Reflexive embodied ethnography with applied sensibilities: methodological reflections on involved qualitative research

Abstract

In this article, I illustrate reflexive embodied ethnography with applied sensibilities as an approach for performing, interpreting, and applying qualitative research. I argue that we enter the field as embodied beings hoping to find significant insights with the potential to connect with other persons’ lived experiences, which in my work involves searching for answers to health conditions. Reflexive embodied ethnography: a) recognizes that each field experience potentially changes how we come to perceive, understand, and act in the world; b) receptively approaches our own and others’ responses to experiences that transcend language; and c) enhances our awareness that we also re-constitute worlds with our words. Applied ethnographic sensibilities include: a) reconstructing our social world through storied reflections grounded in our bodies; and b) revealing meanings that move us towards social action through examining discourse and ‘extra’ discourse-in-use.

Older adults’ accounts of the relationships between retirement timing and health: a descriptive qualitative analysis in Chile

“…In conclusion, timing should be considered together with other specific circumstances in which the retirement transition unfolds, including but not limited to markers of social class, gender and national context, to better understand potentially heterogeneous patterns of health outcomes, and to inform retirement decisions and policies that work in practice and not just in theory. There is an important place for qualitative and small-N research in the overall growth of knowledge and dialogue of research in these areas (Ray, 2007;Winston and Barnes, 2007;Macnaghten, 2017;Moffatt and Heaven, 2017;Kamberelis et al, 2018;Field-Springer, 2020;Thomann and Martino, 2020;Wendt, 2020). Formulating more nuanced research questions, challenging understandings based on national or regional averages, and refining theoretically driven hypotheses are at least as important as generalising findings and reducing methodological errors for minimising false statistical inferences.…”

“…This approach may also help to hone theoretical frameworks from which research questions and interpretations are derived, and guide decisions about policies and interventions that consider the views of older adults. Through qualitative descriptive inquiry, this study directly solicits in-depth lay understandings of retirement timing and health, an approach underrepresented in gerontological research, knowledge production and policy making (Ray, 2007;Shura et al, 2011;Macnaghten, 2017;Kamberelis et al, 2018;Shura and Dannefer, 2018;Field-Springer, 2020).…”

The mark of the researcher’s hand: the imperfections of craft in the process of becoming a qualitative researcher

“…Our conversation clings to my skin as I absorb the shared moments that go beyond the ‘threshold of awareness’ (Gherardi, 2017). Our bodies enmeshed, I follow the gestures of Sarah’s hands, share the vulnerability of silence, and reciprocate her bodily configurations as we dwell in a moment of oneness (Field-Springer, 2020; Findlay, 2006). In the pressing together of potter and clay we see how the potter learns to respond to their materials in a fluid and responsive way.…”

“…This suggests that in the doing of qualitative research, the researcher embarks on a process of becoming, or transformation of self (Barnacle and Dall’Alba, 2014; Cunliffe, 2018; Järventie-Thesleff et al, 2016). This gives rise to an embodied understanding of qualitative research that acknowledges the intimacy, vulnerability and affect in the relations between researcher and research (Field-Springer, 2020; Gherardi, 2018; Hopwood, 2013). In turn, the researcher’s body becomes a site of knowing and means of meaning making that guides and shapes the researcher’s experiences in the field through physical as well as emotional responses to the research terrain (Ellingson, 2017; Gherardi, 2017).…”

Critical Health Communication Methods: Challenges in Researching Transformative Social Change

“…Deetz (2005) suggested that critical scholars should be "filled with care." Multiple authors encourage reflexivity before entering the field so that we understand our own strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the research process (Sharf, 2005;Field-Springer, 2019). I have practiced reflexivity and the need to listen openmindedly to those who express viewpoints very different from my own, for example, in research about environmental health around a chemical plant.…”