Intersectionality, positioning and narrative: exploring the utility of audio diaries in healthcare students’ workplace learning

Abstract

This article explores how audio diaries enable researchers to make sense of issues pertaining to intersectionality, positioning and gender in workplace learning narratives. Literature supports the utility of audio diary methods as they offer researchers a unique lens to explore interactions between verbal and non‐verbal cues to investigate intersecting identities and positions with participants. In this paper, the author combines the richness of audio diaries with intersectionality and positioning theories to explore how identities are negotiated over time. This paper presents a narrative case study that examines intersectionality, gendered identities and professionalism in the context of male‐ or female‐dominated healthcare environments. The case sheds light on how audio diaries embrace complex qualitative data that can be utilised as a tool to cross disciplinary boundaries in the social sciences. The article demonstrates how underpinning audio diaries with feminist theory empowers participants to make sense of their intersecting identities, whilst nurturing an intimate dialogue between researcher and participant to explore tensions between language and identity. Further discussion considers how reflections are facilitated using audio diaries, with a focus on how theory and time can enable and strengthen the quality of the research process, data and analysis between researcher and participant.

Practising in a pandemic: A real time study of primary care practitioners' experience of working through the first year of COVID-19

“…Despite the comparative brevity of some of the written responses, participants still reflected on their experiences of the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and some participants did contribute more personal reflections on the difficulties visited by the pandemic on their home life, as well as their concerns and hopes for the future of general practice. By way of contrast, participants' audio-diaries promoted self-talk (Crozier and Cassell, 2016 ), in other words participants' inner monologs and facilitated in the moment reflection from participants on their experiences (Monrouxe, 2009 ; Williamson et al, 2015 ; Dangeni et al, 2021 ) which can facilitate participants to construct a sense of their identities (Verma, 2020 , 2021 ). The flexibility of audio diaries also allows participants time to reflect and this approach does not require instant responses as can be the case in interviews (Crozier and Cassell, 2016 ).…”

Using audio-diaries for research and education: AMEE Guide No. 144

“…Then, by integrating time (or temporality) into the analysis, the researcher can interrogate each individual's audio diary journey, and gain insight into how their individual experience has changed over time in relation to the overarching themes identified in the cross-sectional analysis. There are other examples of integrating time into the longitudinal qualitative analysis, including the use of an adapted framework analysis approach (Ward et al 2019), using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Biggerstaff and Thompson 2008;McCoy 2017) or even sociolinguistic analysis (Verma 2020).…”

Vietnamese Undergraduate Students' Perceived Changes in Emotional Intelligence and Coping Strategies

“…Audio diaries have been used in various fields of study, including medicine, psychology, geography and sociology (Worth, 2009). Audio diaries have been utilised as a data collection method to investigate the development of personal and professional identities (Verma, 2020), the experience of emotions (Cottingham & Erickson, 2020) and the role of hope in coping (Bernays et al, 2014). Audio diaries are an effective data collection method that is sensitive to time (Verma, 2020) and effective in capturing the sequential and varied experience of emotions (Cottingham & Erickson, 2020) and the lived experience of participants (Bernays et al, 2014).…”

“…Diaries are research methods that are often used when researchers are interested in understanding psychological phenomena because diaries provide valuable insights into the phenomena within their social context (Crozier & Cassell, 2016). The audio diary method can be considered an evolved form of the written diary as it captures thoughts, feelings and perceptions (Verma, 2020). Audio diaries are a research method positioned within the constructionist paradigm and use narrative inquiry as a core component of theoretical design (Durrheim, 1997).…”