"Site-Seeing": Place Reflexivity as a Methodological Tool for Qualitative Researchers

• In Event: 32.083 - Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: 32.083-21 - Subjectivity and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine and offer “place -reflexivity ” as a methodological tool for engaging in qualitative research.We draw on conceptualizations of site, place, field and context from sociological and anthropological disciplines (Scott, 1989; Amit, 2003) and concepts of place-making from urban planning and community engagement (Altman & Low, 2012 ), and apply it towards purposes of qualitative inquiry. We problematize sites and draw attention to the need to centralize and purposefully examine sites in qualitative research. We draw on examples from two projects to analyze and foreground sites in qualitative research. We adapted Ulmer’s (1991, 1994) CATTt framework for analysis. Our findings offer several components of place-reflexivity that can be utilized by qualitative researchers.

Authors

• Raji Swaminathan, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

• Thalia Mulvihill, Ball State University