Multiple Researcher Identities: Highlighting Tensions and Implications for Ethical Practice in Qualitative Interviewing

摘要

Drawing on Coffey's (1991) notion of fieldwork as ‘identity work,’ this article explores the implications of constructing and performing multiple ‘researcher identities’ within qualitative research interviewing. In doing so it utilises three examples taken from social psychological research which employed a discursive approach, informed by feminist research principles, to explore issues of power, knowledge, and language on the interaction between primary health care services and women experiencing domestic violence. These examples illustrate how within qualitative in-depth interviews identities can be both constructed by (Wolf 199660. Wolf, DL. 1996. “Situating feminist dilemmas in fieldwork”. In Feminist dilemmas in fieldwork, Edited by: Wolfe, DL. Boulder, CO: Westview. View all references) and required of the researcher by their participants (Thapar-Björkert & Henry 200457. Thapar-Björkert, S and Henry, M. 2004. Reassessing the research relationship: location, position and power in fieldwork accounts. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(5): 363-81. [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references). While such researcher identities can be viewed, particularly within research informed by feminist ethics, as a form of ‘integrity’; being responsive to the individual needs of specific participants, they also can leave the researcher with the experience of feeling disingenous. The article explores some of the tensions inherent within these two vantage-points and calls for a wider engagement and discussion of these issues in order to enable researchers to better negotiate such tensions.View full textDownload full textKeywordsethics, feminism, interviewing, performing identities, qualitative, required identities, researcher identityRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14780880902929506