Handling your Baggage in the Field: Reflections on research relationships

Knowles, Caroline. 2006. Handling your Baggage in the Field: Reflections on research relationships. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 9(5), pp. 393-404. ISSN 14645300 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This paper explores some of the benefits of pursuing difficult, antagonistic, research relationships in the context of biographical interviewing methods that are sensitive to spatial relationships. It argues that confronting sources of tension between researchers and informants and being more open about the emotional baggage we bring to the field as researchers yields more rigorous fieldwork with more insightful results. The argument is developed from a particularly difficult research relationship: an encounter between the author and a British expatriate diving instructor living in Hong Kong. The broader context of the research is the production of white privilege through migration and the operation of global/postcolonial landscape.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570601076819

Keywords:

research relationship, interviewing, interview, bibliography, bibliographical, researcher, research, informant, field, fieldwork, post-colonial

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Sociology

Dates:

DateEvent
1 December 2006Published

Item ID:

1989

Date Deposited:

12 Mar 2009 15:42

Last Modified:

07 Jul 2017 11:07

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/1989

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