Research encounters, reflexivity and supervision

Reflexivity in qualitative and ethnographic social science research can provide a rich source of data, especially regarding the affective, performative and relational aspects of interviews with research subjects. This paper explores by means of three case examples different ways of accessing and using such reflexivity. The examples are drawn from an empirical psycho-social study into the identity transitions of first-time mothers in an inner-city multicultural environment. Fieldnotes and supervision were used to engage with researcher subjectivity, to enhance the productive use of reflexivity and to address the emotional work of research. The methodology of the supervision was psychoanalytic, in its use of a boundaried frame and of psychoanalytic forms of noticing oneself, of staying engaged emotionally as well as creating a reflective distance. The examples illustrate how this can enhance the knowledge gained about the research subjects

Siblings, Stories and the Self: the sociological significance of young people’s sibling relationships

This article explores the significance of intra-generational ties with siblings to sociological understandings of the formation of social identity and sense of self in young people’s lives. Drawing on data from a qualitative study exploring young people’s sense of who they are and who they have the potential to become in the future, it is demonstrated that young people’s identities are often constructed in relation to how they are similar to or different from their sibling(s). Literature expounding the role of stories in the construction of the self is used to suggest that the comparing that is at the heart of the relational construction of sibling identities can occur through the telling and re-telling of family stories within the politics and power dynamics of existing relationships. The article concludes by suggesting that sibling relationships be conceptualized as part of a web of relationships in which young people are embedded

Mothers’ accounts of the impact on emotional wellbeing of organised peer support in pregnancy and early parenthood: a qualitative study

Background The transition to parenthood is a potentially vulnerable time for mothers’ mental health and approximately 9–21% of women experience depression and/or anxiety at this time. Many more experience sub-clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as stress, low self-esteem and a loss of confidence. Women’s emotional wellbeing is more at risk if they have little social support, a low income, are single parents or have a poor relationship with their partner. Peer support can comprise emotional, affirmational, informational and practical support; evidence of its impact on emotional wellbeing during pregnancy and afterwards is mixed. Methods This was a descriptive qualitative study, informed by phenomenological social psychology, exploring women’s experiences of the impact of organised peer support on their emotional wellbeing during pregnancy and in early parenthood. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with women who had received peer support provided by ten projects in different parts of England, including both projects offering ‘mental health’ peer support and others offering more broadly-based peer support. The majority of participants were disadvantaged Black and ethnic minority women, including recent migrants. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results 47 mothers were interviewed. Two key themes emerged: (1) ‘mothers’ self-identified emotional needs’, containing the subthemes ‘emotional distress’, ‘stressful circumstances’, ‘lack of social support’, and ‘unwilling to be open with professionals’; and (2) ‘how peer support affects mothers’, containing the subthemes ‘social connection’, ‘being heard’, ‘building confidence’, ‘empowerment’, ‘feeling valued’, ‘reducing stress through practical support’ and ‘the significance of “mental health” peer experiences’. Women described how peer support contributed to reducing their low mood and anxiety by overcoming feelings of isolation, disempowerment and stress, and increasing feelings of self-esteem, self-efficacy and parenting competence. Conclusion One-to-one peer support during pregnancy and after birth can have a number of interrelated positive impacts on the emotional wellbeing of mothers. Peer support is a promising and valued intervention, and may have particular salience for ethnic minority women, those who are recent migrants and women experiencing multiple disadvantages

Between Scylla and Charybdis: reconciling competing data management demands in the life sciences

Background: The widespread sharing of biological and biomedical data is recognised as a key element in facilitating translation of scientific discoveries into novel clinical applications and services. At the same time, twenty-first century states are increasingly concerned that this data could also be used for purposes of bioterrorism. There is thus a tension between the desire to promote the sharing of data, as encapsulated by the Open Data movement, and the desire to prevent this data from ‘falling into the wrong hands’ as represented by ‘dual use’ policies. Both frameworks posit a moral duty for life sciences researchers with respect to how they should make their data available. However, Open data and dual use concerns are rarely discussed in concert and their implementation can present scientists with potentially conflicting ethical requirements. Discussion: Both dual use and Open data policies frame scientific data and data dissemination in particular, though different, ways. As such they contain implicit models for how data is translated. Both approaches are limited by a focus on abstract conceptions of data and data sharing. This works to impede consensus-building between the two ethical frameworks. As an alternative, this paper proposes that an ethics of responsible management of scientific data should be based on a more nuanced understanding of the everyday data practices of life scientists. Responsibility for these ‘micromovements’ of data must consider the needs and duties of scientists as individuals and as collectively-organised groups. Summary: Researchers in the life sciences are faced with conflicting ethical responsibilities to share data as widely as possible, but prevent it being used for bioterrorist purposes. In order to reconcile the responsibilities posed by the Open Data and dual use frameworks, approaches should focus more on the everyday practices of laboratory scientists and less on abstract conceptions of data

The Generationing of Power: A Comparison of Child-Parent and Sibling Relations in Scotland

The paper concentrates on an exploration of power relations within families. The paper discusses parental power in relation to legitimacy, household resources and children’s anticipated reactions of adult discipline. The nature of sibling power is highlighted before exploring the reciprocal expectations of sibling and child-parent interactions. The paper ends by suggesting that the generationing of power relations can lead to differing degrees of backstage and frontstage performances within the home

Listening to the voices of women suffering perinatal psychological distress

This article suggests that transactional analysis can be an effective treatment approach for women suffering from mental health conditions and the emotional and life disturbances that may occur during the perinatal period. It offers a brief introduction to perinatal psychological distress followed by a description of the use of transactional analysis psychotherapy for this condition. The article outlines a new model for a research project that aims to ascertain women’s views on the helpfulness of the treatment and to gain a better understanding of the stigma often associated with perinatal mental health issues. The author argues for the necessity of qualitative research to assess the efficacy of transactional-analysis-based treatment and to increase our knowledge about the change process in transactional analysis psychotherapy with this client population as well as to inform future transactional analysis treatment protocols

Enchantment in Business Ethics Research

This article draws attention to the importance of enchantment in business ethics research. Starting from a Weberian understanding of disenchantment, as a force that arises through modernity and scientific rationality, we show how rationalist business ethics research has become disenchanted as a consequence of the normalisation of positivist, quantitative methods of inquiry. Such methods absent the relational and lively nature of business ethics research and detract from the ethical meaning that can be generated through research encounters. To address this issue, we draw on the work of political theorist and philosopher, Jane Bennett, using this to show how interpretive qualitative research creates possibilities for enchantment. We identify three opportunities for reenchanting business ethics research related to: (i) moments of novelty or disruption; (ii) deep, meaningful attachments to things studied; and (iii) possibilities for embodied, affective encounters. In conclusion, we suggest that business ethics research needs to recognise and reorient scholarship towards an appreciation of the ethical value of interpretive, qualitative research as a source of potential enchantment

Whose domain and whose ontology?:Preserving human radical reflexivity over the efficiency of automatically generated feedback alone

In this chapter, we challenge an increase in the uncritical application of algorithmic processes for providing automatically generated feedback for students, within a neoliberal framing of contemporary higher education. Initially, we discuss our concerns alongside networked learning principles, which developed as a critical pedagogical response to new online learning programmes and platforms. These principles now overlap too, with the notion that we are living in ‘postdigital’ times, where automatically generated feedback never stands alone, but is contested and supplemented by physical encounters and human feedback. First, we make observations on the e-marking platform Turnitin, alongside other rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems. When generic (but power-laden) maps are incorporated into both student and staff ‘perceived’ spaces through AI, we surface the aspects of feedback that risk being lost. Second, we draw on autoethnographic understandings of our own lived experience of performing radically reflexive feedback within a Master’s in Education programme. A radically reflexive form of feedback may not follow a pre-defined map, but it does offer a vehicle to restore individual student and staff voices and critical self-navigation of both physical and virtual learning spaces. This needs to be preserved in the ongoing shaping of the contemporary ‘postdigital’ university

Big data, qualitative style:A breadth‑and‑depth method for working with large amounts of secondary qualitative data

Archival storage of data sets from qualitative studies presents opportunities for combining small-scale data sets for reuse/secondary analysis. In this paper, we outline our approach to combining multiple qualitative data sets and explain why working with a corpus of 'big qual' data is a worthwhile endeavour. We present a new approach that iteratively combines recursive surface thematic mapping and in-depth interpretive work. Our breadth-and-depth method involves a series of steps: 1) surveying archived data sets to create a new assemblage of data; 2) recursive surface thematic mapping in dialogue with 3) preliminary ‘test pit’ analysis, remapping and repetition of preliminary analysis; and 4) in-depth analysis of the type that is familiar to most qualitative researchers. In so doing, we show how qualitative researchers can conduct ‘big qual’ analysis while retaining the distinctive order of knowledge about social processes that is the hallmark of rigorous qualitative research, with its integrity of attention to nuanced context and detail

Motherhood: Female Perspectives and Experiences of Being a Parent with ASC

Little is known about the emotional pressures and practical management of daily challenges and, intra and interpersonal demands of raising a child as a parent with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Conditions. The present study utilised a qualitative approach to understand perceptions of females diagnosed on the autistic spectrum of ‘being a parent’. Eight semi-structured interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Benefits and challenges of being a parent were highlighted alongside population-specific skill and characteristics associated with strength and resilience, love, nurture, routine and sensory considerations. Findings identify the need for population-specific specialist parenting support, provide direction for professionals in clinical settings and expand the paucity of research in this area