Throne

For some doctoral practitioner-researchers, the methods used within autoethnography and other self-inquiry-based research methods are appropriate for a practitioner dissertation as the phenomenon of inquiry is a central human, intrinsic, and experiential self-focused construct. The tenets of autoethnography and other self-as-subject research support the view that new knowledge can be discoverable from within the individual lived experience, and this chapter presents current trends and scholarship for the use of autoethnography and other self-inquiry research methods for practice-based doctoral research. The chapter also presents one case from a recent doctoral autoethnographer to illustrate the experience of a practice-based autoethnographic dissertation study within a practitioner doctoral program.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 320-324
Author(s):  
Hakimova Hulkar Hamitovna ◽  
◽  
Hakimova Muhabbat Fayzievna ◽  

In modern conditions, the educational process is required to focus on the development, socialization of the individual and the development of independent, critical, creative thinking skills. One of the most pressing issues today is the training of highly qualified specialists in accordance with consumer requirements, the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities of students in their chosen specialties, independent learning and practical activities.That is why researchers and advanced educators are looking for ways, technologies and methods to develop a creative approach to learning activities in students. One of the most advanced pedagogical technologies that has a positive effect today is the use of factors in the development of independent and creative research activities of students in the educational process.


Author(s):  
Crystal Lewis ◽  
Robin Throne

For some doctoral practitioner-researchers, the methods used within autoethnography and other self-inquiry-based research methods are appropriate for a practitioner dissertation as the phenomenon of inquiry is a central human, intrinsic, and experiential self-focused construct. The tenets of autoethnography and other self-as-subject research support the view that new knowledge can be discoverable from within the individual lived experience, and this chapter presents current trends and scholarship for the use of autoethnography and other self-inquiry research methods for practice-based doctoral research. The chapter also presents one case from a recent doctoral autoethnographer to illustrate the experience of a practice-based autoethnographic dissertation study within a practitioner doctoral program.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsófia Demjén

This paper demonstrates how a range of linguistic methods can be harnessed in pursuit of a deeper understanding of the ‘lived experience’ of psychological disorders. It argues that such methods should be applied more in medical contexts, especially in medical humanities. Key extracts from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath are examined, as a case study of the experience of depression. Combinations of qualitative and quantitative linguistic methods, and inter- and intra-textual comparisons are used to consider distinctive patterns in the use of metaphor, personal pronouns and (the semantics of) verbs, as well as other relevant aspects of language. Qualitative techniques provide in-depth insights, while quantitative corpus methods make the analyses more robust and ensure the breadth necessary to gain insights into the individual experience. Depression emerges as a highly complex and sometimes potentially contradictory experience for Plath, involving both a sense of apathy and inner turmoil. It involves a sense of a split self, trapped in a state that one cannot overcome, and intense self-focus, a turning in on oneself and a view of the world that is both more negative and more polarized than the norm. It is argued that a linguistic approach is useful beyond this specific case.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Ephrat Huss ◽  
Smadar Ben Asher ◽  
Tsvia Walden ◽  
Eitan Shahar

The aim of this paper is to describe a unique, bottom-up model for building a school based on humanistic intercultural values in a post-disaster/refugee area. We think that this model will be of use in similar contexts. This single-case study can teach us about the needs of refugee children, as well as provide strategies to reach these needs with limited resources in additional similar contexts. Additionally, this paper will outline a qualitative arts-based methodology to understand and to evaluate refugee children’s lived experience of in-detention camp schools. Our field site is an afternoon school for refugee children operated and maintained by volunteers and refugee teachers. The methodology is a participatory case study using arts-based research, interviews, and observation of a school built for refugee camp children in Lesbos. Participants in this study included the whole school, from children to teachers, to volunteers and managers. The research design was used to inform the school itself, and to outline the key components found to be meaningful in making the school a positive experience. These components could be emulated by similar educational projects and used to evaluate them on an ongoing basis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Goddard ◽  
Randolph R Myers

Actuarial risk/needs assessments exert a formidable influence over the policy and practice of youth offender intervention. Risk-prediction instruments and the programming they inspire are thought not only to link scholarship to practice, but are deemed evidence-based. However, risk-based assessments and programs display a number of troubling characteristics: they reduce the lived experience of racialized inequality into an elevated risk score; they prioritize a very limited set of hyper-individualistic interventions, at the expense of others; and they privilege narrow individual-level outcomes as proof of overall success. As currently practiced, actuarial youth justice replicates earlier interventions that ask young people to navigate structural causes of crime at the individual level, while laundering various racialized inequalities at the root of violence and criminalization. This iteration of actuarial youth justice is not inevitable, and we discuss alternatives to actuarial youth justice as currently practiced.


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