International Journal of Social Research Methodology · 2004 · 146 citations · 0 references
Critical Race TheoryCritical Discourse AnalysisParticipant ObservationEducationSocial SciencesQualitative InterpretationResearch TopicEthnic StudiesResearch PracticesBlack Feminist TheoryPublic InvolvementQualitative SociologyFeminist ScholarshipIntersectionalityFeminist ScienceEthnomethodologyFeminist MethodologiesFeminist Disability StudiesCultureState TheoryEpistemologyEthnographyAnthropologyLived ExperienceQualitative MethodCultural Anthropology
The article frames its discussion of researching others within four conceptions of “otherness” and debates in methodology, epistemology, ontology, and research practice, emphasizing researcher self‑reflexivity, the interrogation of social knowledge bases, political agendas, and the integration of materialism and critical discourse analysis as a unified socio‑political project. The study investigates the feasibility and challenges of conducting qualitative and ethnographic research on gender, disability, ethnicity, and racialization when the researcher lacks direct experience of those divisions, with particular attention to experience, standpoint, and participation. The discussion concludes that researching others requires attention to historical context and the maintenance of a critical relationship to the research topic.
This article examines the possibility and challenges of carrying out research, especially qualitative and ethnographically-orientated research, into areas such as gender, disability, ethnicity and racialization, without the researcher having direct experience of those specific social divisions and oppressions. Discussion of these questions is framed by four differential understandings of the concept of ‘otherness’ and linked with debates in the areas of research methodology, epistemology, ontology and research practices. Issues of experience, ‘standpoint’ and participation are specifically focused on. The resulting discussion leads to the conclusion that in ‘researching others’ attention has to be paid to historical context and to the maintenance of a critical relation to the research topic. A sustaining focus on the self-reflexivity of the researcher as author and the continual interrogation of the social bases of knowledge, together with a detail understanding of political agendas, are also important. In paying attention to these aspects of research, materialism and critical discourse analysis are to be seen as part of the same broad socio-political project rather than as opposing and mutually exclusive perspectives.