Parents displaying family consumption in Ireland

This article considers qualitative data collected from 78 parents in an Irish study on the commercialisation and sexualisation of children. It makes a distinctive contribution in showing that the framework of family display (Finch, 2007) can be productively applied to the entire field of family consumption. It shows that consumption narratives can be viewed as a tool that is used to display family – in other words, showing how family is done – to internal family members and to outsiders. While family display has been more often applied empirically with non-conventional families, its relevance for all families is reasserted by our data. Our application of the family display framework shows that middle-class parenting ideals are stretched and can become unstuck when displayed by middle-class parents, the constituency most associated with their production and propagation.

Navigating Methodological Concerns at the Data Collection Stage: Lessons from a Qualitative Indian-Irish Adoption Study

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 rhetoric) to show how cross-cultural research can be negotiated. Through the research design and data collection stage, researchers' understanding about themselves and about the adoption process in the two countries, is used as a backdrop for the exploration. While various deliberations and negotiations between the researchers are described, the paper also shows the differences and methodological concerns that can be steered through inter-cultural territory, where reflexivity is central to all stages of the endeavor. These processes and reflections are summarized in this paper, with recommendations for students and academics to promote the discussions around the design of qualitative cross-cultural work.