Writing culture; inscribing lives: a reflective treatise on the burden of representation in native research

This paper complicates the contested assumptions surrounding native research by exploring the burden of representation placed on native researchers because they are seen as insiders. This particular issue of representation is important for native researchers to consider, especially in instances where the research is on an understudied or politically charged group, because of the ways in which the socio-political climate influences both the telling and the reading of such research. Drawing on the author’s personal struggles as a Pakistani researcher conducting ethnographic research with Pakistani immigrants in the United States in the post-9/11 climate, this paper explores and critiques the role of the native researcher and the issues involved with representing understudied groups. Specifically, the paper focuses on authenticity, positionality, audience, and accountability. Thus, the paper is a call for researchers to be more reflective and to think more deeply about their positionality and its impact on the various constituents as they research and write. To encourage such reflexivity, the article provides a set of questions for researchers to consider at different stages of the research and writing process.     

Primary teachers’ understanding of the interactive whiteboard as a tool for children’s collaborative learning and knowledge‐building

This paper reports on the second phase of a joint teacher/researcher project that explored teachers’ understandings of the potential of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a tool for primary school children’s collaborative group work. By examining teachers’ written analyses and discussions of work carried out in their own classrooms, the paper seeks to contribute to the debate about the ways in which the use of IWBs can contribute to changes in pedagogy. It highlights the interrelationships between collaborative learning and factors identified as important in the research carried out by teachers, amongst them the children’s technical skills and confidence, the mediating role of the teacher, the IWB affordances for knowledge‐building and the teachers’ own knowledge, attitudes and professional development. The paper also provides an account of how participation by the teachers in a course with Faculty staff, focused on the collaborative co‐construction of knowledge related to learning and to classroom research grounded in the values and principles of socio‐cultural theory, supported changes in pedagogic practice.     

The researcher as teacher: constructing one's place in the story of events of preschoolers

This article focuses on the author's work as a researcher‐teacher, examining storytelling activities of preschool children in her own classroom. By examining ways in which one university‐based researcher dealt with the demands of being both teacher and researcher, this paper proposes that university‐based researchers who take on the role of teacher both construct and define an enactment‐of‐self in the classroom. In a Janus‐faced kind of interplay, the researcher draws on teacher skills, and the teacher draws on the research perspective and continuously walks the line between the moment‐to‐moment demands of each role.     

The nonobvious basis of ownership: preschool children trace the history and value of owned objects

For adults, ownership is nonobvious: (a) determining ownership depends more on an object’s history than on perceptual cues, and (b) ownership confers special value on an object (“endowment effect”). This study examined these concepts in preschoolers (2.0–4.4) and adults (n = 112). Participants saw toy sets in which 1 toy was designated as the participant’s and 1 as the researcher’s. Toys were then scrambled and participants were asked to identify their toy and the researcher’s toy. By 3 years of age, participants used object history to determine ownership and identified even undesirable toys as their own. Furthermore, participants at all ages showed an endowment effect (greater liking of items designated as their own). Thus, even 2‐year‐olds appreciate the nonobvious basis of ownership.     

Muslim researcher researching Muslim youth: reflexive notes on critical ethnography,positionality and representation

As a Muslim researcher conducting a critical ethnography about/with/for Muslim youth and their school experiences, at this time of intensified Islamophobia and overwhelming discourses of hate against Muslims, the boundaries of the personal and the academic become blurry and confusing. This paper emerges from my subjective/academic experiences as a Muslim researcher, and my reflections on reflexivity, positionality and representation while conducting my ethnographic research in a high-school setting with Muslim youth. In this paper, I present a review of the different concepts of critical ethnography that are framing my research decisions and I highlight the complexity of the insider/outsider positionality for a Muslim researcher doing research with Muslim youth and the intersections of religion, gender, class, ethnicity and age in positioning her in the field. The paper presents different ethical dilemmas that I have encountered during the first six months of my fieldwork.     

Developing a professional vision of classroom practices of a mathematics teacher: views from a researcher and a teacher

The term professional vision points to the many nuanced ways professionals see. This paper traces the development of a professional vision of a researcher and a teacher looking at classroom practices. The researcher’s interest was to capture and study notable aspects of the teacher’s practice. Through a coding scheme, disparate classroom events were organized and analyzed to yield a researcher’s professional vision of the teacher’s practices. For the teacher, through reviewing the video records of his own classroom practices, his professional vision provided a basis for him to reflect and develop professionally. Leveraging on the work of the researcher, he initiated and transformed his own practices. Their collaboration yielded a mutually informed development of professional vision of classroom practices. In juxtaposing the two developments, the researcher and the teacher’s views can be contrasted, their distinctive interests highlighted and common grounds explored. Some implications for developing professional vision are drawn, and it is in the common grounds of the teacher’s professional development and seeing with a goal of enhancing of student learning that hold some promise of a mutual interest in developing a professional vision of classroom practices.     

‘Madam,are you one of them?’ ‘Reflexivities of discomfort’ in researching an ‘illicit’ subject

Informed largely by Affect theory (2004), this paper takes up ‘reflexivities of discomfort’ to reflexively engage with my affective struggles as a Christian, heterosexual, mother, educator, undertaking a study on homosexuality, which is a thorny issue in Uganda. It a methodological prologue, reflecting my thoughts and struggles before I undertake the study. My purpose is not to find solutions, but to lay bare some anxieties and ambivalences, also suggesting the limits of reflexivity. The paper begins with an autobiographical narrative about school in relation to (homo)sexuality. This is followed by an exposition of Uganda’s Anti-homosexuality Bill; my use of reflexivity and affect to inform my affective struggles; my background as it relates to sexuality, providing insights into my researcher positionality. I then engage with moments imbued with high affective/emotive intensity in my preparation to undertake the study.     

Societal and Organisational Factors of Stress on Students in School

In this paper an attempt is made both to discuss factors of stress in 14‐ to 18‐year‐old teenage students in and out of school and at the same time to point out the adolescent's own subjective perception of some of those factors by means of an empirical investigation. Factors external and internal to school must be seen as standing in a close relation of interaction to each other. The kind and intensity of mental and social stress is explained by combining an ‘objective’ analysis with a ‘subjective’ one. School is looked at both as a system of social order, organisation and interaction, and as a realm of experience and a social environment for students. On the basis of these considerations, the conception of ‘stress’ is discussed in the context of a meta‐theoretical model of the subject who is productively managing his or her reality.     

Hauntings of a Korean American woman researcher in the field

In this autoethnography, I inquire into naming the histories and dynamics behind some of the embodied and affective experiences I have had as a Korean American woman of color while studying up/down, across/within, in White-dominant professional spaces such as K-12 schools. This ‘in-between’ status is part of the nature of being Korean American. In this inquiry, I draw on vignettes from my experiences in the field as an ethnographic researcher. These experiences form the heart of the paper in the form of epigraphs and narratives from experiences in multiple studies to capture the reverberations of fleeting moments – hauntings – that have accumulated over time. In doing so, I am joining existing conversations about Korean American women and about researcher reflexivity and positionality, bringing them together across time and space.     

The accidental learner: experiences from participation in classroom research

This paper brings into focus what can happen when a person is both a researcher and a teacher in two different classrooms almost at the same time. In the two classrooms project work is the subject of inquiry and the working method used. The aim of the research was to figure out how group work and collaborative processes function during project work, and to compose and present a kind of ‘thinking tool’ for other teachers to use when reflecting over their own teaching. Both the researcher and the informant maintain that they influenced each other. The paper also shows that the teacher/informant interactions in addition mediate the researcher’s work as a teacher.     

Class matters in the interview setting? Positionality,situatedness and class

In this article we argue that despite methodological and analytical advancements in the field of social class research, these developments have not led to a wholehearted discussion about class positionality and situatedness in relation to interviewer–participant dynamics. Despite—or perhaps due to—this methodological gap, there remains an unspoken expectation that class matching, particularly when investigating working‐class groups and practices, is desirable as it engenders empathy on the part of the interviewer which allows for openness on the part of the participant. The team of four interviewers reflect upon their varying experiences of conducting interviews about class with a group of middle‐ and working‐class students at university, arguing that even if class matching between participant and researcher were possible, shared class position does not necessarily equate with similar life experiences, or enable a strong rapport nor a more ethical analysis or understanding of working‐class people's lives. We explore some of the complexities regarding the class‐related positions of the researchers and the participants and consequently advocate that class researchers engage in reflexive practices in order to explore the myriad ways in which the researcher's own class history and current class position both advantage and disadvantage the research process, often in unpredictable ways.     

Designing a consequentially based study into the online support of pre-service teachers in the UK

This paper reports on the design of a pilot doctoral study into the online support of pre-service teachers. It highlights the significance of a consequential, rather than deontological, perspective in guiding the development of a study's design. The study initially aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions and use of social media on their school placements by setting up groups on Facebook and Twitter. However, several problems occurred in relation to the recruitment of participants. It became increasingly clear that there was significance in the positionality of the researcher as an “outsider” to the research context and the potential role for gatekeepers in understanding remote research sites. An ethical framework was used to make a more comprehensive analysis of the issues at play, which helped identify ways of proceeding. A redesign of the study followed with a stronger rationale for the way consequential considerations can help address deontological concerns.     

The challenges of insider research in educational institutions: wielding a double‐edged sword and resolving delicate dilemmas

This paper explores the challenges faced by educational researchers investigating the places where they work. It reviews the literature on insider research and draws upon the author’s own experience of researching faculty appraisal at two Higher Education institutions where she taught. It argues that the insider/outsider dichotomy is actually a continuum with multiple dimensions, and that all researchers constantly move back and forth along a number of axes, depending upon time, location, participants and topic. The assumption that one kind of research is better than the other is challenged, and the advantages and disadvantages of insider research are discussed in terms of access, intrusiveness, familiarity and rapport. Finally, three dilemmas relating to informant bias, reciprocity in interviews, and research ethics are examined from an insider researcher’s perspective, and the ways in which the author responded to these dilemmas at different points in her own four‐year two‐site study are critiqued.     

Roles of a teacher and researcher during in situ professional development around the implementation of mathematical modeling tasks

Partnership with teachers for professional development has been considered beneficial because of the potential of collaborative work in the teacher’s own classroom to be relevant to practice. From this perspective, both teachers and researchers can draw on their own expertise and work as authentic partners. In this study, we address the need for such collaboration and focus on how a teacher and a researcher performed their roles when collaboratively implementing mathematical modeling tasks within a context of in situ professional development. Using multi-tier design-based research, as a framework, a researcher worked in a teacher’s classroom to implement a series of research-based mathematical modeling activities. A broad corpus of data from this interaction was analyzed, including audio recordings of interviews with the teacher, video recordings of three mathematical modeling lessons, researcher field notes and journal reflections, instructional materials, and students’ written work using the principles for designing activities for teachers. The emerging roles and relationships between the teacher and the researcher were documented, as (1) the researcher implemented the professional development, (2) the teacher shared her concerns, (3) the researcher responded to the teacher’s challenges, and (3) the teacher reflected on student development. As a case study of collaboration, the participants’ roles and strategies to overcome challenges and achieve shared objectives can benefit teachers and researchers who plan to collaboratively implement modeling in the classroom. The study supports the value and viability of this form of in situ professional development, indicating that significant changes in teachers’ thinking about their students’ mathematical model development can occur in relatively short periods of time.     

Method as a journey: a narrative dialogic partnership illuminating decision-making in qualitative educational research

Qualitative education research is an inherently complex landscape, presenting the qualitative researcher with constant ethical and reasoned decision-making. Presented as a narrative dialogic, this paper traces and juxtaposes the method stories of two qualitative researchers who focused their work around education phenomena, but in different contexts and in different ways. One researcher’s narrative study of phenomena via interviews is juxtaposed with the other’s phenomenographical investigation utilizing Facebook status updates. Seeing researcher thinking side-by-side provides a comparison that teases out the ways in which researchers might consciously grapple with thinking around method. These twin method stories offer ways for other qualitative researchers to think about their own decision-making as they address the challenges of balancing subjectivity and rigour, authenticity of reported data, and protection of participants. This dialogic partnership points to the malleability of method. It also encourages further exploration of the complexities of qualitative education research in which the researcher is often insider–outsider or outsider–insider.     

‘Us,the body’: Two women’s uses of health texts in Hawai’i

The researcher analysed two women’s uses of popular culture texts on the island of Hawai’i. They read these texts in order to learn about, and manage, their health problems. These vernacular texts were different from the institutional texts that were prescribed to them by their doctors, as well as the commercial ones that were in the literacy programme they attended. Their uses of these self‐help texts reflected the staunchly religious community where they lived, as well as the post‐welfare society, with pressures to solve their own problems. The researcher used ethnographic methods to learn about these issues. These popular materials provided the women with relaxation and meaning, which fit with their communities of practice. The study points to the value of knowing about learners’ social practices for policymaking and the importance of incorporating these types of texts into programmes.     

Intersecting identities and positionality of U.S.-based transnational researchers in second language studies

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing number of Second Language (L2) researchers working in cross-cultural and cross-linguistic settings, issues related to these uniquely situated researcher identities have only scantily been addressed. In order to close this gap, we investigated three U.S.-based Korean female researchers in L2 studies. We sought to understand (1) the ways in which these researchers chose research topics, contexts, and participants; (2) how they related themselves to their research participants; and (3) to what extent and how they negotiated identities in conducting and reporting their research. With theoretical frameworks of positionality and intersectionality of researcher identities, we drew upon a few salient points from multiple data sources such as interviews, published papers, and field notes. We found not only that their research interests stemmed from their life experiences and graduate training, but accessibility, familiarity, and researcher’s self-identification also influenced their research topics, contexts, and relationships with their research participants. Furthermore, researchers’ active positioning themselves in relation to research content, contexts, and participants using their intersecting identities proved to be beneficial to their research. What our findings further suggest is that researchers embrace hybridity and multiplicity of subjectivities and identities in order to make a fair contribution to knowledge construction.     

Rethinking family (dis)engagement with augmentative & alternative communication

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a core component of special education for many children with learning disabilities and/or autism who have minimal or no speech. Much literature focuses on implementation of AAC in the classroom or therapy setting, but less is known about how AAC is used in the family home. Few studies are authored by an AAC parent/researcher with reflection on positionality, power and the advantages conferred by ‘insider’ status. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the perspectives of five families of minimally verbal children on the place of AAC in their child’s home communication. Semi-structured family interviews were transcribed and subjected to Thematic Analysis. Formal AAC practices such as Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Makaton were found to play a limited role in the children’s home communication. Findings indicate three possible explanations: the emotional and relationship-building dimensions of family communication; the competing priorities of family life with a disabled child; and the child’s existing multimodal communication strategies including the use of household objects. These findings offer a preliminary starting point for understanding the emic perspectives of AAC families and reasons for their convergence/divergence with professional attitudes to AAC, and warrant further investigation in larger-scale studies.     

Lifeworld and textualism: reassembling the researcher/ed and ‘others’

This response to McKenzie’s ‘post‐post’ concerns about environmental education research draws upon empirical, conceptual, anecdotal, metaphorical, imaged and poetic means to help the researcher ‘reassemble’ the researcher/ed by attending to her/his relational body and embodiment of various, often hegemonic, socially constructed environmental relations. The purpose is to reconcile body/lifeworld experiences and their sources (socio‐ecological ontology) with mind/text meaning‐making and representational strategies (epistemology) in methodologically advancing the capacity and claims of researchers to legitimize and politicize the aims, methods and consequences of their research. The paper concludes with the contours of a ‘post‐critical’ map for environmental education research.     

An inner‐city school mentor: a narrative inquiry of the life experiences of ‘Daddy’

A two‐year ethnographic observation of an inner‐city high school in Los Angeles, USA, indicated that the principal, who was extremely dedicated to at‐risk students and possessed a unique style of mentoring, played a major role in students academic achievement. We — the principal and the researcher who observed the school – inquired about the principal’s life experiences through interviews of the principal, his family members, school staff and students. We realized that the principal’s mentoring style coincided with the notion of a contemporary father model — a deeply involved and nurturing parent who establishes reciprocal caring relationships with his children. We also discovered that the principal gained knowledge about mentoring from his own mentors, and his commitment to at‐risk inner‐city students resulted from his personal experience as an at‐risk immigrant student.