Coping With the Stress and Vulnerabilities of Conducting Trauma-Triggering Research

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 4:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Advancing Qualitative Methodologies: Centering Healing, Intersectionality, and Trauma-Informed Critical Insights for Social Change (Table 6)

Abstract

Although there is extensive literature about prioritizing the safety and emotional well-being of research participants, much less has been written on the topic of researcher vulnerability with lack of considerations for researcher safety within ethics approval applications. The authors present a reflexive account of interviews with young people aged 15 to 30 in Toronto, Canada who had firearm-related charges. The research burnout and vulnerability that arose due to the shared lived experience between the principal researcher and the research participants are discussed. Series of suggestions are outlined to reduce harm exposure for researchers and to improve how researchers can better be supported to cope and heal from conducting trauma-triggering research before, during, and after completion of a research project.

Authors

• Tina-Nadia Chambers, Amadeusz

• Ardavan Eizadirad, Wilfrid Laurier University