The Role of the Researcher

in Qualitative Research
Bethan Jones
Swetketu Patnaik
Sarah Robinson
Wayne St-Amour
Theme 1 – Identity & Context
 What does the researcher do to retain:
– Voice
– Self-interest
– Action orientation
 How & where does the researcher see themselves
making a difference?
 A tension emerges between the researcher and the
‘system’ requirements (institutional, academic journal
publications, researcher community practices)
Theme 2 – Our ‘Collective’
Environment

 Institutional‘career’ pressures – PhD as an

‘apprenticeship’
 Publication pressures – generate innovative
theory but, don’t be too ‘different’
 Researcher community pressures –
boundaries or locus of expertise?
Theme 3 – Beyond the Dialectic

How do we discover scenarios that transcend, the

either/or condition that deplete energy by forcing
choice of one polar opposite? We can engage in:
– Networks
– Communities
– Impartial mentors
– Models

Ideas are bigger than one person’s individual capability

 Researcher Role in Practice
(one view)

Researcher Engagement
& Reflection Qualitative Researcher
Practice Pressures from
Networks ‘the environment’
Communities
Mentors
Models
Researcher
Role