Ask Us!: ATA

(Webinar) Qualitative research involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of narrative and visual data to gain insight into a particular phenomenon of interest. Since description, understanding, interpretation, and communication are the primary goals, the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and data analysis. Therefore, the strongest influence on the research process, including participant reactivity as well as the study’s outcomes, starts and ends with the researcher. This has significant implications throughout every stage of the research process, as the subjectivity, social identity, positionality of the researcher profoundly shape research processes and methods. Because the broader social context is duplicated within the research context, enacting the role of the researcher will reproduce the inherent hierarchical power structures that privilege some, silence some, and deny the existence of others. In order to be attentive to issues of diversity and inclusion, it is also important to highlight the ways research participants who identify as minorities or underrepresented or marginalized groups can feel as they engage with a researcher. This webinar will provide you with clarification regarding issues pertaining to researcher power and positionality. Specifically, you will learn more about: The role of the qualitative researcher, with emphasis on power and positionality, intersectionality, criticality, and reflexivity. Ways to ensure that hierarchical structures inherent in the research process do not diminish or undermine trustworthiness and ethical standards.