Exploring the Research Encounter as a Safe Space for Relational Reflexivity

• In Event: The Import of Time Frame and Tempo in Qualitative Longitudinal Research on Professions Education

Abstract

Purpose: Traditionally, in qualitative research, reflexivity has been considered the domain of researchers as they grapple with how their own experiences and understandings will influence and become part of their research processes (Cassel et al, 2020). Recently participant reflexivity has been increasingly acknowledged in the research methods literature as important strata to the qualitative research process (Cassel et al, 2020). Indeed, it is argued that there are three reflexive perspectives to account for: the researcher; the participants; and the research encounter (Enosh & Ben-Ari, 2016). This paper seeks to explore these three perspectives, showing how QLR encounters become relationally reflexive spaces- even when the timeframe is short.

Perspective and theoretical framing: As a researcher, understanding of phenomena is frequently indirect, gained through engagement with theory and interaction with research participants (who have direct access to the phenomena) (Cassel et al, 2020; Enosh & Ben-Ari 2016). As participants, involvement in research permits reengagement with experience to explore their own stories and learning. During research encounters, researchers and participants thoughtfully unpack experience together which can become a source of new knowledge, causing one to rethink perspectives not previously accessible to either researcher or participant (Gordon, 2021) termed relational reflexivity (Hibbert, Sillince, Diefenbach, Cunliffe, 2014). As the research encounter is central to relational reflexivity, QLR offers repeated opportunity for multiple ‘reflexive spaces’ through time and can document how learning and understandings might change.

Data sources: To explore relational reflexivity in depth we present data from a longitudinal qualitative study which aimed to generate deep understanding of the key structural and cultural challenges embedded in the everyday practices of UK Business and Management Schools in relation to Equality Diversity Inclusion and Respect (EDIR). The data has been drawn from 21 interviews and 36 diary entries with 10 senior business school academics who had successfully navigated the career ladder (five men; five women and ethnic diversity). In initial interviews, we invited participants to discuss the ‘long story’ of their career to date and discuss their experiences in relation to EDIR. We then collected diaries for six weeks asking them to relate and reflect (through audio-recorded diaries and mini-interviews) on incidents in their day-to-day work that they saw as relevant to EDIR. Participants then undertook a final interview in which their experiences of EDIR were reexplored in relation to the diary entries.

Results: Broadly, our findings from this data showed micro-practices of privilege and disadvantage that differ between majority and minority groups contributing to the accumulation of disadvantage and privilege across a career. Relevant to this presentation, staccato, ‘moments of relational reflexivity’ could be identified across the data set where participants and researchers alike would express consideration and reconsideration of experiences, leading to more nuanced insights as part of these research encounters, potentially leading to change.

Significance: This work demonstrates that even when undertaken for a short time span, QLR can generate deep insights through staccato and repeated ‘moments of relational reflexivity’ leading to new understandings and the potential for change both researchers and participants.

Authors

• Lisi Gordon, University of Dundee
  Presenting Author

• Katy Mason, University of Lancaster
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martyna Sliwa, Durham University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nic Beech, Middlesex University
  Non-Presenting Author