Abstract
Perils, Pitfalls and Reflexivity is an edited collection of papers which originate from a multi-disciplinary international conference on the possibilities and challenges of qualitative research in developing countries. The premise upon which the collection is based is that the voices of indigenous researchers undertaking qualitative research have been poorly represented in the literature on social research methodology. The book therefore acts as a vehicle through which those voices may be heard and in so doing, provides a resource for future researchers and students working in similar contexts. By drawing upon first-hand accounts of ‘insider’ researchers’ experiences of conducting research within diverse cultural contexts that are found in the global South, Perils, Pitfalls and Reflexivity also provides a critical lens through which broader debates and issues around qualitative research may be viewed.
The collection is structured around three main themes: contextual, ethical and methodological. The first theme, ‘Research North and South’, sets out to justify why the book has been produced and where the collection of papers may contribute to current debates around the ‘geo-politics of knowledge production’. The editors argue that the challenge behind the project requires researchers to develop culturally appropriate methodologies and ethical practices which have not necessarily been considered in scholarship originating from the North. Following this scene-setting chapter, Holliday then provides an excellent discussion of what all of this means for the task of undertaking and reporting research. In his chapter, ‘Submission, emergence and personal knowledge: New takes and principles for validity in decentred qualitative research’, he illustrates how he found new insights into research field phenomena by juxtaposing two possible perspectives on research data. Papers such as this, which balance theoretical discussion with accessible exemplars are few and far between, and I will certainly draw upon this chapter to teach advanced students about constructions of validity in qualitative research.
The second theme of the book focuses on ethics and contains three papers which are each drawn from research which has been conducted in Pakistan. Asif, in her paper ‘Obligations, roles and rights: Research ethics revisited’, discusses how ethical codes from the North cannot always be applied to the divergent circumstances of various research settings in the South. Asif illustrates how, if she were to follow institutional guidelines on informed consent, she would have violated the norms of the community she was studying. Qureshi, in her chapter ‘Ethical standards and ethical environment’, develops this theme further by exploring the interplay between the rules which form the basis of ethical standards and norms which constitute the ethical environment, or sociocultural setting.
The third theme of the collection is centred on qualitative methodologies in the South and there are papers drawn from research undertaken in Pakistan, Kenya, Iran and Mexico. The papers by Ashraf (‘Using a feminist standpoint for researching women’s lives in the rural mountain areas of Pakistan’) and by Rarieya (‘The complexities of researching the lives of women school leaders in Kenya’) are each positioned as feminist research. For Ashraf, a feminist research approach provides both possibilities and challenges. In particular, she stresses the importance of how the positions of the researcher and the researched need to be negotiated in indigenous cultures that comprise a complex web of inherent values and norms. Rarieya, in her study of how female school heads ‘do’ school leadership, uses a critical realist approach to explore how structures, powers and relations work beneath the observable surface appearance. By drawing upon a number of methods, including life history, focus group interviews, observation and documentary evidence, Rarieya sets out to gain a deeper understanding of the head teachers’ experiences and practices. Her account of how these methods were used within her field setting, demonstrates the complexities and contingencies which are inherent in the research process. For example, even in gaining access to participants, Rarieya points out how she was torn between wanting to both sell the study and not sell the study, i.e. wanting to encourage participation in the study while at the same time not wishing to insist that anyone should feel obliged to take part. Conducting interviews was also a ‘quagmire of complexities’ with constant mind-games and power plays at work. Likewise, using recording equipment proved to be a source of unease for participants as at the time of the study, there was a political scandal centering on revelations about government officials which had been secretly recorded. It is by exploring the consequential details of the methods she used, that Rarieya concludes that the processes of qualitative research are very much context dependent and far more complex than the standard ‘how to’ textbooks suggest.
Most of the papers in the collection are grounded in empirical research which has been undertaken for doctoral research. The editors suggest that the book could be used as a supplement to methods texts used in undergraduate and graduate levels courses offered in developing countries in the South and in this respect, Perils, Pitfalls and Reflexivity will provide researchers and students from the South with a rich seam of insights and inspiration. Holliday’s chapter makes the point that what matters in research is less the identity of the researchers and more how they position themselves within research contexts. Thus, for researchers in developed countries in the North, the collection provides informed accounts of how to address sensitivities and practices with respect to minority sociocultural groups. The chapters on research ethics make an informed and useful contribution to wider critiques of the processes and procedures used in the ethical review of social research and thus resonate with ongoing debates on ethics in research.
Many publishers are resistant to proposals for books which emerge from conference proceedings. It is a credit to the editors of the collection and to the Oxford University Press that they pursued this project as the papers within the collection are of a high quality and each provides a rich blend of theory, empirical context and debate.