The Give and Take: "Dealing" With Power in Collaborative Research

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Bearing Witness as Research Methodology: Critical Strategies for Transformative Praxis

Abstract

This paper explores the issue of power within collaborative research methods. Although scholars have theorized about the role of power within collaborative research, questions remain as to how researchers should “deal” with power within these contexts. This qualitative study draws upon critical discourse analysis (CDA) and relational dialectics theory (RDT) to explore communication between individual stakeholders during collaborative data analysis meetings. The findings demonstrate that the manifestation of power is complex and dispersed. Power is revealed to lie in various positions simultaneously. It is controlled by individuals through their communicative acts while also affected by broader social constructs such as discourses surrounding research, learning, and role identifications. Even in collaborative environments, researches must deal with the inevitability of power.

Author

• Benjamin William Trager, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee