Uncloaking the Researcher: Boundaries in Qualitative Research

Thurairajah, Kalyani

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.15.1.06

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Furthermore, a reflexivity journal was maintained to monitor how the researcher’s own personal positionalities as a Sri Lankan Tamil woman who was born in Jaffna but migrated to Canada as a refugee at the age of five impacted the research process. These findings have been published elsewhere (Thurairajah, 2018, 2019a, 2019b) and will not be discussed in detail in this paper.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“Who are we without the war?”: The evolution of the Tamil ethnic identity in post-conflict Sri Lanka

Thurairajah

2019

Ethnicities

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Studies of post-conflict societies have often focused on inter-ethnic group dynamics following the end of conflict, specifically the process of reconciliation between groups, or resurgence of violence across groups. This paper focuses on intra-ethnic differences with respect to defining ethnic identity. This paper will examine how the end of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict created cleavages amongst Sri Lankan Tamils with respect to how they define their ethnic identity and their ethnic group. Drawing upon 66 semi-structured interviews conducted in three regions of Sri Lanka, this paper presents three perspectives that were held among Tamils in post-conflict Sri Lanka. The first perspective was that the end of the ethnic conflict led to a loss in the fundamental tenets of the Tamil ethnic identity. The second perspective considered the promotion of a distinct Tamil ethnic identity to be a gateway to conflict. The third perspective articulated that the end of the ethnic conflict meant that the Tamil ethnic identity could move forward in a more cosmopolitan direction. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of considering the social construction of ethnic identities, and their implications on post-conflict reconstruction.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“Who are we without the war?”: The evolution of the Tamil ethnic identity in post-conflict Sri Lanka

Thurairajah

2019

Ethnicities

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“…It is accepted that all people-including researchers, participants, and reviewers-have multiple overlapping identities that impact how they approach the world (Kezar, 2002). Positionality allows researchers to understand the nuances of the relationships between researchers and participants, acknowledging that the dichotomy of insider/outsider research is an oversimplification of the researcher-participant relationships (Thurairajah, 2019). Positionality is something that should be considered at every stage of the research process: selecting a research topic, making decisions regarding the methodology, determining the most appropriate analyses, and disseminating the findings (Shaw, Howe, Beazer, & Carr, In press).…”

Section: Part Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Recommendation: Add a competency on diversity and inclusion

Liu

Bergman

Hernandez

2020

Ind. Organ. Psychol.

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The focal article by Köhler et al. (2020) is an excellent start to a discussion about how we prepare reviewers for peer review in our journals and beyond. Our response has little disagreement with what is present in the focal article. Instead, we focus on what is omitted: a competency regarding diversity and inclusion (D&I). To that end, we describe a proposed competency, explain why it is important, and provide several examples regarding how this competency might play out in review of manuscripts and in other review settings. Why is a competency for diversity and inclusion necessary? Research in the industrial and organizational (I-O) domain is not representative of the labor market (Bergman & Jean, 2016) and tends to focus on the experiences of workers in the U.S. workforce, overlooking experiences from around the world (Myers, 2016). Despite the fact that many of our samples are college-educated individuals (e.g., undergraduates, professionals, managers, executives; Bergman & Jean, 2016), 38.6% of the U.S. workforce did not have any education beyond high school in 2018 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In order to remain relevant, interesting, more generalizable, and more applicable, work in the field of I-O psychology needs to consider issues related to class, job type, educational level, international status, and beyond. A competency in diversity (i.e., ways that individuals are different and unique, including the constructs of race, gender, religion, age, nationality, sexual orientation, ability status, parental status, class, education, and beyond; Jordan, 2011) and inclusion (i.e., fostering a climate that allows for diverse individuals to collaborate and connect; Jordan, 2011) would help I-O psychology research become more representative of the labor force, which should in turn make I-O psychology research more applicable and useful to organizations. Notably, we are arguing for competency in D&I issues in all I-O psychology research, not just in the D&I subfield. As scientists, we need to consider whether our research is responsive and responsible to issues of D&I in the domains of interest. Additionally, we need to address the issue of our own privilege (in terms of level of education, access to resources, etc.) and bias, as well as the privilege of those who have been included in I-O research (white collar, educated, White workers) and the biases that exist in our knowledge base. Confronting this privilege is uncomfortable and can be an area of uncertainty for individuals who are unfamiliar with issues related to D&I. The establishment of a formalized competency related to D&I helps alleviate some of this discomfort. The proposed competency for diversity and inclusion A competency for D&I belongs in the foundational knowledge area of the framework and would read something like this:

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“…Researching as a cultural outsider presents many challenges. A cultural outsider has a different socio-demographic, economic, language and/or cultural background to that of the participants, in contrast to a cultural insider who shares similarities with the research participants (Ergun & Erdemir, 2010; Thurairajah, 2019). Some researchers have argued that simply sharing characteristics does not make the researcher an insider (Ergun & Erdemir, 2010; Merriam et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience of Conducting Sensitive Qualitative Research as a Cultural Outsider: Formulation of a Guide for Reflexivity

Earland

Ahmed²

2021

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

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Studies conducted by outsider researchers, who do not share the participants’ culture, language or other traits, are often complex. The positionalities of participants are rarely considered in qualitative research literature but their influence defines how they engage with the researchers and their research. There is little within the literature specifically written for novice qualitative researchers working as an outsider. In this article, the experience of conducting research on breastfeeding in Nigeria with Hausa–Fulani Muslim women has been used to reflect upon the challenges of researching as an outsider. Drawing upon this work, a guide has been developed for researchers working with a group from a different cultural, ethnic or socioeconomic background to their own. The guide includes social identity mapping of both researcher and participants, a consideration of the sensitivity, vulnerability and cultural identity lenses through which the identity of the researcher, participants, and context intersect to influence the study, and reflexive questions. Considering these questions before conducting a study can help researchers to anticipate and proactively develop mitigation strategies to address common methodological and ethical dilemmas they may encounter.

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Uncloaking the Researcher: Boundaries in Qualitative Research

Cited by 20 publications

References 23 publications

“Who are we without the war?”: The evolution of the Tamil ethnic identity in post-conflict Sri Lanka

“Who are we without the war?”: The evolution of the Tamil ethnic identity in post-conflict Sri Lanka

Recommendation: Add a competency on diversity and inclusion

Experience of Conducting Sensitive Qualitative Research as a Cultural Outsider: Formulation of a Guide for Reflexivity

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