Time, space, and the sustainability of research relationships

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Building sustainable relationships in the practice of comparative & international education research

Proposal

The first set of questions in this roundtable will focus on the micro-dynamics of establishing sustainable relationships in two ways: first, in research contexts that traverse geographic spaces, and second, in contexts characterized by conflict and/or strong state interest in the focus of research. A growing body of inquiry has focused on the way that researcher identity and positionality, as well as power dynamics, can shape interactions with research participants (e.g. Anyan, 2013; Kvale, 2006; Razon and Ross 2012; Thapar-Björkert & Henry, 2004). Yet for many international and comparative education scholars, the distance between home institutions and field sites (sometimes multiple field sites) can create challenges to maintaining these relationships, all the more so when research is conducted in areas that are marked by conflict or by strong authoritarian rule.

Thus, in this part of the roundtable, I explore what sustainability means in these contexts. First, I focus on issues that arise in the context of engaging in long-term commitments to research and to relationship-building with participants and co-researchers as these stand in tension with the notion of a ‘drop in’ researcher who comes and goes from the geographic-socio-political context where research is located. Second, I address questions of the broader context within which research takes place in order to question how trust and/or authentic relationships can be created within the context of a strong authoritarian state or in the context of conflict. I draw upon examples from ongoing research conducted with an Israeli educational organization to ask a series of questions: what does it mean to create a sustainable relationship with the organization when channels of communication between field site visits are limited only to certain staff members? What are the ethical dimensions of maintaining such relationships, in particular as they are created within an uneven power framework between myself and my research participants? How it is possible to build trust between myself and my participants when responses to the questions I am asking can negatively implicate them vis-à-vis local or national authorities?

Anyan, F. (2013). The influence of power shifts in data collection and analysis stages: A focus on qualitative research interview. The Qualitative Report, 18(18), 1-9.

Kvale, S. (2006). Dominance Through Interviews and Dialogues. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(3), 480-500.

Razon, N., & Ross, K. (2012). Negotiating Fluid Identities: Alliance-Building in Qualitative Interviews. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(6), 494-503.

Thaper-Björkert, S., & Henry, M. (2004). Reassessing the research relationship: location, position and power in fieldwork accounts. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(5), 363-381.

Author

• Karen Ross, University of Massachusetts Boston