In this paper I explore the notion of reflexivity in two main domains. In the first, I explore my struggles as a trained objective, positivist researcher trying to embrace and appreciate subjective qualitative research practices. In the second section, I explore the dynamic relationship between myself, the researcher and my participants, focusing on issues related to ethnicity and power. Generally, research that explores ethnicity and power relationships commonly depicts the researcher as the privileged self compared with the participants as the marginalised other. However, in this paper I illustrate how this relationship in a multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual research context is much more complex and multifaceted than usually acknowledged. Moreover, this was further complicated by the researcher’s own experience in relation to the issue under investigation, which was different from that of the participants.
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3 August 2009
Review Article|
August 03 2009
Exploring the Researcher‐Participant Relationship in a Multiethnic, Multicultural and Multilingual Context Through Reflexivity Available to Purchase
Sumathi Renganathan
Sumathi Renganathan
Universiti Teknologi Petronas
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Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Online ISSN: 1448-0980
Print ISSN: 1443-9883
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2009
Qualitative Research Journal (2009) 9 (2): 3–17.
Citation
Renganathan S (2009), "Exploring the Researcher‐Participant Relationship in a Multiethnic, Multicultural and Multilingual Context Through Reflexivity". Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 9 No. 2 pp. 3–17, doi: https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902003
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