QMMR Qualitative and Multi-Method Research

Spring 2024 | Volume 22.1

Inside:

Letter from the Editors

Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos and Juan Masullo

Symposium: Reflexivity from Theory to Practice

Contributors: Kristine Eck, Amanda Lanigan, Kai M. Thaler, Chiara
Ruffa, Elin Bjarnegård and Susanna P. Campbell

Original Article: Connecting, Venting, and Doing the “Behind

the Scenes” Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights
to a Comparative Digital Data Collection Project
Authors: Julia M. Zulver, Emma Turiño, Eilidibeth Córdova, Andrea
Maria Reyes López and Ila Zelmanovitz Axelrod

Original Article: Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

Author: Ozlem Tuncel

Notes from the Field: Walking the Terrains of Burma:

Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork
Author: Jieun Baek

ISSN: 2153-6767
 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Spring 2024 | Volume 22.1

Table of Contents
Letter from the Editors.................................................................................................................................... 4
Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos and Juan Masullo - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097608

Symposium: Reflexivity from Theory to Practice

Reflexivity from Theory to Practice: Introduction to the Symposium.................................................. 6
Kristine Eck, Amanda Lanigan, Kai M. Thaler, Chiara Ruffa, Elin Bjarnegård and Susanna P.
Campbell - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506664

Doing Reflexivity......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Kristine Eck and Amanda Lanigan - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506741

Reflexivity and Openness in Conducting and Presenting Research: What Should We Share
and When?...........................................................................................................................................................16
Kai M. Thaler - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506771

Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations............ 23
Chiara Ruffa - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506790

The Need for Reflexivity in Scholarly Writing ................................................................................................ 31

Elin Bjarnegård - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506810

Give and Take: How Reflexivity Enables Ethical Policy-Engaged Research...................................36

Susanna P. Campbell - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506837

Original Article
Connecting, Venting, and Doing the “Behind the Scenes” Work: Bringing Feminist and
Decolonial Insights to a Comparative Digital Data Collection Project......................................41
Julia M. Zulver, Emma Turiño, Eilidibeth Córdova, Andrea Maria Reyes López, Ila Zelmanovitz
Axelrod - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097678

Original Article
Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers.......................................................................................53
Ozlem Tuncel - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097657

2 | Table of Contents
 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Spring 2024 | Volume 22.1

Notes from the Field

Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork......................61
Jieun Baek - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097692

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 3

 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Letter from the Editors

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097608

We are happy to publish a new issue of QMMR,

our fourth as editors. We are going public with a
APSA-QMMR fresh look. The underlying reason for this saddens
us. Our previous typesetter and graphic designer,
Section Officers
President Tony Aronica, passed away suddenly earlier this
Jennifer Cyr | Universidad Torcuato Di Tella year. We take this opportunity to thank Tony for
his excellent work over the last few years and
Vice-President extend our sincere condolences to his family and
Jessica Rich | Marquette University friends. Valeria Goldsztein has now joined the
QMMR team from Buenos Aires. She has a done
Secretary-Treasurer
a fantastic job redesigning the publication on very
Tasha Fairfield | London School of Economics
short notice and will be typesetting our issues from
DEI Officer now on. Welcome on board! We would also like to
Roselyn Hsueh | Temple University thank Nuffield College for generously funding the
publication’s new design.
QMMR Editors As field researchers ourselves, seeing the
Ezequiel González Ocantos | University of Oxford current issue organically become a “fieldwork
Juan Masullo Jiménez | Leiden University issue” was very exciting. In the following pages,
you will find serious efforts to think and rethink
At-Large Executive Committee Members
fieldwork from multiple angles. First, we feature
Diana Fu | University of Toronto
Akshay Mangla | University of Oxford a symposium, edited by Kristin Eck, on reflexivity.
Yanilda Gonzalez | Harvard University While much has been written on reflexivity, including
Sara Niedzwiecki | University of California, Santa Cruz articles in past QMMR issues, contributions to
this symposium really push the boundaries. Their
2024 Nominating Committee Members
reflections cut across subfields, epistemologies,
Leonardo Arriola | University of California, Berkeley
Domingo Morel | New York University
and methodological approaches, and, perhaps
Erica Simmons | University of Wisconsin most importantly, move the discussion “from
Sean Yom | Temple University theory to practice.” This symposium is truly “all
Sherry Zaks | University of Southern California things ‘doing reflexivity’.” An important addition to
an important literature.
2024 Division Co-Chairs
This issue also comes with two original articles.
Ben Smith | University of Florida
Adrienne LeBas | American University
In the first, Julia Zulver and her team discuss topics
related to digital fieldwork, which has increasingly
become part of our toolkit, especially after the
COVID-19 pandemic. As if this was not enough of
an invitation for field researchers to think outside

4 | Letter from the Editors

 Letter from the Editors

of the box, the authors reflect on how to bring feminist and decolonial approaches into how we collect
data digitally. By reflecting on their experience in a project that interviewed 100 at-risk women activists
online across various Latin American countries, they show us that it is possible to bring feminist and
decolonial practices to studies exploring sensitive issues and to inject “closeness” into distant, online
data collection processes.
Continuing the conversation on collecting data in the field, the second article by Ozlem Tuncel focuses
on elite interviewing. Noting that specific training on how to interview elites is often missing in Ph.D.
training, she draws on her experience interviewing politicians, government officials, and political party
leaders in Turkey for her dissertation work. Her piece offers a great deal of advice addressing a wide range
of issues, including but not limited to arranging interviews, positionality of the researcher, and interview
organization and preparation. Like the symposium on reflexivity, this piece is as practical as it gets!
We close this issue with a fascinating Note from the Field that, in many ways, pulls together the themes
featured in the rest of the issue: fieldwork, reflexivity, interviews, and high-risk environments. Jiuen Baek
walks us through how she navigated the terrains of Burma trying to understand what motivates first
movers to express dissent in authoritarian regimes. Readers will not only learn about her inspiring and
relevant work but also how to think about positionality in light of the challenges she did anticipate and
those she didn’t.
We regret that this issue is seeing the light without a Note from the Classroom. Our bad. We promise
we will compensate for this flaw in our following issues.
Before we let you scroll down the issue and learn from these great contributions, we would like to
reiterate our usual call to all members of the QMMR community to submit original articles, symposia, and
notes from the field and classroom for our consideration. Articles and symposia will be typically peer-
reviewed, whereas we will review notes in-house. You can find details about submission guidelines on our
website: https://www.qmmrpublication.com
See you at APSA2024, where we will host our regular reception. If not coming to Philly, see you in our
next issue!

Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos Juan Masullo J.

University of Oxford Leiden Unviersity

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 5

 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Symposium: Reflexivity from Theory

to Practice
Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506664

Reflexivity from Theory to Practice: Introduction

to the Symposium

Elin Bjarnegård Amanda Lanigan

Uppsala University Uppsala University

Susanna Campbell Chiara Ruffa

American University Sciences Po

Kristine Eck Kai Thaler

Aalborg University University of California, Santa Barbara

This symposium aims to help researchers across socialization into specific disciplinary cultures
subfields, epistemologies, and methodological and traditions, and language (Alejandro and Knott
approaches not only understand the importance of 2022). Reflexivity thus entails reflecting on how
reflexivity, but how to apply it in practice. Reflexivity particular contingent and contextual factors within
represents a basic, foundational idea: our identity and outside of our control might have shaped the
as researchers matters for the validity, outcome, research process, and how to deal with them. Some
and ethics of our research. For the researcher, aspects of reflexivity are outside of our control
reflexivity entails thinking about oneself, one’s (like how the research subjects perceive us), while
thinking, and one’s actions and how they affect the others are components we can change, contain,
research lifecycle (Ben-Ari 2014, 30). Reflexivity emphasize, and mitigate. We should become more
requires that the researcher take seriously both aware of both and practice reflexivity with the goal
the dynamic nature of the research process and of conducting ethically sound, respectful, and
the intersectional identities of researcher and rigorous reflexive research.
respondent, alike. It also requires acknowledging, Reflexivity also extends to language, not only
throughout the research process, the ways our as language per se, but in the sense that “how
research and analysis might be (or has been) [researchers speak] about the world contributes
shaped by our intersectional identities and those to the shaping of this world” (Alejandro and Knott
of our research participants (Soedirgo and Glas 2022, 3). We are all conducting research from our
2020; Thomas 2018), by our personal behavior and specific disciplinary standpoints and contributing
interactions, and by our ideas, thought processes, in different ways the social sciences’ “shaping [of]

6 | Reflexivity from Theory to Practice: Introduction to the Symposium

social reality and hierarchies” (Leander 2002 in to consider approaches abandoned or not taken
Alejandro and Knott 2022, 4). Practicing reflexivity and failing to account for researchers’ choices
may also help us become aware of the processes at different junctures in the research process
of knowledge production that contribute to the introduces bias (Bond 2018; Thomas 2018).
reproduction of more or less hidden hierarchies There are five papers in this symposium. The
(see for instance Alejandro 2018). The papers in first, Eck and Lanigan, focuses on strategies for
this symposium underscore that the ambit for “doing” reflexivity, offering several suggestions for
reflexivity is far broader than has been previously structuring the process of reflexivity, while also
understood, pushing back against a pervasive underscoring the need for the individual researcher
assumption amongst some scholars that reflexive to adjudicate as to which facets of this process
practices are only relevant—or even appropriate— are relevant for their particular project. Thaler
for research orientations that embrace subjectivity, then discusses the practicalities of reflexivity
such as constructivism, interpretivism, critical and openness during the research process and
theory, and postmodernism. We argue that when presenting or publishing research, focusing
reflexivity should be understood as essential to on tensions between ideals of transparency
all kinds of research, including but not limited to and the ethical, personal, and professional risks
fieldwork, on both ethical and methodological researchers confront. Ruffa addresses reflexivity
grounds. Our symposium rests primarily on the in elite contexts, in which power differentials
contributions of researchers doing fieldwork, are not as clear-cut as when studying vulnerable
but this conversation aims to reach all kinds of populations. Her contribution problematizes how to
research. Recent research has highlighted the practice reflexivity within those contexts, including
ethical challenges of doing archival research and how to navigate elite relations, how to identify and
desk-based work utilizing social media datasets engage with pockets of vulnerabilities, and how to
or preexisting datasets (Hoover Green and Cohen use with integrity the power the researcher retains.
2021; Subotić 2021), and a growing debate in Bjarnegård reflects on how to achieve reflexivity in
neighboring disciplines suggest that reflexivity is output (i.e., in scholarly writing), starting with the
required not only when working directly with human observation that even when reflexivity is practiced in
subjects. Without an awareness of the power the research process it is not necessarily adequately
relations into which one enters as a researcher, one reflected and communicated in subsequent
may misjudge the risk of harm from our research scholarly publications. This article underscores
(Mwambari 2019). Reflexivity’s requirement that the need for gatekeepers like reviewers and editors
the researcher assess power relations relative to to encourage and enable such reflection. Finally,
others is thus an integral tool for ethical research Campbell discusses how reflexivity throughout
practice. the research process enables researchers to
We aim to raise awareness of the importance of understand both the ethical obligation of giving
reflexivity as an endeavor that is not specific to one back to the communities they research and the
methodology or one epistemology. Further work best means of ethical policy engagement.
may engage more systematically with the nuances
of how to apply reflexivity in more difficult or rare
situations, such as when quantitative work tries to
incorporate interpretivist principles and practices
(English and Nielsen 2022). Across research
approaches, however, reflexive assessment of
power and practices also generates crucial meta-
knowledge about the research process, providing
analytical leverage that can improve the quality
of research and the transparency of the research
process. Even in a positivistic framework, failure

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 7

References

Alejandro, Audrey. 2018. Western Dominance in International Relations? The Internationalisation of IR in Brazil and
India. London: Routledge.
Alejandro, Audrey, and Eleanor Knott. 2022. “How to Pay Attention to the Words We Use: The Reflexive Review as a
Method for Linguistic Reflexivity.” International Studies Review 24, no. 3 (September): viac025.
Ben-Ari, Eyal. 2014. “Reflexivity. ‘Potentially Dangerous Liaisons,’” in Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in
Military Studies, edited by Joe Soeters, Patricia Shields, and Bas Rietjens, 29-39. London: Routledge.
Bond, Kanisha D. 2018. “Reflexivity and Revelation.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research 16, no.1 (Spring): 45–7.
English, Jasmine, and Richard A. Nielsen. 2022. “Interpretation for Positivists.” Working paper. https://www.mit.
edu/%7Ernielsen/interpretation.pdf.
Hoover Green, Amelia, and Dara Kay Cohen. 2021. “Centering Human Subjects: The Ethics of ‘Desk Research’ on
Political Violence.” Journal of Global Security Studies 6, no.2 (June): ogaa029.
Mwambari, David. 2019. “Local Positionality in the Production of Knowledge in Northern Uganda.” International
Journal of Qualitative Methods 18: 1–12.
Soedirgo, Jessica, and Aarie Glas. 2020. “Toward Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of
Knowledge.” PS: Political Science & Politics 53, no.3 (July): 527–31.
Subotić, Jelena. 2021. Ethics of Archival Research on Political Violence. Journal of Peace Research 58, no. 3 (May):
342–54.
Thomas, Lahoma. 2018. “Dear Political Science, It Is Time for a SELF-REFLEXIVE Turn!” Duck of Minerva. December
18, 2018. https://www.duckofminerva.com/2018/12/dear-political-science-it-is-time-for-a-self-reflexive-turn.
html.

8 | Reflexivity from Theory to Practice: Introduction to the Symposium

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506741

Doing Reflexivity
Kristine Eck
Aalborg University

Amanda Lanigan
Uppsala University

All human interactions contain some element power relations exist between ourselves and
of power relations. In the context of social research participants as a consequence of our
science research in which researchers seek to relative positions is termed reflexivity.2
obtain information from research participants, There is a vast literature on reflexivity across the
these power relations are readily apparent. Who social sciences. In many respects this literature
asks the questions and who answers? Do rules is daunting in its complexity and abstraction.
around the setting and which questions may There is little consensus on what reflexivity is;
be posed situate the researcher in a position of sometimes it is understood as an epistemological
weakness, as is often the case with researching assumption, sometimes as a method, and
political elites (Ruffa, this symposium)? Or is sometimes as a practice. We focus here on the
the researcher in a position of power, able to practice of reflexivity. The reflexive turn across
induce participation by virtue of vast systemic the social sciences has encouraged scholars to
imbalances embedded in research structures, embrace the practice of assessing positionality
framings, and identities? and power, but, with some exceptions, the literature
The literature on research ethics within the provides little guidance about the practicalities
social sciences discusses these issues of power of reflexive practices. How does one actually do
relations in terms of positionality. This literature reflexivity? In this article, we foreground some
challenges us to think about the fluid and complex tools and strategies for engaging in reflexivity,
nature of positionality, going beyond a surface while also warning against treating reflexivity as
level examination of the researcher’s identities— a checklist which is superficially performed for
such as nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, social research audiences (see Thaler, this symposium).
class, family, gender, education, ideology, prior Our primary audience is students and scholars
experience, research background, and other who are new to reflexivity and are seeking advice
elements of their social biography—to consider on how to get started and how to structure their
the way these exist within both context specific work.
and larger systems of social stratification via
intersectional analysis.1 The process of assessing
what our positions are as researchers, and what

1 The literature stresses the importance of intersectional analysis in this endeavor, arguing that simplified insider/outsider
dichotomies are reductive; scholars positioned as insiders on one dimension (e.g., class or race or education) may be outsiders
on other dimensions; insider status can be an asset as well as a liability in the research process. Though social bonds may provide
entry points, they do not automatically mitigate the power dynamics of research, and being an outsider on certain dimensions does
not beget neutrality or objectivity.
2 For a bibliography on reflexivity and positionality in contentious politics research, see https://advancingconflictresearch.com/
identity

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 9

The Utility of Reflexivity civil war studies, scholars have examined which
sorts of violent events become public—and are
We understand reflexivity as part of the therefore included in datasets—and which do not,
entire human participant research process, as a way to consider data quality and the risk for
from conceptualization and preparation to data introducing bias into statistical analyses (Dietrich
gathering, to analysis and presentation of the and Eck 2020). In a qualitative setting, the data
findings (Berger 2015).3 The ambit for reflexivity generation process can consist of, for example,
is far broader than typically understood, for both the interaction with a research participant (e.g., an
methodological and ethical reasons (Bond 2018; interview or focus group). Engaging in reflexivity
Thomas 2018). Because reflexivity has been an prompts the researcher to consider more than just
integral part of interpretivist and post-positivist what is being said, but also to consider possible
scholarship, it is fair to ask whether reflexivity is motivations for saying it, as well as motivations
antithetical to objectivity.4 for omission. Similarly, in quantitative datasets,
We argue, on the contrary, that reflexivity can researchers may create precision codes, which
increase objectivity by increasing the data available quantify the level of uncertainty the researcher
to the researcher in their analysis because it has about the accuracy of a datapoint. This data
provides a means to generate information on can then be used both to refine the researcher’s
the research process itself. Seen this way, the analysis and communicate with other users
observations the researcher makes about power of the data. In a qualitative setting, the active
relations and how they influence the research reflection required when engaging in reflexivity
setting can serve as valuable metadata (Bond offers analogous opportunities for the researcher
2018; Thomas 2018). Metadata is data about to qualify uncertainty or risk for bias in the
data, including its origins. The type of metadata information provided by human participants. As in
generated by reflexive engagement can be used quantitative settings, the researcher can then use
to nuance and contextualize the analysis, arguably this form of metadata to refine and enrichen their
improving its validity by taking into consideration analysis. It also offers opportunities to increase
the many non-textual aspects of the context in transparency about the investigative process.
which the data were collected. When a scholar Beyond its methodological advantages, there is
conducts an interview while engaging in reflexivity, also the issue of research ethics. We may misjudge
they will have not only the text from the interview the risk for harm from our research without an
transcripts available for analysis, but will also be awareness of the power relations into which
equipped to consider, for example, the way that one enters as a researcher (Mwambari 2019).
information was framed or whether information Understanding how contexts and identities impact
may have been withheld. the prospects for adverse outcomes means that
In quantitative methodologies, we often speak reflexive assessments of power and positionality
of this as the data generation process, where also serve as integral tools for ethical research
the aim is to understand why some data are practice.
made public and can therefore be collected and A major obstacle to providing generalized
coded into a dataset, while other data remain advice on how to go about reflexivity, however, is
obscure or unknown. For example, in the field of the vast diversity of contexts in which researchers

3 Reflexivity is a tool that can be applied to a wide array of research methods, qualitative and quantitative. Nor is reflexivity in
qualitative research confined to human participant research; it can also be useful in archival work, desk studies, text analysis, and
other qualitative techniques. We focus here on reflexivity in the context of human participant research for pragmatic reasons. Above
all, the stakes are arguably the highest in human participant research when it comes to the risk for harm. This article was also
motivated to meet the needs of our students who wish to conduct human participant research using reflexive tools.
4 To be clear: our focus is not on combining ontological perspectives like interpretivism and positivism (e.g., English and Nielsen
2022). We argue rather that reflexivity is itself a tool, the utility of which is not constrained to a single ontological perspective.

10 | Doing Reflexivity
work. It is daunting to consider how researcher tends towards an undue focus on the researcher.
and participant-related identities will play out in This is indeed a risk when reflexivity is practiced
different contexts for different individuals. Much superficially, to check off a box to satisfy external
of the literature on reflexivity and positionality auditors of one’s research output (Thaler, this
naturally reflects the personal experiences that symposium). In many pieces, reflexivity starts
the authors face as a result of their identities, the and ends with a paragraph stating one’s identity
identities of their respondents, and the context in as a researcher, and is not analytically revisited
which their work is conducted. This literature is (Bjarnegård, this symposium). But to dismiss
enormously diverse and inspiring, but there is a reflexivity because it has been poorly practiced
disinclination to provide general advice beyond the is to ignore the larger underlying issue: that
admonishment to be aware of positionality and to reflexivity is occasionally practiced (or reported) in
engage in reflexive assessments as preparation a shallow manner suggests that social scientists
for fieldwork. Notable exceptions include Berger lack training and guidance in the practice of
(2015), Finlay (2002), Olmos-Vega et al. (2023), and reflexivity itself. To change that, we need more
Soedirgo and Glas (2020). discussions and debates in the field that center
While researchers must take responsibility for the the practicalities of reflexive analysis.
deep work that is required for meaningful reflexive
practice, our aim is to provide inspiration for that Structured Reflexive Journaling
process. There is no single way to do reflexivity
(Thaler, this symposium), and reflexivity is not a Building on Soedirgo and Glass (2020), we
remedy for fundamentally uneven power dynamics suggest that structured reflexive journaling offers
in research (Bouka 2018). Learning to recognize a foundation on which researchers can build
subjectivity and bias and better account for it can a dynamic reflexive practice. While qualitative
draw attention to the power disparities in research researchers are accustomed to taking field
relationships and can improve the research itself notes which include reflections on the research
(Väyrynen et al. 2021). Yet reflexivity need not process, what we propose is a more structured
be totally individualized, and in an ideal world, activity. Positionality is fluid, shifting across
scholars could draw on the deep pool of experience time, space, and social interactions. Structured
with reflexivity across international studies. In this journaling centers these fluid temporal dynamics
article, we aim to contribute to creating such an by proposing that the researcher create a set of
inclusionary community for practicing reflexivity guiding questions about positionality to consider—
and provide some suggestions on how to structure across levels of analysis and across time.
this work, including structured reflexive journaling Because reflexivity centers human interaction—
and de-centering the researcher. We also share preparing for it, engaging in it, learning from it,
some common pitfalls in this process. In our online reporting on it, and contextualizing information
appendix, the reader will find a list of questions acquired in the process of it—it typically occurs
compiled from the reflexivity literature that may be at multiple levels of analysis: one can assess
helpful in this endeavor. oneself (“personal reflexivity”); the participant(s)
We suggest that it is important to discuss the or data encountered; dyadic power relations
practice of reflexivity in practical terms because (“interpersonal reflexivity”); and the setting in
in our experience, many students and researchers which the interaction occurs, including the power
struggle with how to engage with the process structures in which the interaction is embedded
itself. A recurring criticism of reflexivity is that it (“contextual reflexivity”) (Olmos-Vega et al. 2023).5

5 Olmos-Vega et al. (2023) also discuss “methodological reflexivity,” which considers the researcher’s epistemological perspective
and the resulting methodological decisions that are taken. There are numerous other categorizations of reflexivity to be found in the
literature.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 11

 This means that the researcher can engage relevant only for certain stages of the research
in reflexivity at multiple levels of analysis and process. While researchers should establish a set
at multiple points in time. Figure 1 provides an of guiding questions in the planning stage, these
example of how researchers might structure are usually revised and supplemented as the
this work. Each cell can be populated with the research process unfolds and new issues emerge.
questions the researcher thinks relevant to Researchers commonly engage informally in this
pose at that juncture. Which questions are of type of updating as they learn more about the
greatest relevance may change over the course context in which they operate, but these insights
of the research process. In the online appendix, are rarely recorded. Reflexive journaling offers a
we have compiled over 100 questions from the structure to make visible to the researcher these
reflexivity literature (and formulated some of our considerations. Adding these steps creates
own) to provide a starting place for this work. more labor, but it also creates opportunities to
These questions should not be understood as improve the work and to gain insights prompting
fixed guidelines but rather as a pool of previous the researcher to re-visit and re-consider how the
experience from which researchers can draw on research is being conducted. The temporal cues
in their own work.6 Some questions may resonate that we propose in Figure 1 are only suggestions;
with a researcher, while others may seem pointless for some projects, reflexivity may be a continuous
or unhelpful; the point is not that all of these process, while in others, it may be punctuated by
questions must be asked, but that they serve as a critical reflexive junctures.7
resource for researchers to pull from and build on This documentation may also be useful to
as they wish in their own reflexive practice. the researcher when analyzing and presenting
the research in written form (Bjarnegård, this
Figure 1. Example Structure symposium), since it serves as a reminder of the
Self (Each) Dyadic Context metadata relating to positionality and power that
participant relations were collected alongside the topical information
Preparation the researcher gathered. This can facilitate
Outset an interpretation of the data in light of power
of data relations, for example, by thinking more critically
collection
about pauses and hesitations, where questions
After
interactions
were sidestepped, and how what is said reflects
or at pre-set or diverges from common narratives (Fujii
times 2010). Revisiting this material in later stages can
After data facilitate nuanced analysis and interpretation as
collection
the researcher communicates their findings to a
During variety of venues (Campbell, this symposium).
analysis
That said, we do not take a position on whether
For reflexive practices should be reported in published
presentation
work. Some researchers may be uncomfortable
Throughout with discussing their identities in publication, for
a variety of personal or professional reasons.
Our focus here is on reflexive practice, not on the
Some questions might be returned to iteratively question of how much, if any, of that work enters
after new interactions to calibrate whether new the public domain.
insights have been gleaned. Others might be

6 Over-standardization can be damaging if the researcher treats it solely as a tool to validate conclusions and safeguard against
criticism.
7 We are grateful to Sarah Parkinson for this insight.

12 | Doing Reflexivity
Decentering Ourselves cues, like being a university student) influence
respondents’ willingness to participate in a survey
As we’ve seen, the existing literature provides and the answers which they provide (e.g., pose a
us with examples of how to reflect on our roles risk for social desirability bias or other data quality
and identities, and how to consider what privileges issues). The nature of survey research means that
and risks these confer for ourselves and research scholars must anticipate these issues and plan for
participants. But there is an important “known them in advance, including exploring them through
unknown” in this equation: how do the others pilot studies. Enumerators themselves are often the
involved in research understand positionality and first to identify issues relating to how prospective
power? respondents respond to enumerator identities.
Human participant research involves not only Indeed, many researchers have de facto engaged
oneself, the participant, and the context, but also in reflexivity, even if they do not realize it.
various research associates involved in a given The idea of “decentering” means recognizing
interaction, for example, translators, research the fact that the research participants and
assistants, enumerators, and “fixers” or other associates can contribute to the reflexive
middlemen who introduce the researcher to the process itself (MacLean 2013; Malejacq and
participant. The researcher must consider the Mukhopadhyay 2016; Mwambari 2019). Co-
interpersonal dynamics between all of those construction of knowledge is a common idea in
involved to fully appreciate the power dynamics participatory methodologies, which seek to create
of a given interaction; each additional person a collaborative dialogue that acknowledges and
involved in a research encounter impacts on partially mitigates (but can never truly flatten) the
the reflexive environment and increases the hierarchies between researcher and others (Bouka
complexity of assessing positionality (Malejacq 2018; Finlay 2002). Decentering the researcher
and Mukhopadhyay 2016). provides an opening for reflexivity as a shared
For example, what sort of identities are signaled enterprise extending beyond the researcher’s own
by a translator? What social status do they have horizon and recognizing that participants also
(and is reflected in their language), how embedded reflexively consider researchers and research
are they in a given community, and how might associates as they navigate power dynamics
these factors impact on participants’ comfort or embedded in the research process.
concerns about repercussions? Who set up the Likewise, research associates can also inform
interaction? What are their identities, and what reflexive assessments. Indeed, reflexivity can be
are the social power dynamics that inform their embedded in the process as a team activity, for
relations with the participant? Are there bonds of example, by soliciting feedback on the research
reciprocity or patronage? What debts are being journal from research associates. Associates
paid and what are being made by virtue of arranging can not only share their own insights; they can be
this interaction? What risks might be present for resources for triangulating reflexive assessments
research participants and associates, and how participants (Malejacq and Mukhopadhyay 2016).
might these shift with different interactions and Where do associates disagree (with each other,
contexts? Many of these concerns may be familiar the participant, or the researcher) about power
even from quantitative, positivist research settings. relations? Probing these issues explicitly may
For example, survey researchers often tackle the help researchers to identify blind spots as well as
question of who to hire as enumerators, especially recognize and mitigate previous assumptions.
in divided societies.8 How might enumerators’ Beyond involving research participants and
gender, ethnic or racial identity (or other social associates, researchers may also solicit feedback

8 Many of these points are also applicable to other forms of quantitative data collected from human participants, such as field
experiments.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 13

from outside of the research environment, for has the power to decide which perspectives are
example, through a peer support network of others considered (Finlay 2002).9
with contextual expertise. By virtue of their remove
from the immediate research environment, these Concluding Remarks
peers may provide useful perspective and advice
on the reflexive process. Scholars can draw on This article argues that reflexive analysis can
conversations with mentors, students, colleagues, improve the quality of human participant research
and friends to advance their reflexive thinking. At in both methodological and ethical terms,
the same time, we acknowledge that this practice regardless of the researcher’s epistemological
can come with a certain degree of privilege, and perspective. Even those with positivist, objective
that there are power relations within academic aims can benefit from engaging in reflexivity. To
communities which may influence scholars’ ability structure reflexive analyses and to trace their
to engage in reflexive practices. That reflexivity evolution across the research process is to provide
is becoming increasingly visible in international texture and nuance to the data collected, and to
studies, however, allows scholars to also tap into work actively to prevent harm to participants.
a broader knowledge base. There are many pitfalls to navigate, including
But it is important not to go into these superficiality, self-centeredness, unresolvable
discussions naïvely, under the assumption that complexity, and the appearance of a single “true”
by virtue of this collaboration power disparities account. Reflexivity seems a rather daunting task,
are erased and the risks involved in operating and there is no single way to “do” reflexivity. Indeed,
within these larger unequal structures are the reflexivity literature proposes a multitude of
mitigated (Bouka 2018). In these dialogues, different, and often conflicting, visions for what
researchers must ask themselves: how are reflexivity even means for knowledge production.
contextual power dynamics likely to impact on We deliberately sidestep these debates, to focus
the associates’ and participants’ ability to speak instead on introducing the benefits of reflexivity
freely? This is especially important to consider in to readers who may not be familiar with them,
contexts where associates are asked to engage and to provide suggestions on how to get started
in the reflexive process as part of their work on a with the nuts and bolts of reflexive practice for
project. Ascertaining the true opinions of research those who do not have training in this approach.
associates and participants poses methodological We also stress that while we have focused on
and ethical challenges, particularly in situations research with human participants, many of the
of power imbalance where participants and points we make are applicable to a broader set
associates may be disincentivized to openly share of data collection strategies. We encourage
their reflections with the researcher (Mwambari future research to continue to build on the pool
2019). Decentering does not automatically disrupt of questions we collected in the online appendix,
these power dynamics, and at times can serve to to create adaptable and flexible resources for
strengthen them when the decentering process people wishing to take the first steps in research
is extractive or invasive (Bouka 2018; Finlay reflexivity.
2002). To some degree these problems may be
insurmountable, but self-conscious and critical
decentering provides a starting point to probe
ways to include others in the reflexive process,
with an awareness of the limitations born of
the fact that it is the researcher who ultimately

9 We are reminded that empathy does not equalize relationships, and research will always be embedded in power dynamics;
involving respondents in reflexivity is not automatically empowering.

14 | Doing Reflexivity
References

Berger, Roni. 2015. “Now I See It, Now I Don’t: Researcher’s Position and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research.” Qualitative
Research 15, no. 2 (April): 219–34.
Bond, Kanisha D. 2018. “Reflexivity and Revelation.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research 16, no.1 (Spring): 45–7.
Bouka, Yolande. 2018. “Collaborative Research as Structural Violence.” Political Violence at a Glance. July 12, 2018.
https://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2018/07/12/collaborative-research-as-structural-violence/
Dietrich, Nick, and Kristine Eck. 2020. “Known Unknowns: Explaining Media Bias in the Reporting of Political Violence.”
International Interactions 46 (6): 1043–60.
English, Jasmine, and Richard A. Nielsen. 2022. “Interpretation for Positivists.” Working paper. https://www.mit.
edu/%7Ernielsen/interpretation.pdf
Finlay, Linda. 2002. “Negotiating the Swamp: The Opportunity and Challenge of Reflexivity in Research Practice.”
Qualitative Research 2, no.2 (August): 209–30.
Fujii, Lee Ann. 2010. “Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence.” Journal of Peace
Research 47, no. 2 (March): 231–41.
MacLean, Lauren M. 2013. “The Power of the Interviewer,” in Interview Research in Political Science, edited by Layna
Mosley. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 67–83.
Malejacq, Romain, and Dipali Mukhopadhyay. 2016. “The ‘Tribal Politics’ of Field Research: A Reflection on Power
and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones.” Perspectives on Politics 14, no.4 (December): 1011–28.
Mwambari, David. 2019. “Local Positionality in the Production of Knowledge in Northern Uganda.” International
Journal of Qualitative Methods 18: 1–12.
Olmos-Vega, Francisco M., Renée E. Stalmeijer, Lara Varpio, and Renate Kahlke. 2023. “A Practical Guide to Reflexivity
in Qualitative Research: AMEE Guide No. 149.” Medical Teacher 45 (3): 1–11.
Soedirgo, Jessica, and Aarie Glas. 2020. “Toward Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of
Knowledge.” PS: Political Science & Politics 53, no.3 (July): 527–31.
Thomas, Lahoma. 2018. “Dear Political Science, It Is Time for a SELF-REFLEXIVE Turn!” Duck of Minerva. December
18, 2018. https://www.duckofminerva.com/2018/12/dear-political-science-it-is-time-for-a-self-reflexive-turn.
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Peace Research. London: Routledge.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 15

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506771

Reflexivity and Openness in Conducting and

Presenting Research: What Should We Share and
When?
Kai M. Thaler
University of California, Santa Barbara

Across methods and epistemologies, there has research, making clear the many decisions that go
been a growing recognition in political science that into conceptualization, research design, coding,
reflexivity should be actively practiced throughout implementation and analysis, and presentation of
the process of trying to conduct rigorous, ethical findings (Lakew 2017).10
research (Baron and Young 2022; Brigden and Alongside calls for reflexivity, efforts to promote
Gohdes 2020; Krystalli et al. 2021; Mosley 2013; “open science” and greater research transparency
Shepherd 2023; Soedirgo and Glas 2020). However, across all methodological approaches—exemplified
the general goals of reflexivity and open discussion in political science and international relations by
about positionality and ethical questions raise the Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-
questions about how to put principles into RT) initiative (Golder and Golder 2016; Jacobs et
practice (Jacobs et al. 2021; Eck and Lanigan, this al. 2021; Lupia and Elman 2014)—might be taken
symposium). This piece explores what information to demand “radical honesty” (Yom 2018) about
researchers might be expected to share with how research was conducted, including discussing
research participants and with academic and positionality and personal factors that shaped the
practice audiences in the pursuit of reflexivity and research process. Yet being transparent about
openness, and when there might be good reasons one’s perceptions, identities, and experiences often
to hold back in discussing particular identities, is not the best practice while conducting research,
experiences, or decisions. Good faith efforts especially on sensitive subjects and in violent
to practice reflexivity and openness will look settings (see e.g,. Arjona, Mampilly, and Pearlman
different across research approaches, settings, 2018; Thaler 2021; Tripp 2018), and it can carry
and individuals, so we must defer to researchers ethical, personal, and professional risks when
to decide what makes ethical and practical sense. presenting and publishing research for academic
Reflexivity and discussions of positionality or public/policy audiences.
throughout the social sciences have most often Against the push for transparency, scholars
been pursued and valued in qualitative, interpretivist, have advanced the idea of “reflexive openness”
and post-positivist research (Alvesson and (Kapiszewski and Wood 2022; MacLean et al. 2019;
Sköldberg 2017; Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2006). Thomson 2021), calling for researchers to engage in
Recent work, however, has pointed out benefits sustained reflection and discussion of interactions
of reflexivity within positivist frameworks used by with research participants and the research
quantitative researchers (Bell-Martin and Marston environment, and their efforts to maintain ethical
2021; Bond 2018). Reflexivity helps “fill in the practices through the research and publication
‘whys’” (Haas and Hoebbel 2018) of quantitative process. Maclean et al. (2019, 1) argue that “the

10 See Davis and Michelitch (2022) and Tubaro et al. (2021) for more on reflexivity and quantitative methods.

16 | Reflexivity and Openness in Conducting and Presenting Research: What Should We Share and When?
ethical expectations guiding reflexive openness At research sites, it is generally important to
are universal, and thus the approach is inclusive of be honest with people, and ideally researchers
researchers regardless of subfield, methodology, should not feel like we must hide who we are
topic, and empirical context;” but on the practical and what we think (Ruffa, this symposium). But
side, “our understanding of openness must eschew this may sometimes be a necessary choice for
one-size-fits-all templates, erring instead on the ethical reasons, for personal safety, or for learning
side of respect for ethical research practice on a about the perspectives of people with whom
case-by-case basis” (15). we might disagree or who might find aspects of
Reflexivity goes beyond issues of ethics our identities or views objectionable (Ben Shitrit
alone, and I argue that in efforts to promote 2018; Frank-Vitale 2021; Fujii 2012; Thaler 2021).
greater reflexivity about ethics, positionality, and So long as such nondisclosure is not planned
researchers’ decisions, we should accept different as a strategy to get individuals to reveal things
approaches, rather than pursuing a universal in order to present them in a negative light, then
standard. It can be difficult to know whether or how holding some information back about one’s own
certain identities, actions, or experiences affected identities or opinions can be perfectly ethical.11 If
data gathering and research findings, and some we hold strong political or social views relevant
factors that affected the research process may to the research we are conducting, however, it
be too personal to share. We therefore should may be counterproductive in some settings to try
give researchers tools and frameworks to pursue to conceal them in order to seem impartial, since
reflexivity and openness but trust them to decide research participants might find it a failure to
what they disclose in different settings. appreciate the stakes of issues being investigated
(e.g., Décobert 2014; Malejacq and Mukhopadhyay
Ethics and Openness during Field 2016). And regardless of what we do or do not say,
Research research participants and communities will make
assumptions and draw their own conclusions
When approaching questions of reflexivity and (Driscoll and Schuster 2018; Fujii 2010).
openness in different settings, what we divulge In some cases, a researcher’s identities may
about ourselves in research settings is an ethical have little effect on findings, but it can be difficult
issue; what we divulge when presenting, writing, to know how others perceive us. While conducting
or teaching about our role in the research process interview research on civil conflict and state building
more often constitutes a professional issue, related in Liberia—within a post-positivist framework—I
to our standing within a workplace or academic/ was sometimes asked whether I was Christian or
professional field. Ethically, we are obliged to treat not. I am Jewish (though not particularly religious),
research participants with respect; to seek to but not knowing what my interlocutors’ attitudes
benefit or at least not harm them; to not undertake toward Jewish people were, I deflected and tried to
unnecessary risks to our own safety; and, ideally, move the conversation along. It is possible some
to go beyond the inadequate “procedural ethics” interviewees were put off by my response and not
of Institutional Review Boards to a more extensive being openly Christian, but I was not conducting
set of ethical practices that fully respect the research about religious issues, and I did not get
individuals and communities with whom we work the sense that these interactions strongly affected
as people and not “human subjects” (Frazer 2020; what interviewees told me. This was also not an
Fujii 2012, 2018; Guillemin and Gillam 2004; Howe attempt to use nondisclosure to get interviewees
2022; Krystalli 2020; Parkinson 2019; Pearlman to divulge information. I therefore did not consider
2023; Teele 2014). this issue important to note when discussing

11 Studies methodologically employing deception or misinforming participants about the nature of research, however, have a very
high ethical bar to clear (see e.g., Teele 2014).

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 17

or writing about my research process. Other and personal roles in the research process in a
researchers might have taken a different path if reflexive manner is self-centered, unnecessary,
they were using other epistemologies or methods. or indulgent “navel gazing” (Wedeen 2010, 258).
Had I been using an interpretivist approach, it would Or they may believe deep consideration of the
have been important to consider and discuss what contingencies of data gathering and limits of
my interactions might have revealed about how our knowledge (see de Vries and Glawion 2023)
my interviewees thought about religion, and the undermines “scientific” credibility. Depending on the
ways this shaped their views about politics. If I had audience or venue, there will be varying pressures
been conducting survey research in a positivist to limit reflexivity or opportunities to engage in
framework, I would have wanted to note religion as it. To mainstream reflexivity and discussions of
a possible characteristic along which to distinguish positionality, it will require a change in culture in
different enumerators to try to control for teaching and also among key gatekeepers: editors,
enumerator bias, since there are regions in Liberia reviewers, event organizers, and funding agencies
where religious divides are politically salient. (Krystalli 2020; Bjarnegård, this symposium).
While I chose not to reveal my religious beliefs, Some factors and experiences that shape our
obscuring or not disclosing identities is easier with research and thinking, however, may remain too
some than others. Which identities people might personal to share, such as experiences of violence
feel they have to hide will vary contextually and is or psychological abuse, mental health issues,
unequal in the burdens placed on researchers due family issues, or even harsh disagreements with
to societal biases, phobias, and discrimination: advisers. At times, experiences that occurred
one cannot necessarily hide racial identity, gender years before may still affect the research process
presentation, body type, or certain disabilities. but dredging them up for public audiences
Ultimately, decisions around what parts of oneself would be unnecessarily painful. While political
to reveal in a research setting are personal and science as a field should more openly discuss
contingent on circumstances. Unless there issues like mental health and sexual violence
are ethical concerns about how research was and we should support those who are willing to
conducted, it should also be left to researchers share their own experiences (Almasri, Read, and
to decide what they wish to discuss about their Vandeweerdt 2022; Hunt 2022), this should not be
identities when writing up or presenting their an expectation. Even if mental health difficulties or
research. violent experiences affected research, individuals
should not be pressured to share information
Dilemmas of Reflexivity in Presenting about these issues in the name of transparency.
and Publishing
Flexibility, Not Universality
Professionally, we may feel a need to provide or
withhold certain information to satisfy academic, Rather than pushing researchers towards
policy, or practice audiences and gatekeepers rigid, one-size-fits-all standards or checklists,
outside of the research context itself (Parkinson we should adopt the idea of reflexive openness
and Wood 2015, 26), in order to protect prospects about ethics and about the research process
for research impact and publication and career more broadly (Kapiszewski and Wood 2022;
advancement.12 In presenting research, academic MacLean et al. 2019; Thomson 2021). We should
and policy audiences often call for “objectivity” be “actively reflexive,” constantly considering on
and for ‘evidence-based’ recommendations. Some our own positionality and that of participants and
people may think discussing researchers’ identities research brokers,13 our ethical obligations, and

12 Ethical obligations to participants and their communities extend “beyond the field” over space and time (Knott 2019; Thaler
2021), and inattentiveness to ethical issues may also have reputational or professional consequences for researchers.
13 Research brokers may include research assistants, translators, fixers, gatekeepers, key contacts, or others in the research

18 | Reflexivity and Openness in Conducting and Presenting Research: What Should We Share and When?
the context in which we are working, iteratively
making decisions based on those reflections, and
acknowledging the contingency of our research
(Krystalli et al. 2021; MacLean 2013; MacLean et
al. 2019; Soedirgo and Glas 2020, 528–29). And
we should exercise humility about the potential
that our choices and analyses have not always
been right (Fujii 2018; Porisky and Glas 2023).
Throughout the research process, we should seek
to be as open and honest as possible in dialogue
with ethical principles and obligations (Johnson
2021; Kapiszewski and Wood 2022; Shesterinina
2021; Thaler 2021), but it is also important not to
demand that researchers divulge information that
puts them or others at risk, or that makes them
deeply uncomfortable.
Reflexivity and openness will take varying
forms depending on the person, the research
topic, and the research context and process.
Just as research plans and methods must be
adapted to local conditions, we should maintain
flexibility, rather than seeking universal standards
for reflexivity in social research. We should ensure
that discussing positionality, for instance, does
not simply become another box for researchers
to tick in order to publish, but instead encourages
deeper, more active reflection (see also Eck and
Lanigan, this symposium). Greater discussion
of positionality and reflexivity in graduate
coursework and training, along with continued
mainstreaming in presentations and publications,
will help to cultivate new norms across the
discipline. Ultimately, this can produce research
that is both more attentive to the communities
and contexts in which it is conducted, and that is
more intellectually honest.

setting who facilitate research (Eriksson Baaz and Utas 2019).

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 19

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ed. Noelle Brigden and Miranda Hallet, special issue, Geopolitics 26 (1): 18–44.
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22 | Reflexivity and Openness in Conducting and Presenting Research: What Should We Share and When?
Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506790

Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive

Researcher Studying Elite Organizations
Chiara Ruffa
Sciences Po

Debates surrounding reflexivity—both as was writing in a more “objective” way. “Objectivity”

ethics, methods, and research practice—have in this context does not mean that positivist
overwhelmingly focused on weak and vulnerable work on elites is more objective in any way but
populations and situations in which the researcher it refers instead to rather standardized ways of
is assumed to be in the more powerful position doing research that make the author disappear
(Shesterinina 2019, 190). In those contexts, in scholarly publications (see Bjarnegård, this
ethically sound practices of do no harm have symposium for a more systematic reflection).
been amply discussed and the relevance of power Second, because the debate about reflexivity and
imbalances acknowledged (Campbell 2017, research ethics has focused so much on vulnerable
95). But how does all of it apply when the power groups one is left wondering whether the same
differential is less clear, and it is the researcher who ethical standards apply in contexts in which the
appears to be—prima facie—weak and vulnerable? powerful is the respondent. Practicing reflexivity is
Building on Eck and Lanigan’s “practical strategies therefore crucial also to ensure that we are abiding
for “doing” reflexivity” (this symposium), I focus by appropriate ethical standards of protecting the
on how to practice reflexivity at the interface vulnerable. We should, however, also not forget
between the researcher and their respondents. that practicing reflexivity comes with some cost
I do so by providing an illustration from an elite and trade-offs: reflexivity makes the research
context in which the power differential between the process longer and more cumbersome and
researcher and the respondent is not as clear-cut. sometimes at the risk of falling into navel gazing.
I find that even when the researcher seems more Practicing reflexivity is no panacea but normalizing
vulnerable, they retain some power, which needs to it in research processes across epistemological
be used wisely and ethically, relying on their moral traditions is more important than ever.
compass. Recent research understands elites to be
Contexts in which power differentials are not “not as monolithic as often asserted in political
as clear-cut are particularly fruitful spaces to science interview literature” (Glass 2021, 438)
illustrate the importance of practicing reflexivity and encourage us not to think of elites as a binary
for all scholars, regardless of their epistemological (i.e., elite vs. non elite). While I study a particularly
orientation. First, positivist-leaning scholarly work extreme kind of elite (the military) I think that several
with ambitions of “objectivity” has extensively insights are transferrable to other types of elites,
studied elite contexts without really practicing such as bureaucrats or politicians. The military elite
reflexivity (Allison 1971; Feaver 2010). I would is extreme because of its hierarchical structure,
like to illustrate, through my own experience as a special function, and perceived uniformity. On the
researcher working on elite contexts, that it was one hand, some of the elite dynamics can therefore
only when I started to practice reflexivity that be seen more distinctly. On the other hand, even
several crucial organizational dynamics became this extreme kind of elite may display high levels
visible. Practicing reflexivity has improved my of heterogeneity which we can expect to see to an
own research processes even when earlier on I even greater extent in other elites.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 23

 Drawing on debates about reflexivity from Yet, when Lancaster (2017, 96) studied elites,
critical, feminist, and positivist perspectives, as she highlighted that they “were not an homogenous
well as my own experience, I identify four facets group” and that the power differential between
of doing reflexivity in research on the military and researcher and respondent did not “play out in any
extrapolate lessons on how to practice reflexivity in predictable or consistent way.” Notwithstanding
elite contexts. I focus on (1) how to identify where the strong totalizing tendencies, military power is
power lies within the organization; (2) the multi- diffuse and has multiple layers, which the reflexive
layered dimensions of encounters between the researcher should try to understand. So, a first
researcher and the respondents; (3) how to practice important lesson about how to practice reflexivity
non-judgmental openness; and (4) knowledge is to question oneself as to whether one is not
production. These lessons should be useful for looking at the organization in a too homogeneous
practicing reflexivity in elite contexts and beyond way. When I started off as a student of military
whilst also being aware of the trade-offs that come and political elites, I did not know what reflexivity
with it.14 was and whether it was important. I was aiming
at identifying somewhat objectively some kind of
Reflexivity and Multiple Layers of Power patterns that I could then carefully describe. Yet,
and Vulnerability it was only when I started to practice reflexivity,
a few years into my fieldwork, that I could start
The first step in practicing reflexivity in elite see the multifaceted nature of the military as an
contexts is about understanding the context one organization. In comparison to other elites, one
studies. The military is “‘the organization charged might expect the military to appear prima facie
with the use of legitimate, if sometimes contested, more homogenous because of its secretive nature. I
use of organized violence” (Ben-Ari 2014, 37). Prima suspect however, that other kinds of elites—just like
facie, service members qualify as elite “individuals the military—may perform as more homogenous
or groups who ostensibly have closer proximity than they actually are.
to power or particular professional expertise” To start with, practicing reflexivity allowed
(Lancaster 2017, 93).15 Also at lower levels of the me to capture more informal dynamics. When
military echelon, service members are likely to have understanding where power is, rank matters.
greater lethal and physical power over a researcher. Service members serving as non-commissioned
Militaries are also highly hierarchical and secretive soldiers will certainly find themselves in a more
with strong organizational cultures and collective vulnerable position than junior officers. But ordering
identities, in which service members give away is not only structured by formal hierarchies. A
part of their individual identity to conform. Military senior officer specializing in logistics will hold less
cultures are widely recognized to harbor distinct power than an active-duty officer at the same rank
and deeply ingrained visions of masculinities— in the infantry because of the centrality of combat
often glorifying “warrior masculinities” —and role in most Western militaries. So, learning to read
conceptions that guide their actions (Soeters 2018; insignia of rank but also understanding the informal
Ruffa 2018). hierarchies is of crucial importance. I expect this to
be relevant for other, less extreme forms of elites

14 During my research, I conducted about 800 interviews and surveys with military and political elites.
15 In some contexts, and for some audiences, militaries also qualify as repellent groups Gallaher (2009, 129) provides a relatively
broad definition and uses “the term repellent—causing distaste or aversion—not to refer to perks of personality and preferences
thereof but to an ideology that promotes dominating other groups in society. These sorts of ideologies may be found across the
political spectrum. Under this rubric, warlords, guerrillas, paramilitaries, and even some states could be classified as repellant. These
groups must, of course, be sufficiently large and organized to present a coherent discourse and back it up with action. While my
definition here suggests that violence is part and parcel of the domination process, it need not be. That is, the repellent category
also includes groups who provide the vocal and written justification for their quest of domination over other groups in society, even
though they leave the actual violence to others.”

24 | Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations
as well: while informal hierarchies may be more reactions. Race, gender, age, nationality and having
difficult to detect in the military, we may find that a military background among other layers—shape
for other, less extreme, elites they might be more the ability of the researcher to gain access or
widespread, easier to detect. establish rapport. Several studies have explored
More importantly, identifying the particularly what it means to have several ranges of “otherness”
vulnerable groups and individuals provide both (Townsend-Bell 2009) and intersectionality matters
opportunities for establishing rapport and spaces to establish rapport when studying elite contexts.
that must be navigated carefully and with care. Perhaps surprisingly, cultural proximity does not
When conducting a large-scale survey on an Italian seem to be the main driver for establishing rapport.
battalion in 2013 I remember being approached It would be interesting to explore whether that would
impromptu by several non-commissioned soldiers be different in large multinational organizations
being willing to share their frustration with us. that are less internally homogenous, such as UN
Those informal conversations eventually motivated bureaucracies.
and fed into our paper (Ruffa and Sundberg 2018). Because of the existing racialized hierarchies
As a woman researcher, I am often approached by in UN peacekeeping, being a Western woman
women soldiers willing to share their experiences, facilitated my access to Ghanaian, Indian,
struggles, and difficulties. Gender and race are Bangladeshi, and Korean peacekeepers in Southern
indeed factors that go beyond rank and unit that Lebanon (Ruffa 2014). As someone who studied
structure hierarchies within militaries. The first step both French and Italian peacekeepers, my ability
is to acknowledge that power in the organization is to access those organizations was different: as
diffuse and multilayered. The reflexive researcher an Italian national, I was perceived by the French
needs to devote time and attention to understand as mostly innocuous and had easy access, while
those formal and informal dynamics. for the Italians I was a problem, and they did not
authorize my visits to Afghanistan for several
Practicing Reflexivity and the months. We tend to assume that being an insider
Encounters with the Respondents means advantages, but my experience with the
Italian military shows that this is not self-evident.
The multilayered encounters between the military Doing this in a context in which it is the researcher
and the reflexive researcher are equally important to be more vulnerable requires the researcher to
from gaining access to knowledge production be aware not only of the ethical implications of her
(Higate and Cameron 2006; Ben-Ari 2014; Carreiras, research but also of her access to the sites and
Castro, and Frederic 2016). Because the respondent most importantly her own safety. Self-awareness
is the powerful one “barriers can be produced to of the multilayered nature of the researcher’s
resist the scrutiny of research” (Lancaster 2017, 95; identity facilitates establishing connections with
Gallaher 2009). Yet, the literature has highlighted the pockets of vulnerabilities in the organizational
how the boundaries between what civilian and structure. I did not see these distinctions before I
what military is are often blurred (Basham, Belkin, started to practice reflexivity.
and Gifkins 2015). Furthermore, when studying an The reflexive researcher needs to access
all-encompassing organization like the military, the information and make contacts, becoming aware
researcher navigates a context with multiple layers of its ascribed outsider status and how to navigate
of distinctions and potential connections. For it. This outsider status is particularly strong and
instance, being a civilian at a military academy is detrimental when studying the military as “the
often perceived differently from being a civilian at a inbuilt suspicion of outsiders found in any large-
civilian university. While this may seem like a banal scale organization is intensified by the armed
and obvious observation, it is not since signaling forces being the organization associated with
one’s own provenance can do a lot in terms of national security” (Ben-Ari 2014, 31). Naïveté—the
access and establishing connection. Becoming perception of being innocuous and ignorant—is
aware of that helped make sense of some of the almost unavoidable under these circumstances

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 25

and comes with the fact of being an outsider, in repellent groups have hidden some of their
this case a Western civilian woman researcher. beliefs for fear of being denied access (Gallaher
An important distinction to make is between 2009). In my own work—once I started to practice
“performed naïveté” as a deliberate strategy or the reflexivity—I have chosen the opposite approach:
acknowledgement of the fact that being read as I have revealed openly my political and normative
naïve is a reality that has certain consequences. views, but I have also tried to cultivate and express
As an outsider, I will be perceived as naïve simply a nonjudgmental openness and curiosity towards
because I have chosen a different career path. my respondents. When asked I have always been
So, there is an unavoidable dimension to it, which open about my pacifist-leaning views and I have
is in the eyes of the powerful organization and used symbols to communicate that very clearly.
how naïve one is perceived to be depends on the When I was hosted by the Italian contingent in
layers of separation between the researcher and Afghanistan during my PhD, I walked around in
the respondents. The extent in which naïveté is the base with a red coat—that underscored me
an acceptable methodological strategy is more being different from the rest of the people there,
contested. Some see the benefits of performing all dressed in uniform. All of my respondents
gender stereotypes (Alberti and Jenne, 2019, 53) but know—or assume, if they do not ask directly ¬—
the use of naïveté is an acceptable strategy only to that I am someone who distinguishes herself as
some extent and one must find one’s limits in one’s much as possible from the military identity. At the
integrity and truthfulness. False naïveté can also same time, I have always been genuinely curious
disrupt rapport or make respondents suspicious. to understand human beings, servicemembers
So if it is possible, one should practice naïveté in and organizations that are profoundly different
a genuine way, just as a way of being curious and from the context I live in. This posture—a sort
willing to learn. Naïveté may be a powerful way to of “non-judgmental curiosity”—has allowed
get great responses but needs to be handled with me to navigate, learn and understand powerful
care and one should resist the temptation to use it organizations and get to know powerful people
as a deliberate strategy. without ever forgetting that I was and remain
different. Importantly, there is an inherently
Practicing Non-Judgmental Curiosity ascribed outsider status that determine the
distancing which affects the research and the
Vulnerable people in elite contexts deserve kinds of answers we get.
the same kind of do no harm ethic warranted to Non-judgmental curiosity and openness are
anyone else, but it remains somewhat unclear key but are not sufficient. One needs to also
how to practice reflexivity with powerful research reflect on how to deal with the information that
participants. First and foremost, do no harm one receives and how to build the trust that is
applies to them too. But how do we practice needed to continue to study these contexts.
reflexivity in those contexts? A useful lesson One can accept compromises but always do it
comes from Jane Addams who “actively engaged with integrity. I have always accepted making
with members of the military (…) had no military all information concerning my respondents
background, and was a fervent opponent of anonymous and removing information that could
militarism and war” (Ruffa and Tulp 2022). For be militarily sensitive but have always refused to
Jane Addams, we need to be able to still engage allow the military to have any opinion on what is
with our respondents as humans to humans. For included or not in writing and presentations. What
less extreme elite, this may be easier at times but is sensitive is contested and relative and can
not necessarily, in highly polarized professional be used by the powerful to exercise power and
spaces, such as political elites. cover up information. That is particularly difficult
The researcher needs to deeply reflect on one’s when the researcher finds herself in situations of
own identity and how to portray oneself while vulnerability and dependency: when deployed to a
studying those elites. Researchers investigating warzone and the researcher is dependent on the

26 | Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations
military to provide safety, the researcher may be Reflexivity and Knowledge Production
obliged to accept compromises. On the one hand, in Elite Settings
the reflexive researcher must accept compromises.
On the other hand, nonjudgemental openness Reflexivity when studying the military is fluid
may allow her to stumble upon information that and has obvious ramifications for knowledge
the organization tried hard to hide and to also production. Helpful guidance comes from critical
constantly ask questions to challenge authority. military studies, which “has long been concerned
The interpretivist stance of letting the field talk to with issues pertaining to epistemology of
us is particularly valid in this context (Kurowska knowledge and the fluctuating border between
and de Guevara 2020). what is strictly inside and outside a military sphere”
When deployed with the Italian army, most (Danielsson 2022, 5). The military is a secretive and
of the respondents framed their mission as closed organization so to be reflexive is also to be
peacekeeping. But in informal contexts—at the aware of how we—as researchers—contribute to
canteen, when drinking coffee, whilst being the knowledge production about it. The military may
accompanied to different corners of the bases—I utilize our voice to convey certain messages to the
kept getting hints at the fact that Italian troops outside. This is particularly relevant for militaries
were actually fighting and were at war, which I without a strong public relations apparatus. I
then wrote about. The very notion of “hanging out” have often had senior officers telling me: “please
and being able to detect those queues became make sure to make that point very clear when you
possible and acceptable only when I started to write about it,” which I have always refused to do.
practice reflexivity (Büger 2021). Understanding Notwithstanding the limited readership we reach,
the context requires openness but also integrity it is very important for the reflexive researcher to
in terms of how to write and narrate what one is reflect and make sure that we are not being used
seeing, which affects knowledge production, and as some sort of spoke-person for the military
without damaging the respondent’s career (see organization. Another risk is that the researcher
Bjarnegård, this symposium). Cultivating trust, may be misunderstood in different phases of the
building reputation and credibility are fundamental knowledge production. One should always ask
to ensure access and maintain it. The reflexive oneself whether one can stand behind the main
researcher needs to constantly and continuously take away message. For instance, when studying
reevaluate and reassess those elements. One French and Italian peacekeepers I have tried to
needs to humbly reflect on one’s mistakes and let shy away from hyper-simplified descriptions about
those lessons guide future behavior. One of my my own research, which may be challenging when
most blatant mistakes—and I made many—was talking to policy audiences (see Campbell, this
when, at the end of my fieldwork, I accepted that symposium). I did that because I wanted to provide
the Italian and French military would examine a fair depiction of what they do and how they think
the material I had collected. I accepted because but also because I want to continue to study them
I feared the consequences—I was in Afghanistan, over the course of my career.
in their bases, at the time—but I then regretted it A second important point regarding knowledge
and ended up submitting just a long abstract in production is how we might understand the feminist
English, which was more than sufficient for those principle of empowerment and how “bringing back”
ultimately not-so-interested officers. Being able the research applies to elite contexts (Wibben
to address that mistake using my moral compass 2016). The empowerment principle cannot simply
was crucial. One could imagine this could travel to be imported in this case, but we could still partly
other elites to. Furthermore, it was only because apply it to parts of the organization, particularly
I included reflexivity in my thinking and started its vulnerable pockets. In unexpected ways, we
to practice it that I could clearly choose the have the opportunity to give voice to the invisible
appropriate course of action. parts of the organization: for instance, women
soldiers in a male-dominated context, members

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 27

of ethnic minorities, or traumatized people. Along
similar lines, we could bring back our findings and
contribute to transforming the military in directions
we consider appropriate. Understanding the
organization in its complexity allows us to adopt
different reflexive strategies.

Conclusions

Reflexivity as both a methodological and ethical

tool is crucial to work with the vulnerability of the
research participants, but it is just as important
when we study their relative position of power.
Practicing reflexivity in elite contexts suggests that
even when studying powerful organizations, power
is diffuse. This shapes the quality of our encounters
with the organization in which multiple and
different layers of our identities become salient. In
this context, practicing nonjudgmental curiosity is
crucial, as is the openness to compromise without
lowering ethical standards and integrity. Lastly,
we should not forget how knowledge production
may be influenced in unwarranted ways by the
powerful organization we study. There again we
need to set boundaries, which are to be constantly
renegotiated. These considerations should
accompany us throughout the research process.
We should continuously balance our ability to
be open and curious without becoming blind to
patriarchal and militaristic structures. Even in elite
contexts, we should acknowledge and embrace
the human-to-human interaction while being aware
of the boundaries we set. Ultimately, we do retain
some power, which we need to use to practice
reflexivity in ethically sound ways and using our
moral compass. At the same time, practicing
reflexivity comes with trade-offs: it may make our
research slower, and it may be difficult to condense
the results of our reflections in ways that are
compatible with the formats we are often expected
to publish in (see Bjarnegård, this symposium).
Still, taken together, practicing reflexivity is an
extremely useful methods and research practice
that can make our research stronger, richer, and
more ethically sound.

28 | Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations
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30 | Challenges and Strategies for the Reflexive Researcher Studying Elite Organizations
Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506810

The Need for Reflexivity in Scholarly Writing

Elin Bjarnegård
Uppsala University

There is, by now, a large literature about reflexivity your assumptions, affects the kinds of questions
in social science research. In this literature you ask and the evidence you seek. If you ignore
reflexivity is perceived of as both a perspective how your identities impact interpretation then you
on and a practice in the research process and its are arguably mis-specifying your research model.”
relevance is described as both methodological At the same time, the people you seek information
and ethical. Yet, there is a discrepancy between from carry their own identities and agency that
the convincing arguments for reflexivity in this affect the kind of answers they give and the
literature on the one hand, and the visibility of narratives they convey.
reflexive practices in scholarly output, on the other While most of the literature on reflexivity
hand. This piece explores this discrepancy and focuses on it as a topic in its own right, this piece
seeks to investigate ways in which we can close seeks to explore the potential and obstacles for
the gap between what we say we should do and its reach and integration into academic texts that
how we document what we have done and what it primarily focus on “something else.” I reiterate
means. Achieving reflexivity in article writing is not points that have been made by others concerning
an easy feat, because it implies shifting the focus the reach and relevance of reflexivity across the
from “selling the message” towards questioning it. field of social science and throughout the research
To what extent does reflexivity challenge norms of process. First, scholars from all social sciences
scholarly writing? This piece explores this question fields should engage more with reflexivity. As
and seeks to find some possible ways forward noted by Bond (2018, 45), “too many smart
towards changing this norm. positivist scholars wrongly equate reflexivity […]
Reflexivity has mostly been discussed in with introducing bias where it previously did not
relation to the positionality of the researcher and exist. Precisely to the contrary, in quantitative as
particularly in qualitative field of research focusing much as in qualitative research, reflexivity is a
on power relations and intersectionality. As pointed way of neutralizing pre-existing bias to improve
out in the Introduction, reflexivity offers insights the scientific value of our work.” Furthermore,
that are of relevance for social science more reflexivity is of relevance for the whole research
broadly. Reflexivity addresses basic principles of process as it shapes the interpretations we make
research methods and ethics relevant to all social and the conclusions we draw (Thomas 2018)—and
science fields, such as transparency, replicability, this piece particularly emphasizes that reflexivity
and bias. The intersecting identities of researchers also shapes how we communicate and write
and research participants—and the power relations about our research. Published written work is the
between them—affect the collection and analysis most visible example of the research standards
of empirical data in several ways: access to of a field, and reflexivity is still largely made
respondents and information, what information invisible in the finished products that we share
is assumed, conveyed or concealed, and how with readers and that represent our research.
narratives are framed, interpreted and valued (e.g., This piece elaborates on why it is important that
Finlay 2002; Berger 2015; Wibben 2016; Soedirgo researchers not just write about reflexivity in their
and Glas 2020; Glas 2021; Thaler 2021). In drafts but that such text is able to survive all the
Townsend-Bell’s (2009, 311) words, “identity forms way until the published version. It discusses what

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 31

needs for this to happen, and what the hurdles and how it keeps researchers accountable (McLeod
ways forward may be. and O’Reilly 2021; Väyrynen et al. 2021; Wibben
In this endeavor, I concur with much of what 2009; 2016). Taken together, this body of research
was said—and said well—in the Soedirgo and Glas provides convincing arguments for why reflexivity is
piece on Active Reflexivity (2020). In it, they outline needed, and it gives advice on how to do reflexivity
four strategies for how researchers should do in practice.
active reflexivity: recording assumptions around What is lacking is thus not writing on reflexivity per
positionality, systematizing reflections, bringing se, but the incorporation of the insights of this body
other individuals into the process and, finally, of literature into research that is primarily focusing
showing reflexivity work in publications. This piece on other issues. What is more, while textbooks
picks up on that fourth strategy, which only gets a and articles do give advice on how to practice
paragraph in Soedirgo and Glas (2020). I elaborate reflexivity, this practical advice rarely extends into
on and concretize the suggestions they make, add the process of writing and to the presentation of
a few more, but also identify potential hurdles to research results. The emphasis is on reflexivity
following this strategy. in field work and data collection rather than on
the communication of it. This leads to a lack of
A Call to Follow Through: integration of reflexivity into scholarly publications.
Communicating Reflexivity in Even when reflexivity is, to some extent, practiced
Publications in the research process, it is not necessarily
adequately reflected and communicated in
Is the lack of writing on reflexivity really a subsequent scholarly publications. The very same
problem? Is it even lacking? The answer to those researchers who have written influential pieces on
questions depends on where you look for writing the importance of reflecting on one’s positionality
on reflexivity, and for what purposes—but I would and practicing reflexivity seem to have a hard time
answer them with a contingent “yes.” As noted incorporating it into articles that primarily deal
above, there is a large and expanding literature on with other themes. Sometimes reflexivity is left out
reflexivity as such, but in most such literature the almost entirely, because it is difficult to fit into an
elaboration on reflexivity is part of the research aim: article format. Quite often, it is elaborated on in the
it is not used as a methodological or ethical tool to methods section, only to be largely abandoned in
answer other types of questions. This is despite the the subsequent analysis and conclusions. Such
fact that the contributions of literature on reflexivity examples of discussions of positionality and
are important and, in theory, applicable to a wide reflexivity that are not followed up, integrated into,
range of research. The field addresses questions or continued in the discussion, analysis, results,
of how researchers should treat veracity, when to and assessment of findings run the risk of being
trust narratives emanating from sensitive contexts, seen as nothing more than introspection or even
or how to balance demands for transparency self-absorption. Even if a researcher has practiced
with the security of respondents (Fujii 2010; Tripp reflexivity in fieldwork and data collection, it is not
2018). Some contributions are also written as fully incorporated into the research process until it
attempts to explain to the wider discipline how field is taken seriously enough to affect the final stages
intensive research is carried out, that reflexivity is of it: the interpretations and conclusions as they
built into interpretive work, and how it constitutes are put in writing.
an important component of the trustworthiness In the Soedirgo and Glas (2020) article, the
of such research (Tripp 2018; Shesterinina 2021). focus is on the research process before the writing
Handbooks and textbooks on feminist peace and publication stage. The strategy of “showing
research also bring up reflexivity in various ways, reflexivity work” is touched upon and exemplified
to demonstrate how it is part of feminist research by Fujii’s (2009) book on the genocide in Rwanda.
ethic, how critical self-reflection enables listening This is, indeed, a good example of reflexivity
and the incorporation of new perspectives, and put in writing, but the writing, review process

32 | The Need for Reflexivity in Scholarly Writing

and publication of academic monographs differ reflexivity into the writing implies reflecting on
from the much stricter format, dependence on personal behavior, on assumptions and prejudices,
favorable reviews, and word-limit associated with and on interactions with research participants—
writing articles. This is an explanation, but not an as well as acknowledging that the author is not
excuse—at least not if we really think that reflexivity in full control of the research process. It can
is of importance to how research is carried out, concern issues of reliance on local collaborators,
interpreted, and communicated. The only way we uncertainty about how much was actually conveyed
can demonstrate the importance of reflexivity is about the focus of a survey before participants
by communicating it in our writing. It is a matter were recruited to it, or a nagging feeling that
of following through on commitments. There are respondents talked in a different way to my male
considerable hurdles—but also opportunities—for colleague when he conducted the interviews. But it
writing about reflexivity. can also be about power relations where response
rates may be high because respondents felt a
Writing about Reflexivity: Hurdles and more or less subtle pressure to reply, or where I
Opportunities as a foreigner receive access to interviews with
high-ranking politicians that my colleagues, with
Taking reflexivity seriously implies realizing a much better understanding of the context, never
that the intersecting identities and positions of get. My understanding is that such experiences are
ourselves as researchers in relation to those that common among all social science researchers.
we conduct research about ultimately matter for They are commonly shared as stories over drinks
the results we get. Maintaining self-awareness in conference receptions, but rarely make it to
and critical scrutiny is important throughout the the written pages of the paper presented earlier
research process, including in the writing process, in the day. All the above examples are personal
as we report on our research. Reflecting upon experience, but I think only two of these reflections
power relations and the related privilege and made it into publications. In my book, I include a
subordination, outspokenness and silences, and section on reflexivity and positionality reflecting on
opportunities and closed doors can be seen as a power relations in the research process. This does
matter of trustworthiness of research. not really count, however, because it is a book with a
Yet, reflecting about the research process in lot of space, and I do not return to these reflections
writing introduces important tensions between when drawing my conclusions (Bjarnegård 2013).
credibility and vulnerability. As Enloe (2016) writes in In an article about election violence in Sri Lanka,
her insightful “Afterword: Being Reflexively Feminist we report the impression that participants in some
Shouldn’t Be Easy,” it is often uncomfortable to areas may have been primed before attending the
try to make our reflexivity visible to our readers. workshop where the survey was carried out and
“When we do try, we have to write our sentences we do limit our possibilities to draw conclusions
in the first person singular, something most of us about prevalence as a result—but above all, we
have been taught to avoid. So it can require some take care to explain how our main purpose is not
stamina to introduce an ‘I’ into one’s manuscript affected (Bjarnegård, Håkansson, and Zetterberg
as one candidly describes to one’s readers (and 2022). When put in writing, such experiences
editors and reviewers) how one conducted one’s introduce vulnerability as they are interpreted as
investigations by somewhat questionable means” undermining the research. Given how common they
(259). Reflexivity simply does not fit neatly into the are, however, one could just as easily claim that it is
dominant article template. their omission that undermines the research. From
I have, myself, found that it introduces a slightly different perspective of reflexivity, they
insecurities and sheds light on biases in a manner could just as well be interpreted as strengthening
that is sometimes difficult to reconcile with the its credibility.
review process. The author is often quite invisible As researchers, it is our duty to follow through
in articles, signaling objectiveness—but introducing and communicate how and why it matters, to seek

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 33

to “nail the bias” (point attributed to Lovenduski authors, particularly not of junior scholars. Changing
in Kenny 2014). It is a reflective learning process, norms and practices of a discipline should be the
sometimes raising questions that cannot be responsibility of those with privilege. Gatekeepers
directly answered, but if we take it on as a collective of various kinds—conference selection committees,
challenge in the discipline, we will learn more about discussants, supervisors, examining committees,
ourselves as researchers and how we affect our reviewers and editors—can accept and encourage
research tasks. Learning about ourselves, however, the elaboration of such reflection when it exists,
is not the primary aim of practicing reflexivity. As and actively ask for it, with reference to the need
Enloe (2016) writes, our research is, after all, not for reflexivity, when it is absent.
about ourselves. Instead, an approach to research Such encouragement should not be restricted to
that incorporates reflexivity does not shy away feminist and interpretivist research but is relevant
from the fact that research is carried out by people for a broader part of the discipline. Research is
with different and intersecting identities, and far from perfect and acknowledging this should
that these identities matter for how the research be part of enhancing credibility. For instance, if
participants perceive us, as well as for how we Western, male researchers were also routinely
view and interpret our research results. Avoiding urged to reflect on their positions of privilege and
navel gazing and unnecessary introspection is best how it matters, it would shed new light on many
accomplished by making sure that these personal aspects of the research process and the results it
reflections are only there if they can be connected produces. We could also ask for more systematic
to research objectives or interpretations of results. comparisons of interviewer effects, to demonstrate
The logic of the article format, review process, how it matters not just who we ask, but also who
and general pressures to publish quickly do not asks, as well as what the configuration of interviewer
readily allow for the insertion of insecurity on the and interviewed looks like. This might also be a
part of the researcher, the acknowledgement of good starting point for discussions about different
bias, and ultimately the questioning of our sources truths and interpretations. We can be clearer about
and the replicability of the study. Rather, advice delimitations of our scholarly contributions, given
about how to write “convincingly,” filling as many potential uncertainties and biases. A move in this
gaps in our argument as possible and highlighting direction would teach us more about our own effects
the advantages of our research design are part of on the research, but it could also contribute to a
how we are taught to write research articles, and more complete perspective about what research is
it is thus also how we as a discipline—implicitly about, and what it can say (and not say).
or explicitly—teach junior scholars how to I realize that this is not an easy task, but a first
communicate trustworthy research. It has become step is to stimulate discussion in this direction.
how we write, by reflex, though not reflexively. This A necessary start is for researchers aiming for
type of writing is encouraged by how we comment reflexivity in practice to elaborate in writing about
at each other’s presentation at conferences, how we how it affects their research findings.
review manuscripts, and how we assess research
contributions. In order to incorporate reflexivity, we
must find ways to nuance our writing, aiming for a
reflexive turn.
To make reflexivity thoroughly integrated
into the research process, the writing about and
communication of reflexivity should be recognized
as an integral part of the research process. The
task can only be taken on by a larger community
of researchers, as elaborating on insecurities
and biases in results will be a deviation from the
scholarly norm. It cannot be the task of individual

34 | The Need for Reflexivity in Scholarly Writing

References

Berger, Roni. 2015. “Now I See It, Now I Don’t: Researcher’s Position and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research.” Qualitative
Research 15, no. 2 (April): 219–34.
Bjarnegård, Elin. 2013. Gender, Informal Institutions and Political Recruitment. Explaining Male Dominance in
Parliamentary Representation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bjarnegård, Elin, Sandra Håkansson, and Pär Zetterberg. 2022. “Gender and Violence against Political Candidates:
Lessons from Sri Lanka. Politics & Gender 18, no.1 (March): 33–61.
Bond, Kanisha D. 2018. “Reflexivity and Revelation.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research 16, no.1 (Spring): 45–7.
Enloe, Cynthia. 2016. “Afterword: Being Reflexively Feminist Shouldn’t Be Easy,” in Researching War: Feminist Methods,
Ethics and Politics, edited by Annick Wibben, 258-259. London: Routledge.
Finlay, Linda. 2002. “Negotiating the Swamp: The Opportunity and Challenge of Reflexivity in Research Practice.”
Qualitative Research 2, no.2 (August): 209–30.
Fujii, Lee Ann. 2009. Killing Neighbors: Webs of Violence in Rwanda. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Glas, Aarie. 2021. “Positionality, Power, and Positions of Power: Reflexivity in Elite Interviewing.” PS: Political Science
& Politics 54, no.3 (July): 438–42.
Kenny, Meryl. 2014. “A Feminist Institutionalist Approach.” Critical Perspectives. Politics & Gender 10(4): 679-684.
McLeod, Laura, and Maria O’Reilly, eds. 2021. Feminist Interventions in Critical Peace and Conflict Studies. 1st edition.
London: Routledge.
Shesterinina, Anastasia. 2021. “Sources of Evidence and Openness in Field-Intensive Research on Violent Conflict.”
Politics, Groups, and Identities 9 (4): 851–57.
Soedirgo, Jessica, and Aarie Glas. 2020. “Toward Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of
Knowledge.” PS: Political Science & Politics 53, no.3 (July): 527–31.
Thaler, Kai M. 2021. “Reflexivity and Temporality in Researching Violent Settings: Problems with the Replicability and
Transparency Regime,” in “Fieldwork as Social Transformation: Place, Time, and Power in a Violent Moment,”
ed. Noelle Brigden and Miranda Hallet, special issue, Geopolitics 26 (1): 18–44.
Thomas, Lahoma. 2018. “Dear Political Science, It Is Time for a SELF-REFLEXIVE Turn!” Duck of Minerva. December
18, 2018. https://www.duckofminerva.com/2018/12/dear-political-science-it-is-time-for-a-self-reflexive-turn.
html.
Townsend-Bell, Erica. 2009. “Being True and Being You: Race, Gender, Class, and the Fieldwork Experience.” PS:
Political Science & Politics 42, no.2 (April): 311–14.
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2018. “Transparency and Integrity in Conducting Field Research on Politics in Challenging Contexts.”
Perspectives on Politics 16, no. 3 (September): 728–38.
Väyrynen, Tarja, Swati Parashar, Élise Féron, and Catia Cecilia Confortini, eds. 2021. Routledge Handbook of Feminist
Peace Research. London: Routledge.
Wibben, Annick T. R. 2009. “Feminist Security Studies,” in The Routledge Handbook of Security Studies, edited by
Myriam Dunn Cavety and Victor Mauer, 100-10. London: Routledge.
———. 2016. Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics. London: Routledge.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 35

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506837

Give and Take: How Reflexivity Enables Ethical

Policy-Engaged Research
Susanna P. Campbell
American University

What does it mean to engage in ethical The Ethical Obligation to Equally

research on international policy implementation? Distribute the Benefits of Research
International policy implementation describes
processes such as international aid, peacekeeping, Common guidelines around human subject
nuclear non-proliferation policies, and other foreign research ethics in the United States (US) developed
policy efforts that aim to affect the behavior of in the mid-20th century, and then spread to Europe
states and peoples, all of which have varying and beyond, aiming to ensure that any potential
degrees of power. Research on international policy risks to research participants were balanced with
implementation implicitly or explicitly studies these potential benefits (Jacobs and Ljungberg 2021).
power dynamics but rarely aims directly to influence In the wake of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-
them. In this paper, I will argue that ethical research 1972)—in which the US Public Health Service
on international policy implementation requires a refused to cure African American men’s syphilis
focus on the potential benefits of the research to because it would undermine their research
those affecting and affected by international policy study—the US Department of Health, Education,
implementation. I argue that giving back to these and Welfare in the Belmont Report outlined the
research subjects requires reflexivity throughout three principles for the protection of human
the research process: from the generation of the subjects in biomedical and behavioral research:
research question to the collection of data, to data respect for persons, beneficence, and justice.
analysis and publication. Respect for persons requires the researcher to
Building on Campbell’s (2017) discussion of “acknowledge autonomy [of research participants]
the practice of reflexivity, Ruffa’s (this symposium) and the requirement to protect those with
examination of reflexivity in relation to research in diminished autonomy” (National Commission
elite policy contexts, and Eck and Lanigan’s (this 1978, 4). Beneficence describes the researchers’
symposium) discussion about communicating the obligation to: “1) do no harm and 2) maximize
reflexive process of research, I discuss how these possible benefits and minimize possible harms”
reflexive practices shape the ability of scholars (5). Justice refers to the fairness with which the
to give back to the policymakers and populations benefits and burdens of research are distributed,
that they study. When one researches international including by ensuring that research does not
aid, peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, transnational only lead to benefits from those who can afford
security threats, or other efforts to implement it and does not “unduly involve persons from
international policy, how does one give back? What groups unlikely to be among the beneficiaries
are the benefits of the research to policymakers, of subsequent applications of the research” (6).
practitioners, and potentially vulnerable populations? Taken together, these three ethical principles
Even if a researcher can imagine the potential require that researchers ensure that their research
benefits, how can the researcher translate their does no harm and provide broader societal benefit.
research into these benefits? Although these ethical principles were focused on
the United States’ context, they have been broadly

36 | Give and Take: How Reflexivity Enables Ethical Policy-Engaged Research

adopted by scholars elsewhere (Douglas-Jones giving back, particularly when studying contexts
2017; Jacobs and Ljungberg 2021). affected by political violence. As indicated in in
Existing Institutional Review Board (IRB) the introduction to this forum, reflexivity “refers
guidelines, which aim to ensure that scholars carry to a researcher’s active consideration of and
out ethical research, focus primarily on minimizing engagement with the ways in which his own sense-
the potential harm to research subjects with little making and the particular circumstances that
concern for ensuring broader distribution of the might have affected it, throughout all phases of the
benefits. After all, the purpose of IRBs is to protect research process, relate to the knowledge claims
the research participants from harm and, in turn he ultimately advances in written form” (Schwartz-
the researcher, and their institution, from harm or Shea and Yanow 2013, 100). Sustaining reflexivity
litigation (Guillemin et al. 2012). And yet, two of throughout the research process requires that the
the core Belmont Report principles focus not just researcher employ three consistent practices.
on mitigating the harm to human subjects, but on First, as Eck and Lanigan (this volume), reflexivity
ensuring research projects’ benefits. There remains requires continuous self-reflection that examines
variation in ethical review structures and practices the effect of the researcher’s positionality on the
across countries, institutions, and professional data that he/she/they has access to and how he/
fields, but balancing risks with public benefits is, she/they interprets and constructs meaning from
ostensibly, a foundational principle and goal of the data (Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw 2011). When
IRBs around the world (Tapscott and Machón, n.d.). researching the international policy implementation
Particularly in social science research, assessing process, this type of self-reflection requires that
the potential benefits of research that has not yet the researcher understand when they/he/she holds
been conducted and ensuring the equal distribution power, even in an elite context (see Ruffa, this
of these benefits often seems unachievable, or symposium), and how this power might influence
at least beyond the scope of scholarly training the policy implementation process, in positive or
(Jacobsen and Landau 2003). This would not only negative ways.
require anticipating the results of the research but Second, and relatedly, reflexivity of the
understanding how these results might influence researcher’s own positionality and of others’
international policy implementation. Most scholars positionality is central to the process of
leave this type of consideration of the implications understanding the data that the research is
of research to the end of the research project, collecting and what these data mean. As Fujii
at which point some aim to “disseminate” their (2018) so astutely notes, real understanding in
scholarly results to a policy audience. interviews and data collection comes through
the creation of relationships with research
Reflexivity and Giving Back participants. Through these relationships and
continuous reflexivity, the researcher gains
In spite of a shift in the broader international knowledge while being changed by the knowledge
relations field to support more policy engagement— that she/he/they gained. When the researcher is
spurred in part by initiatives like the Bridging the researching the policy process, she/he/they gain
Gap project—many international relations scholars knowledge not only of the process or institution
are still uncertain what broader policy engagement of study but also of the perspectives, needs, and
entails or what disseminating their research reality of the policymakers as well as other actors
involves. If they do disseminate their research, it involved in the policy process.
is often in the form of giving a talk or writing an Third, an additional method for checking
Op Ed. But does this satisfy the Belmont Report’s the researcher’s own assumptions, and how
call to ensure that the benefits of the research are their positionality reflects and affects those
equally shared (Nordstrom and Robben 1995)? assumptions, is to present the findings back to the
I argue that reflexivity offers part of the research participants (Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw
solution to fulfilling the researcher’s obligation of 2011). When considered reflexively, rarely are these

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 37

dissemination exercises simply ways of validating research with non-governmental actors who can
immutable findings. Instead, they are opportunities hold their governments accountable for changing
to shape and further understand one’s research policies.
findings and how others view their potential Each of these pathways to “giving back” has
benefits and harms. potential benefits, and potential harms, that the
When studying the policy process, employing researcher should continue to use the reflexive
a reflexive approach at all stages of the research process to assess and understand. The researcher’s
process—question generation and design, data choices at this dissemination phase also depend
collection and analysis, writing and publication— on their relationships and how the researcher built
is likely not only to build greater understanding of and sustained these relationships throughout the
the phenomenon of study but also to enable the reflexive research process. From this perspective,
researcher to understand how to meet their ethical the research process is a continuous process of
obligation of supporting the equal distribution of reflexivity: from idea-generation, to data collection,
the potential benefits of the research. It is likely to analysis, to dissemination, and back to idea-
to help the researcher understand how different generation. I have argued that how the researcher
actors involved in the policy process, and its chooses to engage with the policy implications
implementation, view its success and failure. It of their research throughout this process will
should enable the researcher to understand how significantly shape how the researcher actually
to frame their research in a way that may shape influences this policy process.
the policy process, even if it does so by proffering
profound critiques. It is also likely to enable the
researcher to develop the relationships and trust
and knowledge necessary to speak directly to
policymakers and other related actors about the
relevance of the research findings to this process.
Finally, this reflexive approach is likely to generate
new research questions and ideas as the research
observes changes in the broader policy context
and in their own understanding of this context and
how it shapes both research and subject alike.
As with all ethical considerations, the reflexive
process does not ensure that the researcher
knows exactly how to distribute the benefits of
their research equally. But the reflexive process
will enable the researcher to better understand
how to navigate the process of translating their/
her/his research into implications that are relevant
for policymakers and populations concerned. In
some cases, the researcher may choose to present
some findings in an open forum but discuss other,
more sensitive findings in a more private forum
with policymakers. The former approach may
give visibility and exposure to the findings, but the
latter may help policymakers understand how to
alter their policies based on the findings. In other
cases, the researcher may decide to eschew direct
engagement with international policymakers and
focus, instead, on sharing the implications of the

38 | Give and Take: How Reflexivity Enables Ethical Policy-Engaged Research

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40 | Give and Take: How Reflexivity Enables Ethical Policy-Engaged Research

 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Original Article
Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097678

Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the

Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial
Insights to a Comparative Digital Data Collection
Project1

Julia Margaret Zulver Eilidibeth Córdova

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México & University of Oxford Andrea María Reyes López

Emma Turiño
University of Salamanca Ilana Zelmanovitz Axelrod
University of Oxford

Introduction: Collecting Data with High- ethnographic fieldwork, including in-person, semi-
Risk Participants structured interviewing and life history methods.
One of the objectives of the research agenda,
Latin America is considered the most dangerous however, was to generate data that lends itself to
place in the world to be a human rights defender mid-N comparison. In this case, mid-N is neither a
(United Nations Human Rights Council 2021; small-N study with a handful of participants, nor is
Front Line Defenders 2022; Global Witness 2022). it a large-N study that facilitates statistical analysis.
It is also considered, in the aggregate, to be the Rather, it is a sample that is large enough for
most dangerous place to be a woman (ibid.). At analytical comparison while also bearing in mind
the nexus of these two phenomena, the broader the complexities of safety identifying and engaging
research agenda guiding the project discussed in with sensitivity research constituents. Collecting
this article seeks to understand women leaders’ this data purely through in-person interviews is
public displays of bravery in dangerous contexts. not always possible, given time, resource, and
A large part of the project has relied on (semi-) access restrictions, and thus this article explores

1 This project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-
Curie Grant Agreement No. 838513.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 41

alternative methods that can both gather more In what follows, we use the case of our digital
data without losing the feminist and decolonial data collection project with high-risk leaders in
sensibilities of the broader research agenda. Central and South America to highlight both how
In this article, we present an approach to and why we designed the project to privilege
undertaking this type of comparative data collection, feminist and decolonial research values. We also
drawing on insights from feminist and decolonial outline the challenges we faced along the way,
perspectives. When undertaking sensitive research and how we acted to overcome them and learn
within social sciences, there is often a tendency from them. Finally, we reflect on what this specific
to adopt a variation of what Lee Ann Fujii called project can tell us about other projects that aim to
“relational interviewing”, which allows academics to generate comparable data, while also maintaining
prioritise the respect and dignity of the interviewee deep and human connections with interlocutors.
through dual-directional methods. Fujii’s method is
based on an interpretivist methodology (Fujii, 2018, 2), Designing a Feminist and Decolonial
that involves active listening, acquiring new lexicons, Data Collection Tool
learning through missteps, and treating people with
dignity and respect (2018, 2-7). At its core, relational One of the objectives of this project was to
interviewing recognises the humanity of both the generate research that lends itself to comparative
interviewer and the interviewee. In this article, we ask: analysis, through creating a database based
Is it possible to achieve the same dignity and respect on online questionnaires with high-risk women
when collecting multiple structured responses via a leaders around the region. However, this project
digital platform? Is it possible to bring a feminist and did not come without sampling challenges. The
decolonial ethos to mid-N studies, particularly with participants we aimed to include in our database
sensitive interlocutors? – high-risk women leaders – are often hard-to-
We provide insights into how to balance reach as they are time and resource poor; many
undertaking remote, online questionnaires with an also live in areas that are difficult to access either
approach that allows for flexibility, engagement, due to their remoteness and complicated security
and reflexivity with research constituents. The environments. They are, understandably, wary of
article offers suggestions about how to take the engaging with researchers about their experiences
essence of Fujii’s relational interviewing – a style of threats and violence. Many report suffering
that privileges the dignity of the interviewee – and extreme burnout, and mental and emotional fatigue
expand it in a way that generates data that lends after prolonged periods of risky activism, often
itself to mid-N comparison without losing its without significant change.
intimacy. We reflect on the “affective encounters” Given the sensitivities around data collection,
that take place when creating the enabling as well as the values of the research team, the
conditions to conduct questionnaires with at-risk methods adopted in this project were designed to
participants. Finally, it offers insights about how to be feminist and decolonial in nature, as an attempt
create connections and bonds of trust, even when to prevent retraumatizing or unethical research
research is digital and not immersive.2 Overall, practices (see Red de Organizaciones Femeninas
we found that collecting comparative data (for del Pacifico Caucano Matamba y Guasa et al.,
example, in an online questionnaire) can centre 2022). Indeed, as feminist researchers have
both feminist and decolonial research ethea, written, “contesting extractive research starts with
but require doing ‘behind the scenes’ work with investing time and building relationships based
research constituents beyond the data collection on mutual trust and transparency” (ibid.). From
exercise itself. the outset, it was important that even though the

2 For an in-depth discussion of the promises and pitfalls of ‘digitalising’ research in conflict zones, see (Mwambari, Purdeková, and
Nyenyezi Bisoka 2022).

42 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
research methods used for this project were more women programmes, national statistical offices,
‘hands off’ than methods that typically afford close policymakers, and researchers decide when and
connections through individual, semi-structured how to best collect data on women’s experiences
interviewing, we (at times, inadvertently) built of violence [...]” (UN Women 2020). While this tree
spaces for “vulnerable listening, respect and care” was largely based on the assumption that women
(ibid.) at different stages of the process. Such work might be at home with potential perpetrators
mainly took place ‘behind the scenes’ – that is, in of violence, and largely designed to understand
the efforts we made to create an environment that patterns of violence against women and girls
facilitated ethical data collection on a mid-N scale. (VAWG) – and relatedly, service provision – during
While significant efforts were made to design national lockdowns, it provides a useful framework
a data collection protocol that privileged women’s to reflect on how to prioritise women’s safety and
safety above all, we found that on certain ethically in processes of data collection (ibid).
occasions, our assumptions about how women Given the precarious - and dangerous - contexts
want to keep themselves safe were different from in which women leaders in Latin America live
their own preferences. Thus, after outlining the why and work, it was essential that this project
and how of designing this project, we also reflect include a closed database - created via an online
on the realities of conducting this digital fieldwork, questionnaire - as a way to ensure women’s physical
and what this can teach us not only about women and emotional safety. Allowing women to respond
high-risk leaders themselves, but also about our online in the privacy of their own homes, on their
understanding of what makes (or can make) own time, without having to speak directly about
digital data collection feminist and decolonial. The trauma to a stranger would allow respondents to
process of designing the methods for this research choose the safest moments and spaces to answer
project can shed light on how to ethically engage a questionnaire on their smartphones.3,4 By safest
with other populations of high-risk participants, moments, we refer to times when women – who
while also generating data that lends itself to we recognise as experts in their own local security
comparative analysis. environments – were able to assess that they were
not being monitored or overlooked by potential
Deciding on digital data collection. purveyors of violence. As the questionnaire was
written, we were able to eliminate the risk of women
The timeline for the broader project intersected being overheard when speaking about sensitive
with the global Covid-19 pandemic. While research subjects via video or audio call or messages.
was due to begin in March 2020, the project was In what follows, we outline how the online
postponed until October 2021. During this time, questionnaire instrument was designed, and how
however, feminist scholars and practitioners the data collection phase played out in practice.
reflected on what data collection could look Indeed, we hope that the lessons learned both
like in a changing context of fieldwork (see in the design and data collection phases of this
Zulver, Cookson and Fuentes, 2021; Howlett, project offer insights that go beyond researchers’
2022; Marzi, 2023b, 2023a). Beyond academic assumptions about what women want, and how
scholarship, international organisations designed women keep themselves safe. Insights like these
guidance on how to conduct ethical research with are another way to bring feminist ‘closeness’ to
vulnerable subjects from a distance. For example, more distant methods, like online, structured data
in 2020 UN Women published a ‘decision tree’ collection.
to “[help] organisations with violence against

3 Much of this design process was influenced by conversations and thought–partnership the PI engaged in with her colleagues
at Ladysmith while they designed and launched Cosas de Mujeres, a Whatsapp-based data for development intervention run in the
context of Venezuelan mass migration to Colombia. See (J. M. Zulver, Cookson, and Fuentes 2021).
4 For more reflections on using smartphones in fieldwork, see (Truong et al. 2020).

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 43

The Design Phase Such an objective required extra work: going
beyond simply identifying respondents, assigning
Designing the Online Questionnaire an enumerator, and ensuring the questionnaire
had been filled. Rather, we engaged in ‘behind the
This article details how we built a database on scenes’ work that included phone calls, Whatsapp
women’s high-risk leadership through an online audio messages, and follow up calls to create
questionnaire. The questionnaire was conducted trust with interlocutors to the extent that they felt
remotely with 100 women leaders in seven confident and comfortable responding to the online
countries between late 2022 and mid-2023.5 The questionnaire candidly (see also Vitale, 2021).
focus countries were selected due to the elevated The questionnaire itself was designed based
risks present for social leaders and human rights on a series of life history interviews the PI
defenders. Reports from Front Line Defenders, conducted with 43 women in three countries, as
Global Witness, and the United Nations Special well as hundreds of interviews she has undertaken
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the context of past research projects with
defenders over previous years report Latin America high-risk activists. These life histories followed
as being the most dangerous region in the world semi-structured interview guidelines designed
for human rights defenders. Colombia, Mexico, El to elicit responses to the broader research
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, and questions around understanding women’s high-
Brazil consistently figure amongst the countries risk leadership. The fluid nature of these original
with the highest number of murders of human interviews (Rapley 2004) provided space for
rights defenders, not only in the region, but globally. interviewees to guide and shape the narratives
Activists and academics writing for the King’s that were being shared about their leadership.
College London Feminist Perspectives blog note Based on the responses from these interviews, we
that “social transformation expands through the began to collate categories of responses related
creation of relationships that are based on care, to: previous experiences with leadership, risks and
solidarity, respect, mutual support, and generous violence experienced, motivations for leadership,
knowledge exchange” (Red de Organizaciones and protection needs and practices. Some of the
Femeninas del Pacifico Caucano Matamba y questions were closed, while others offered space
Guasa et al., 2022). to insert qualitative reflections. For example, one
Indeed, our own research team was inspired by question asked: “Do you have previous experience
the idea of how practices of relationality can allow with leadership roles?” Respondents could answer
us to imagine feminist and decolonial social science affirmatively, negatively, or with “I’d prefer not
research that moves beyond box-ticking exercises to answer.” If they responded affirmatively, the
when it comes to ethical approvals and positionality questionnaire automatically asked them “Could
statements in articles.6 By this, we refer to ethical you please describe your experience of previous
protocols, risk assessments, and even submissions leadership”, and offered a box with space to input
to international journals that require reflection on their answers. Given the University of Oxford’s data
how the researcher intends to protect the ‘research protocols, we used Microsoft Forms (which we
subject’. In this project, we aimed to go beyond ensured was accessible on mobile phones). The
paternalistic ideas about how we can protect, in questionnaire was made available in both Spanish
order to begin two-way conversations about what and Portuguese.
safety looks like and implies for those research Based on what women said in the previous
constituents living in chronic situations of violence. semi-structured interviews, the PI designed the

5 At the time of writing (early 2024), and at the request of a group of women leaders in Ecuador, we have further disseminated the
questionnaire to include their experiences of leadership, under the country’s state of emergency.
6 For a discussion on the ethical pitfalls of sensitive research – indeed, those that extend beyond the bounds of university ethics
boards – see (Cronin-Furman and Lake 2018).

44 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
questionnaire questions to facilitate capturing media post, or similar about them easily accessible
broader patterns within the region. The intention of via the internet. We used this metric of other
the exercise was the widen the net –both in terms publications because the important element was
of numbers of leaders, and geographical context – to find recognised leaders who would not need to
to include more high-risk leadership experiences take on a new level of recognition for participating
in a format that facilitates comparative analysis, in this research. We assume that public recognition
including in countries outside of her area of focus. meant that these activists were likely already on
By using an online questionnaire, we hoped to the radars of violent actors and thus, that they
gather both qualitative and quantitative data. were aware of the risks in their actions, thus
Indeed, we use the term ‘questionnaire’ instead of allowing them to consent in a manner we consider
‘survey’ to signal that we do not intend to conduct to be ethically and morally responsible.7 Finally,
statistical analysis on the data, however, we do each of the identified participants needed to be
intend to use it for in-depth qualitative analysis and a high-risk leader, meaning that their role within
to generate descriptive statistics. the social movement puts them in a certain level
of danger. In order to operationalise ‘risk’, each
Selecting Leaders of the participants needed to have received some
sort of threat by a violent actor. The questionnaire
To select leaders to include in the database, three itself asked for more details about the nature of
criteria were established. Each of the identified the threats and/or violence that each participant
individuals needed: (1) to currently participate in a had experienced, although these responses were
social movement, (2) to identify as a woman leader, optional, in case participants did not want to
and (3) to operate in a context of risk. Each of these disclose. While we did not provide psychological
is discussed below. follow-up for participants, as discussed below, we
First, each participant needed to be engaged kept the option for ongoing communication open.8
in civil society activism. Given existing work on
violence against women in politics, we did not Convening a Research Team with Local
include any women involved in formal politics in Connections
the database, as the dynamics of violence here
are slightly different (see Krook, 2020). Second, Clearly, there are historical, social, economic,
each participant needed to identify a leader. Within and political differences between and specificities
feminist research on social movements, there related to the seven countries included in this study.
is an understanding that leadership structures Furthermore, these are not necessarily all countries
are not always hierarchical, and that there is not in which the PI has an academic history of research.
always one leader in each organisation (Gargallo Thus, to ensure that we could ethically engage in
Celentani 2012). With that said, previous work with this research, reach leaders via established and
women’s civil society organisations often reveals trusted networks, and account for an analysis that
that there is generally one individual who others takes into account these contextual details, four
see as “the leader” within an organisation (J. Zulver research assistants either based in, and/or with a
2022). Accordingly, to meet this criterion, selected significant history of conducting feminist research
participants needed to have a public-facing role, in Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, and Brazil
and to either consider themselves – or be pointed to were hired. As the PI has engaged in research in
by others – as leaders. For the sake of participants’ Colombia, Mexico, and El Salvador, she identified,
safety, each of the identified leaders needed to have contacted, and ensured the completion of the
some sort of publicly available news story, social questionnaires in these three countries by herself.

7 See the section on “strategic visibility” in (J. Zulver 2021).

8 For a discussion of when/if our ethical obligations end in the field, see (Knott 2019).

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 45

All members of the team identity as feminist. to ask any questions they might have about the
While certain power asymmetries between team project, and asked them to let us know when they
members and participants remain –for example, in had submitted their responses. The majority of
Guatemala, the RA lives in the capital, while many the women we contacted expressed that they felt
participants live in rural, principally Indigenous comfortable receiving information via Whatsapp,
areas9 – we hoped that closing certain kinds of as well as the follow-up and notification of what
distance (language and accent, location, some was sent, as these made conversations more
shared cultural experience) would find a morally fluid and easy. As we will discuss in the following
acceptable balance to the insider/outsider section, often there were long and drawn-out
“conundrum” (Parashar 2019; Savvides et al. 2014). negotiations about the objectives of the project
After an induction meeting where the project before respondents agreed to participate.
objectives were explained to the RAs, we began The online questionnaire provided options for
to create a shortlist of women leaders. RAs those with lower levels of literacy or with limited
were encouraged to source diverse participants, access to mobile internet (for example, in the case
including those representing different ethnic and of Venezuela); in certain cases RAs offered to fill
racial backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender in the questionnaire for participants, reading them
identities, ages, and geographic locations. While the questions over the phone and inputting their
the PI designed the questionnaire based on her answers. For the most part, however, participants
previous research, the RAs were active participants opted to complete the questionnaire alone, which
in the design of how and with whom to implement we believe offered a level of privacy that facilitated
it (see Parashar, 2019 on “research brokers”). openness about responses related to sensitive
All of the potential participants were input in an subjects.
encrypted database that explained how they filled
the three criteria, and included a link to an article or Learning from Challenges Encountered
publicly available post about them. The preliminary while engaging in Digital Data
shortlist was reviewed by the PI, who finalised the Collection with High-Risk Informants
list of leaders to be contacted, in conversation with
each RA. While the design phase of the project drew
on existing feminist methods that privileged
The Data Collection Phase respondents’ physical and mental safety, aimed
to avoid extractivist research practices, and
The process of gathering data was as follows: endeavoured to build-in spaces for reflection, our
after ensuring that the identified leaders met the team still encountered unexpected challenges.
three criteria, researchers drew on our established We do not take these as a sign of failure in our
in-country networks to contact leaders, by design or research collection. Rather, we agree
Whatsapp (in most cases, although by Signal or with the authors of the Feminist Perspectives blog
Telegram in others), phone call, social media, or that (feminist) research is about “entanglements,
email. After introducing themselves and the project relationships, and unexpected outcomes” (2022).
and receiving confirmation that the leaders wanted In what follows, we separate these “unexpected
to participate, we sent an information sheet in outcomes” into three central challenges. These
Spanish or Portuguese, and then sent them a link to challenges, intrinsic to the socio-political and
an online questionnaire, using Microsoft Forms. We security circumstances in the countries under study,
outlined the types of questions the questionnaire define the difficulties in access and participation
would include, and then gave them an opportunity of some of these women in our research. These

9 See also, reflections on the tensions that emerge when “home” becomes the “field” in digital research (Konken and Howlett
2023).

46 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
categories are: (1) digital isolation of women particularly vulnerable; they are unable to register
leaders, (2) threat response inhibitors, and (3) the cases of abuse and harassment and are restricted
‘bigger picture’ question. in their ability to seek information.
Beyond a lack of internet connection, some
Digital Isolation women leaders do not have mobile phones due to
a lack of resources. We are aware that using digital
Firstly, the digital isolation of certain women data collection methods thus isolates certain
leaders represents a challenge to data collection. leaders in the countries in which we work, whose
The presence of structural conditions beyond the experiences would undoubtedly be important to
scope of our project has resulted in obstacles in include in our database. To address this profile
communicating with local leaders whose activities of “shadow” leadership, it would be necessary to
could have a crucial impact in certain geographic consider the alternative of moving to the areas
areas. Indeed, as we knew that our project involved where these women exercise their militancy,
access to a smartphone, we were not able to although this could entail considerable risks for our
include those women who do not have access to researchers.
these devices. Beyond lack of access to a phone,
however, we found other isolation issues: one Threat Response Inhibitors
woman in the Colombian Amazon was only able
to communicate via WhatsApp when she travelled Secondly, we identified a challenge related to
to a nearby town and had an internet signal. She “threat response inhibitors”. In turbulent and tense
would sometimes remain incognito for days, and political environments, many women leaders
would then reappear when she was no longer in her live under the constant threats of wiretapping,
isolated village. In cases like these, patience was intimidation by armed groups, and fear of
key. We intentionally gave ourselves a long timeline reprisals by state apparatuses, including security
to collect this data, so that we could guarantee forces. Under this climate of hostility, a significant
we would collect a range of experiences without number of women leaders choose not to respond
rushing interlocutors. to questionnaires when we approached them.
In the case of Venezuela in particular, we had In this context, we take non-response not as a
ongoing struggles with lack of internet access, or rejection of our invitation, but as influenced by a
with participants who could not afford expensive climate of persecution and threats in their local
internet packages for their phones. In cases when context.
women were unable to afford data, we sometimes Wariness of engaging with strangers presented
sent payments for them to purchase internet additional challenges in establishing contact with
packages. As the Research Assistant explained, grassroots women leaders. From the beginning,
in Venezuela it is not uncommon for service contacting these women was a delicate process,
providers to have “caídas” (blackouts), which can as they are individuals who have been threatened
leave the population out of communication for or attacked – indeed, this was one of the reasons
hours. Venezuela has one of the slowest internet why we wanted to contact them and include them
connections in Latin America. Indeed, a study in our analysis. Their willingness to engage with
published by Caleidoscopio Humano and Monitor unknown parties (our team) brought to the table
de Derechos Económicos, Sociales, Culturales y the need to be skilful and empathetic in presenting
Ambientales (Caleidoscopio Humano 2020) notes the objectives of the project and our intention with
that connectivity in Venezuela is so bad that it has the questionnaire. Indeed, these soft skills were
become a limiting factor for human development, fundamental to the ‘behind the scenes’ work that
and infringes on rights including the freedom of facilitated the broader data collection process.
expression, the right to be informed, and the right to For example, during our initial mapping, it was
work. When connectivity is limited or non-existent, difficult to locate and contact Garifuna women
women’s rights and human rights activists are leaders in Honduras, which also shows that

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 47

there is little articulation or communication with encounters were (implicitly or explicitly) requested
women fighting in Garifuna territories. In this by interlocutors (Parashar, 2019, 255).
population in particular, women felt distrustful at The concept of ‘venting’ becomes theoretically
the beginning of the contact via Whatsapp, and relevant in this context, and refers to the expression
they asked for more information and some even of emotional states, the search for relief, and the
asked for communication via phone call or Zoom manifestation of intimate experiences. “Desahogo”
to talk about the study and also to talk about their (in Spanish) or “venting” is translated as the
experience, their experiences and the intimidation relief of sorrow, pain, or affliction. Indeed, in the
they had lived through. Indeed, we found one Royal Spanish Academy of Language, it refers to
of the most important factors to overcoming ‘widening, dilation, spreading out’. By finding ways
initial barriers to participation was around to incorporate desahogo into our methods, the
creating emotional bonds of trust. In a politically answers to the questionnaires were accompanied by
adverse and threatening context, the process of anecdotes, testimonies, and in-depth confessions
answering the questionnaires went beyond simply that reflected the emotional and psychological
answering structured questions. Women leaders complexity inherent in these women’s lives. Such
used initial phone conversations or messages testimonies either came in parallel, through offline
as an opportunity not only to share their political phone calls or messages, and then in the open-
perspectives and experiences of activism, but also ended question boxes that we purposefully built
to release emotions, express personal experiences, into the questionnaires themselves.
and vent in a safe environment.
This situation of needing to be flexible in how we The ‘bigger picture’ question
‘got closer’ before moving towards more structured
methods characterised our overall study. That is, Finally, we identified challenges related to
in order to obtain objective, genuine, and truthful resisting participation due to a lack of change
testimony – even in a structured and comparative over time, or a weariness related to the ‘bigger
manner –, it was necessary to generate a priori picture’ question. In some instances, we were
conversational conditions that are usually clearly confronted with discouragement, hopelessness, or
distanced from what is understood as necessary despondency by the women leaders we contacted.
in dispassionate or neutral interviewer-interviewee These women highlighted the ongoing nature of
contexts. Thus, while filling in the questionnaire their problems in a context where circumstances
itself was not necessarily an “affective do not show improvement and sometimes even
encounter”, the process leading to and following worsen. They questioned the usefulness and direct
its submission was (Parashar, 2019, 254). This benefits of participating in research of this nature.
emotional dimension, reflected in women leaders’ Often, the considerable workload that these leaders
need for relief, underlines the limitation of purely carry in their communities leads them to prioritise
quantitative approaches to understanding managing resources and space over the investment
grassroots leadership in challenging contexts, of time in responding to questionnaires. We found
and to collecting data in a feminist and decolonial that the perception of neglect at the international
manner. Indeed, Sara Ahmed writes about how level also plays a role in the lack of incentive
through the “work of listening to others, of hearing to collaborate in such studies, highlighting the
the force of their pain and the energy of their importance of addressing the emotional dimension
anger… an attachment is made” (Ahmed, 2004 of data collection.
188). Although at face value, the method of using This process of gathering testimonies also
an online questionnaire does seem to require an highlighted the lack of international recognition
emotional connection, we argue that affective for these grassroots leaders, particularly women.
encounter are necessary in order to create the Despite the risks inherent in their roles in their
enabling conditions for its collection. Indeed, respective communities, they also face an
we overwhelmingly found that such affective emotional risk of not being heard beyond their

48 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
milieu of struggle. Even well after submitting their generating sufficient responses to engage in mid-N
questionnaires online, many of them expressed comparative analysis. It centred a do no harm
a desire to maintain contact, request updates, approach that prioritised women’s agency without
and collaborate on the project, predilections negating the possibility of creating a database of
that underscore the importance of providing a responses we will now comparatively analyse.
space for their voices in the global arena. As a When it comes to questions of how decolonial our
team, we had ongoing conversations about how project actually is, we are aware of the limitations of
to moderate expectations (around participation) our approach. We are aware that a written question-
and avoid extractivist research dynamics. We response exercise falls well within the scope of a
also discussed how to ensure that the results are traditional, Western, colonial approach to research.
disseminated back to the research constituents; Indeed, we have reflected on the work of Linda
we are currently preparing an informational video Tuhiwai Smith (1999), who asks us to think about
of the questionnaire results which we will share which ways Indigenous ways of knowing have been
on social media, and of course, with the interview represented, who tells other people’s stories, and
respondents.10 in which languages? Following these questions,
it is difficult to argue that our selected method is
Lessons about Doing Structured fundamentally decolonial in nature.
Feminist, Decolonial Research Online Moreover, we are aware that one of the risks
of distance research is exacerbating top-down
In sum, the process of data collection in the the power dynamics associated with (colonial)
High-Risk Women Leaders in Latin America project knowledge production (see Mwambari, Purdeková
shines a light on the interconnectedness between and Nyenyezi Bisoka, 2022, 974). For example,
the initial challenges of access, the emotional some caution that online research in conflict zones
dimension in interactions, and the importance risks reduces the complexity of social phenomena,
of recognising neglected voices in the cross- and risks omitting lived experiences of violence
national context. While it is essential to generate (Mwambari, Purdeková and Nyenyezi Bisoka,
comparative information about this population, 2022, 970). In this article, however, we highlight
such exercises do not necessarily need to be the ways in which trust-building and “contexting”
dispassionate, academically neutral, or prohibit do not need to be categorically or “vitally eclipsed
fostering closeness. Indeed, we argue that, in some in online exchanges and platforms” (ibid., 970).
cases, it is not possible to gather useful information We agree with these authors that the method has
unless such feminist and decolonial closeness is epistemological limitations; in this article, however,
incorporated into the data collection process. we aim to highlight attempts – however imperfect
The process of designing and applying an online – to overcome some of these limitations through
questionnaire tool was intended to follow a feminist feminist design. Put simply, we contend that design
and decolonial approach to social sciences research matters and that while a project may not be – in
that aims to centre the voices and experiences of itself – decolonial, there is value in creating room
women, be flexible to their conditions at the moment to (re)engage in these conversations throughout
of surveying, and prioritise respondents’ safety over the process of research.
all else. Even though the objective was to use a Moreover, this element of the project (that is,
method that does not generally facilitate closeness the online questionnaire) does not take place in
(a structured, one-directional questionnaire filled-in isolation; rather, it is part of a broader research
remotely), the ‘behind the scenes’ work undertaken agenda that incorporates multiple methods,
by the research team created the conditions apt including in-situ ethnographic research. Thus, while
for accessing sensitive information, while also participants in the questionnaire will not be involved

10 At the time of writing, data analysis is still underway, which is why the video has not yet been disseminated.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 49

in the data analysis itself, the data will be shared In the case of Honduras, the Garifuna women
back to them. To provide one illustrative example specifically asked for more connection; the PI and
of how we put the questionnaire in conversation the RA working on Honduras amended the ethics
with other attempts at returning research (see approvals they had secured in order to carry out
Knott, 2019), the PI conducted in-person qualitative virtual semi-structured interviews with certain
research with one of the Indigenous participants in participants, and a separate research paper is now
this survey, and then translated her findings from underway. These women and other leaders sought
English to Spanish, and then, through hiring her to stay informed about the progress of the research
daughter as a research assistant, back into Me’phaa, and actively offered to organise online meetings,
her first language. This process was requested by both with our team and with other leaders in
the participant, in an ongoing conversation about their respective countries, with the purpose of
how to ensure that the research would be useful to establishing networking opportunities. These
her and her community. meetings are being organised at the time of writing.
As outlined, the process of collecting the data For the research team, this ‘behind the scenes’ and
– the stories of women’s leadership experiences – ‘after the fact’ work is as important as the ‘front
gave rise to certain unexpected challenges. Whereas of house’ work (the questionnaire responses), as
we thought that offering a private space (one’s it first creates the close conditions and affective
phone) to respond to an online questionnaire would encounters necessary to then distance ourselves
be less intrusive, and that more women would feel with a digital data collection tool.
more open to talking about experiences of violence In all, this article has presented reflections
outside of a conversation that naturally involves on a digital data collection project that aimed to
power imbalances, many women actually wanted generate a mid-N number of responses without
to discuss the experience of the questionnaire, losing the feminist and decolonial ethea inherent
both before and after filling it in. Thus, while to the broader research agenda. We detail how
digital data collection facilitated a certain level of we designed the project in a way to generate the
privacy – and offered the agency to allow women appropriate closeness for collecting sensitive
to respond on their own schedule, and in their own information, while recognising that an online
space – we learned that when discussing high- questionnaire inherently involves a level of
risk leadership, some women wanted more direct distance. To conclude, we want to be clear that the
contact. They were looking for more closeness and data generated in their project is not intended to
solidarity, rather than more isolation (which we had be collected, nor analysed in isolation, but rather,
previously framed as privacy, and therefore safety). in conversation with ethnographic methods and
Thus, in order to collect remote information from insights. We further argue that ‘getting bigger’
these women at a distance, we first needed to find in terms of the number of responses, does not
creative ways to connect and get close. necessarily mean that feminist and decolonial
Finally, the behaviour of the grassroots leaders insights must be discarded. Finally, we aim to show
after completing the questionnaire yields insights through describing our own experience how these
into how we will now assess the quality of the insights can be included iteratively throughout the
information collected. After each interaction, the research design process.
protocol involved confirming that the questionnaire
had been completed successfully, with no major
problems or outstanding questions. However, in
most cases, this ‘confirmation contact’ did not
mark the end of communication between women
leaders and our team. In all the countries where
the study has been carried out, women leaders
expressed great interest in maintaining ongoing
contact with the project team via messages.

50 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
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52 | Connecting, Venting, and Doing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Work: Bringing Feminist and Decolonial Insights to a Comparative
Digital Data Collection Project
 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Original Article
Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097657

Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

Ozlem Tuncel
Georgia State University

Elite interviewing is one of the most frequently is an extremely potent tool that every researcher
employed qualitative research methods in political should keep in their toolbox. Whether by itself or
science. Talking to elites allows researchers to even accompanying a larger project with another
detect any decision making process, trace the policy methodological approach (like site intensive
process of key events, garner insider information, methods or quantitative regression analysis), elite
and unravel complex mechanisms. Some level of interviewing allows us to get insights that are
confidence and skill is often required in quality not accessible through our data and unravel new
elite interviewing, but there is no trusted guide mechanisms that are not known to the researcher.
for novice interviewers. Based on my experience Although elite interviews are foundational to
of interviewing politicians, government officials, our research, mainstream accounts often lack
and political party leaders as a graduate student, critical insights for novice interviewers, and
I provide a holistic approach to elite interviews by this research often assumes some sort of prior
drawing insights from my experience and other knowledge and skills when talking to elites.1 More
methods such as participation observation. In this importantly, elite interviewing is not addressed
article, I aim to acknowledge the challenges of elite adequately in the Ph.D. curricula, especially in the
interviews as a graduate student, junior faculty, or Northern American graduate education. First, most
scholar with limited experience in interviewing and graduate programs do not have any substantive
offer some guidance and recommendations before methodology course for qualitative approaches
and after the conduct of interviewing. (Emmons and Moravcsik 2020). Graduate students
I want to start by defining elite interviewing, learn little about qualitative work, let alone work on
which is quite an elusive concept despite the elite interviews. Second, programs with qualitative
elite’s role in political science research. Following research courses cannot adequately prepare
Richards (1996, 199), I define elites as “a group graduate students and young scholars to conduct
of individuals, who hold, or have held, a privileged elite interviewing in real life. Often these courses
position in society and, as such, as far as a political cram various methodological approaches into a
scientist is concerned, are likely to have had more few weeks and offer shallow information on each
influence on political outcomes than general topic, letting students explore these subjects
members of the public.” Given this, elite interviewing independently. Exercises in or out of the classroom

1 Major exception to this statement would be Berry’s (2002) article on elite interviews.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 53

involving interviewing might benefit students to ethics board process, what to expect and prepare.
develop the habits of a qualified interviewer but Your institution’s ethics committee website is the
will not guarantee confidence and expertise. So, most useful tool in prepping these documents, but
for novice interviewers, elite interviewing can an extensive Google search is also essential in
become a steep curve to overcome. I believe the navigating material preparation.
following recommendations and discussion of Let’s talk about money! Conducting elite
elite interviewing are highly beneficial to graduate interviews is sometimes solo empirical research, but
students, junior scholars, or people new to elite it can also be combined with another qualitative or
interviewing to minimize their mistakes and quantitative research component. No matter what,
increase their research’s internal and external how and where these interviews are conducted is
validity. important. If elites are politicians and government
actors, it is often expected of the researcher to
Before the Interviews be present in the field and accommodate the
location preferences of these individuals. Some
Research ethics board is your best friend! scholars prefer face-to-face interviews but opt
After deciding that elite interviews is the best for telephone/e-mail/online interviews at the
empirical approach to collecting necessary data, respondent’s request (Harvey 2011; Howlett 2022).
several things need to be considered. Recruitment Respondents sometimes appreciate the flexibility
of interviewees, consent process, conduct of of conducting these interviews through telephone
interviews, and data information retention are or mail. Not to mention, this sort of interviewing is
some of the essential steps that one must think a low-cost approach, given the limited resources
about before starting their field research. A review graduate students work with.
process conducted by research ethics committees My suggestion is to give priority to the
(e.g., Institutional Review Board in the US) is the interviewee’s preferences and accessibility and
first step that any researcher should go through to accommodation issues. In cases I interviewed
ensure the safety of the researcher and subjects politicians and bureaucrats, it was almost always
and the quality of their scholarly work. expected of me to be present in the city where
Preparing necessary documents and answering they operate, and online interviewing was out
questions about the research protocol, interviewee of the question. One major benefit of in-person
safety, conduct of interviews, mechanisms to interviewing is immersive research, where the
contact interviewees, mechanisms of anonymity, researcher has access to insights from observing
information storage that ensures anonymity, behavior, understanding the location, and engaging
recruitment methods and texts, and the consent with individuals on the periphery, especially elites’
process enable inexperienced researchers to have assistants or administrative aides. For example,
a good spiel prepared for the actual interviewing one of my interviews with a political party leader in
process. Thinking about these details not only Turkey was insightful since an in-person meeting
ensures interviewer and interviewee safety and allowed me to enter the party building, meet with
meets the standards of good research, but it also several members of the party and administrative
prepares researchers for fieldwork. crew, garner print materials related to the
If it is your first time going through the ethics topic of research, and get invitation for related
board, the process can take considerable time party meetings and rallies. Such an immersive
to prepare these documents and think through experience would not be possible if the interview
these details. Depending on the institution and was conducted online or through phone.
the context these interviews take place, the board So, if possible, securing a research grant
might not be familiar with fieldwork research or ask through internal or external sources would greatly
for more detailed information. So, I recommend benefit the researcher in expediting the interview
talking to other faculty members and colleagues and gaining further insights about the field and
with fieldwork research experience about their subject. Many political science organizations

54 | Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

have dissertation grants, think tanks and research Do your homework! One essential part of
organizations offer funds to conduct research, the interview preparation is getting to know
and most schools have specialized bodies for the interviewees. If available, get to know
graduate students to learn more about internal your interlocutor in detail by going over their
and external funding for conducting research online presence, public statements, projects or
involving elite interviews and fieldwork visits. publications, and news or research related to these
Get your tools ready! Another important aspect people. Personal websites and social media2 can
of elite interviews is the tools that you are using. benefit the researcher with further questions to
A device for voice recording (if allowed by the integrate into the interview and probes. If possible,
interviewee), a small notebook and pen to take the online interactions of these people can help
notes, a consent form approved by the ethics trace personal relationships and additional
committee, small print of your interview questions, contacts for future interviews. I recommend taking
your business card, and your laptop/tablet are a extensive notes about the individual and preparing
few necessary items to keep by yourself all the flashcards about the person before the interview.
time. Depending on your day and schedule, bringing Similarly, Berry (2002) recommends careful
snacks and water would not hurt if you had back- examination of the interviewee before the interview
to-back interviews. to avoid any potential problems and configure
If allowed, audio recording is okay with elite unique questions for the person you are interviewing.
interviews. Remember, giving their personal and Figure 1 provides an example flashcard that can be
professional comments and talking to the media used to take notes about the interviewee prior to
about their ideas are routine tasks for elites. If interviews to avoid any bloopers. Bloopers might
elites wish to share their honest opinions, they indicate a lack of interest and an unprofessional
may prefer not to have the interview recorded. In approach to the topic and might irk the interviewee.
such cases, it is crucial for new interviewers to Knowing your interviewee, however, results in
be aware of this and prepared for the situation. a quality interview, professionalization, and an
Also, investing in a good recorder also creates a increase in the interviewer’s trust.
professional look. Using your phone might create
credibility and trust issues for the interviewee in Figure 1. Flashcard example
fragile contexts. You may not have access to your
audio recorder or your phone during the interview.
In one of my interviewees, I was conducting an
interview at the Grand National Assembly in
Turkey, which allows only journalists to carry audio
recorders. Also, my interviewee did not prefer to
use a smartphone to record the meeting. So, the
old-fashioned notepad became quite useful. In
these instances, do not panic or fear that you will
be missing out a lot. After the interview, sit down
and spend some time writing down your notes
from the interview. You might not be able to get
some verbatim insights, but you could still use
these interviews in detail.

2 In my personal experience with Turkish elites, I found that they frequently use Twitter. However, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or
other venues are not preferred. It is important to note that the choice of social media can change depending on the political context.
For instance, in some Latin American countries, political elites frequently use TikTok to promote their policy agenda (Bergengruen
2023). Similarly, in some Asian countries, Facebook and Twitter are essential in political campaigns (Tapsell 2021).

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 55

 You are a researcher, not a graduate student! However, it is also important to note that elites
Like all fieldwork research, the researcher’s are often a close circle of people, and shifting
positionality carries great importance for elite positions might change people’s ideas about the
interviewing. Embracing the researcher identity researcher’s credibility and the research itself. If the
when conducting these interviews is necessary, interviewee’s credibility is in danger, the interview
especially for graduate students; it is crucial to quality can be affected, and the interviewee might
remind yourself that you are not a graduate student not feel comfortable conducting an interview.
but a researcher in the field. Graduate students and So, always keep the social and political culture,
junior faculty members can suffer from imposter gender and background, interviewees’ gender and
syndrome, which might affect the quality of their background, and political context in mind when
research. However, gauging subtle aspects of the conducting these interviews. This is also important
elite view of the world requires confidence and in cases where the researcher is foreign to the
experience (Harvey 2011). Feeling inferior or not political context and culture. Finally, remember, one
worthy or doubting your abilities can threaten your of the characteristics of experienced interviewers
research’s internal and external validity. Additionally, is that they can easily understand whether the
the power imbalance between the interviewer and interviewee feels comfortable or not, and adjust
interviewee can grow exponentially, especially if their style as necessary.
the interviewer is a graduate student. Furthermore, Unveiling the power of your tool: Open-ended,
in most contexts, gender and cultural roles are semi-structured, or closed-ended questioning.4
critical in positionality and dynamics between the Getting in the door is the first and most crucial step
interviewer and interviewee and can exacerbate the of interviewing, but what you do in these interviews
fragility of the researcher. This sort of imbalance is far more important. Open-ended questioning
impacts not only the quality of the interview but is the riskiest but potentially most valuable and
also the experience of being a researcher for the lucrative form of interviewing when it comes to elite
interviewer (Boucher 2017). interviews. Since open-ended questions prompt
Another positionality issue is how you present the interviewee to elaborate on issues, explore
yourself. It is common to adopt shifting positions perspectives, and stimulate critical thinking, this
in interviewing to garner more insights and adapt form of interviewing can lead to more significant
to unpredictable situations and evolving contexts.3 insights and information. However, open-ended
This will generate high quality responses and can questions require expertise in probing, building
even increase the likelihood of your interviewees rapport, and formulating follow-up questions
referring you to additional contacts (mainly if you (Berry 2002). Hence, avoid this approach in elite
are relying on snowball technique). The researcher’s interviews unless some confidence and experience
positionality can be a blessing and a curse. For is gained in interviewing.
instance, Glas (2021) reports that his position as a Closed-ended questioning limits the response
foreign researcher limited his access to European options, is quicker to conduct, controls the direction
and North American elites while increased his of the interview, and maintains control over the
chances with ASEAN officials. In my experience, flow of information. This approach is most helpful
religious male elites hesitated to talk to me in my if the research entails survey based research and
interviews and had lower likelihood to respond insights or minute details are not central to the
positively to my cold calls. So, adopting shifting research. This approach can be highly beneficial
positions can benefit the researcher to land an in extracting systematic information from the
interview and extract crucial insights. elites and conducting quantitative analysis. In

3 I use shifting positions to refer to the researcher’s ability and perspective to dynamically adapt to one’s stance, involvement, and
understanding while conducting research.
4 To have a better understanding of differences between structured, semi-structured, and unstructured approaches to interviewing,
I recommend Brinkman (2014).

56 | Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

my opinion, semi-structured interviews are the accommodate the elites’ preferences since they
most suitable and preferred approach to elite often have busy schedules and commitments.
interviewing since there is some predefined Where to find elites. Depending on your sampling
structure, but the flexibility of the responses process, your method for finding elites changes.
and prompts and probes are combined. Since The snowballing technique requires researchers
each elite possesses unique insights about your to build rapport and ask the interviewee for
topic, a semi-structured approach can benefit recommendations. If a more structured sampling
the researcher the most. The researcher can get method is used, reaching out to the elites can
systematic data on pre-established questions be tricky. Cold calls are likely to result in denial.
asked to all interviewees. The open-ended aspect To increase the return rate, underscoring the
of this approach allows researchers to dig deep, importance of research and the contribution that
explore additional subjects, and encourage the the interviewee provides are essential during the
interviewee to explore, elaborate, and share recruitment process.
different perspectives. Additionally, the researcher does not
Time, time, time! Unfortunately, elites have less communicate with the elite directly in most
time to spare for interviews, but interviewers need instances, but their assistants or communication
to gain the trust of their respondents to collect personnel oversee setting the appointment. In
high quality data. The importance of timing and these cases, we must remind ourselves that we
time of the interviews is something we do not learn are not the only people asking for these interviews.
in graduate school. First, elites are busy people So, arranging a single interview can become quite
and often have pre-determined schedules full of tricky and time-consuming. It is common to make
commitments (Peabody et al. 1990). It is often multiple phone calls/emails to arrange a single
expected from the researcher to clarify the time interview. So, be prepared to offer alternative times
needed to conduct the interview. So, always be and dates.
prepared to give an answer to this question and be Whether by email or phone call, a good spiel about
aware of your calendar. the purpose of the interview and who you are should
Another issue is clear when asked for the be ready (and often ethics boards ask for a copy of
expected length of the interviewee’s appointment. the recruitment text). Having a well-prepared script
The researcher’s dilemma is a serious issue on that outlines key information including who you are,
this topic. If you ask for too much time, refusal to where you are affiliated with, your research, aims
participate might become a serious issue. If you of the research, expected length of the interview,
ask for too little time, the quality and quantity of the and preferred time and date is the key.5 If more
data might be in danger. So, how to find the perfect information is needed, be prepared to provide it on
time? Short answer: It depends on your subject. the phone/e-mail quickly. I recommend creating
Discussing these questions with your advisor drafts that include half-a-minute and one-minute
or colleagues can provide insights into the ideal versions of the interview request prior to making
average expected time. any calls or emails. If interviewees want to know
Ideally, you need at least 30 minutes to one the interview questions beforehand, be prepared to
hour to conduct a proper interview with elites, share them in the language required (again, ethics
but more is also possible. When setting the committees ask for the translated version of these
appointment, I recommend asking for the time they documents if necessary).
can generously offer and accommodating that One controversial point of view on finding the
time. Lastly, your interviewee might want to make elites, especially initiating first contact points, is
last minute changes to the interview’s date, time, whether to use your network and people you know.
and even place. In these cases, it is essential to There is no rule of thumb on this. I recommend not

5 See Appendix for example recruitment e-mail and phone call spiel.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 57

using personal points of contact to reach elites for reflections from interactions, readings, and news.
two reasons. First, acquaintances can oblige elites These fieldwork diaries are a crucial part of the
to respond positively back to the interview request interviews conducted. To respect the anonymity of
and might result in reluctance, which can impact the interviewees, it is crucial to keep these notes in
the quality of your research. Second, I believe being a secure location.
unable to reach people as a researcher is also More than words: Silences, interruptions, and
significant data observation. This sort of situation lengthy monologues. Another thing I recommend
can inform us about the availability and openness is keeping a record of non-verbal cues and verbal
of the elites to these interviews. Using your network details. There will be silences, laughter, rise or fall
can increase the number of interviews conducted, of tone, interruptions, and monologues in each
but it does not guarantee quality in these meetings. interview. One might need to pay more attention
Lastly, I want to discuss the role of insiders to these details, which can provide critical insights
and outsiders in elite interviewing. Not all elites into the quality of the interview and the research
are equal! Von Soest’s (2023) work on expert context. For instance, in some interviews with
interviews is influential on this point. Insiders have elites, I realized that some opposition actors
firsthand account knowledge and experience. lowered their voices on certain subjects, got closer
They can easily misconstrue reality to protect their to me when talking, or used cryptic language to
interests (Von Soest 2023). Outsiders offer more maintain secrecy, privacy, and exclusivity. These
general information, assessment, and evaluation details allowed me to understand the political
of the topic but lack detailed information context as well as the position of these interviews.
and knowledge (Von Soest, 2023). Thus, he A systematic analysis of these cues can also help
recommends combining both insider and outsider us better understand the interview quality and
information when conducting expert interviews. insights. For example, keeping a record of these
When conducting elite interviews, similar insights signals can be manageable using a table where the
can be made. Insider elites are likely to keep researcher keeps a tally of these cues.
insider information or distort existing knowledge Each interview is a chance to improve yourself.
to protect their goals. Outsider elites can unravel Each interview is quite useful for updating your
further information and provide background information about your skills as a researcher and
for the elite decision and behavior. In my elite your research. For instance, thinking in-depth and
interviewing experience, I particularly benefited critically about yourself as a researcher can improve
from outsiders (like consultants, communications your skills in wording, probes, prompts, and building
aides, administrative assistants, or journalists) in rapport. I recommend taking note of what worked
understanding how elites behaved in certain ways. and did not work and your explanation of why it
worked. An intensive study of your experience can
After the Interviews help you to unravel interesting findings and is a
great way of improving your skills.
Know thyself! One of the things that I learned Additionally, I prefer to send thank you messages
from my advisors is the use of fieldwork diaries or e-mails to the interviewee (if the phone number
extensively and how important they are in terms of the e-mail address is available) or to the initial
of reflexivity. If you are conducting more than one point of contact. These thank you notes are crucial
interview per day, it is possible to forget some in appreciating the effort and time spent by the
details. Without critical thinking, you can also be interviewee. This is important in continuing the
prone to gloss over details or forego crucial cues. rapport built during the interview and conducting
I recommend keeping a fieldwork diary to take future research. In most cases, you may not
notes about the interview, especially details that get a response back. However, in my personal
you cannot grasp through your recording: your experience, the responses I got back showed deep
feelings and observations before and after the appreciation and respect.
interview, your interaction with the interviewee, and

58 | Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

Conclusion

To reiterate the general point of this article,

elite interviewing is one of the most challenging
empirical research projects, given that it requires
interview and people skills. Simultaneously, this
approach is one of the most rewarding tools,
especially if unraveling key mechanisms is the key
goal. If done properly, elite interviews can become
one of the most useful tools in your research. I
have addressed major issues to be aware of if you
are especially conducting elite interviews for the
first time. This applies to graduate students, junior
scholars, and faculty new to the elite interviewing
world. This paper provides necessary tools and
helpful tips to prepare the researcher for the worst-
case scenario. On a final note, it is essential to
note that even the most experienced researchers
will have difficulty in interviews. Therefore, novice
interviewers should view initial frustrations or
puzzlement as part of the learning process in
building their skills in elite interviewing. Embracing
these challenges will ultimately contribute to their
growth and success in this valuable approach.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 59

References

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com/6270952/latin-american-leaders-tiktok/.
Berry, Jeffrey M. “Validity and Reliability Issues in Elite Interviewing.” PS: Political Science & Politics 35, no. 4 (2002):
679-682.
Brinkmann, Svend. “Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing,” in The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research,
edited by Patricia Leavy, 277-299. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Boucher, Anna. “Power in Elite Interviewing: Lessons from Feminist Studies for Political Science.” Women’s Studies
International Forum 62, (2017): 99-106.
Emmons, Cassandra V., and Andrew M. Moravcsik. “Graduate Qualitative Methods Training in Political Science: A
Disciplinary Crisis.” PS: Political Science & Politics 53, no. 2 (2020): 258-264.
Glas, Aarie. “Positionality, Power, and Positions of Power: Reflexivity in Elite Interviewing.” PS: Political Science &
Politics 54, no. 3 (2021): 438-442.
Harvey, William S. “Strategies for Conducting Elite Interviews.” Qualitative Research 11, no. 4 (2011): 431-441.
Howlett, Marnie. “Looking at the ‘Field’ Through a Zoom Lens: Methodological Reflections on Conducting Online
Research During a Global Pandemic.” Qualitative Research 22, no. 3 (2022): 387-402.
Peabody, Robert L., Susan Webb Hammond, Jean Torcom, Lynne P. Brown, Carolyn Thompson, and Robin Kolodny.
“Interviewing Political Elites.” PS: Political Science & Politics 23, no. 3 (1990): 451-455.
Richards, David. “Elite Interviewing: Approaches and Pitfalls.” Politics 16, no. 3 (1996): 199-204.
Tapsell, Ross. “Social Media and Elections in Southeast Asia: The Emergence of Subversive, Underground
Campaigning.” Asian Studies Review 45, no. 1 (2021): 117-134.
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60 | Talking to Elites: A Guide for Novice Interviewers

 Qualitative &
Multi-Method
Research

Notes from the Field

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Spring 2024, Volume 22.1 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11097692

Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher

Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork
Jieun Baek
University of Oxford

In the high-risk environment of authoritarian archival evidence, and secondary sources from the
regimes, why do some people dissent while others United States, Burma, and the United Kingdom to
do not? Specifically, what motivates some people investigate first movers in Burma and their attempts
to be the first to dissent when there is no safety to initiate dissent between 1988-2011. Fieldwork
in numbers, and no guarantee that others will join? took place over five research trips to Burma between
The willingness of some individuals to seemingly July 2017 and December 2019. I worked with
disregard the high personal risk of dissent, evincing eight local interpreters and research assistants.
a readiness to bear significant costs, puzzles Based on my data, I found that some individuals
scholars in the social sciences. It is within this who experienced a morally shocking politicizing
puzzle that my research question lies: What factors event underwent different pathways to end up
motivate individuals to become first movers of becoming devoted dissenters. Such pathways
dissent in an authoritarian country? What are the included experiences of political awakening and
characteristics and pathways that differentiate this socialization, repeat experiences with dissent
extremely risk-tolerant subset of individuals from activities against the state, and repeat exposure
their peers? to state repression and the consequent politicizing
This Note from the Field details the salience effects of such repression. This project’s grounded
of researcher positionality based on a research theoretical claim is that “devoted dissenters”1
project that drew on 68 semi-structured interviews, who ultimately came to view participation in high-

1 I borrowed the term “devoted dissenter” from the “devoted actor” framework that was developed by scholars at Artis International
to “better understand the social and psychological mechanisms underlying people’s willingness to make costly sacrifices for a group
and a cause” (Atran and Gómez 2018, e193). By devoted actors, they refer to “deontic (i.e., duty-based)” actors who “adhere to
sacred, transcendent values that generate actions dissociated from rationally expected risks and rewards.” ‘Acts by devoted actors’
are not chiefly motivated by instrumental concerns, or at least those of which people are usually aware. Instead, they are motivated by
sacred values that drive actions independent from or all out of proportion to outlays and outcomes [emphasis added].” Their studies
show that devoted actors, who are “unconditionally committed to sacred causes and whose personal identities are fused within a
unique collective identity, willingly make costly sacrifices” (Atran 2016, S192). I used part of this framework to describe dissenters
who were radicalized in part by repression who became extremely committed to their cause. But I decided to refrain from referring to
them as radical dissenters because of the negative connotations of the term radical or radicalized. I adapted the “devoted actor” term
and framework to my project and changed the term to “devoted dissenter” because my project focused exclusively on dissenters.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 61

risk dissent to be in their self-interest are likely to Her demeanor, voice, tone, personality,
become first movers of high-risk dissent. In other characteristics, appearance, likeability, and soft
words, devoted dissenters who arrived at a point interpersonal skills collectively shape what kinds
of gaining greater utility from participation than of information interviewees will provide to the
non-participation in high-risk dissent were likely to researcher. Concerned that I would run out of time
become first movers. and not be able to interview as many subjects
While my research was not explicitly focused as I would like, I asked local Burmese scholars
on violence, I followed Russell Ramsey’s (1973, if they could interview some of my interviewees
44) advice about scholarship in the context of by following my interview guide and protocol, but
Colombia: “The scholar who will walk the terrain all of them refused for the same reason. They all
[emphasis added] of Tolima, or Santander, or stated independently that who the interviewee
Boyacá, interview eyewitnesses, and exhaust local is, how s/he is perceived, and how s/he creates
collections of letters and newspapers, will have the the interview environment will significantly shape
basis for a new level of sophistication in violencia the type of responses that the interviewees will
scholarship.” Heeding his advice, I fully immersed share. These conversations with local scholars
myself into the spaces and conversations I was reinforced my understanding that researcher
invited to join throughout my doctoral fieldwork in positionality is a critical component of qualitative
Burma between 2017 and 2019.2 Recognizing my research. In counterfactual terms, even if I were
social constructivist lens as a qualitative researcher, to have had five different researchers follow
I needed to gain a rich understanding of Burmese the exact interview guide to interview the same
culture. As an immersive researcher in the field, I subject, all five researchers may have collected
“walked the terrain” of Yangon and Pakokku and slightly or significantly different material.
attempted to “exhaust local collections” of journal Hence, I remained vigilant of my identifiers,
entries, newspaper clippings, legal documents, old my general demeanor, and my understanding of
photos, and other memorabilia from past protests how I was being perceived when I was in Burma.
during interviews at people’s homes and offices. Word spreads fast in small cities, and Yangon and
In pursuit of discovering additional insights, I Pakokku were no different. Within days of being
conversed with street vendors, students, teachers, in each city, people were aware that a Korean-
taxi drivers, cashiers, relatives of interviewees, American Oxford doctoral student was conducting
and other local residents to gain a finely tuned interviews about past protests with former political
understanding of the social norms, dynamics prisoners. On numerous occasions, I would walk
among locals and between local-foreigner into a cafe or restaurant and people would ask if I
interactions, and the general ethos that drives was the Korean-American Oxford researcher they
human existence in Burma. had heard about.
For a research project largely based on data My American nationality, Korean ethnicity,
collected via fieldwork and in-depth interviews, and institutional affiliation with Oxford University
the researcher serves as a key instrument in worked to my advantage to gain access to networks,
data collection. In other words, since the field conversations, and other human interactions that
researcher is the vessel who extracts and collects provided glimpses into people’s lived experiences.
information from interviewees, it is essential that The combination of these three identifiers
the researcher is aware of how s/he is perceived benefited my relationships with interviewees as
by the target audiences and local environment. most people seemed positively inclined to trust me,

More substantively, I found that there was one major difference between the “devoted actor” framework and the “devoted dissenters”
in my sample. The devoted actor hypothesis states that devoted actors are “willing to kill” to protect their sacred values, but I did not
find this to be the case in my sample of interviewees. They were willing to risk their own lives in pursuit of creating a better society
for their country but were not willing to kill others to achieve their goal.
2 My fieldwork and my dissertation were completed before the military coup that took place in February 2021.

62 | Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork

let their guard down, and share more freely. This In addition to my American nationality,
led interviewees to be generous with materials they my ethnicity unexpectedly placed me in an
shared with me during interviews, their time and advantageous position for people to actively seek
networks, and often referred me to their colleagues me out. South Korea’s Hallyu or “Korean Wave” had
for additional interviews. swept through Burma since 2011 and has enormous
The United States has a very positive image in soft power in Burma—probably second only to the
Burma as a moral superpower, especially in the United States—and people instantly warmed to me
context of US-China competition, which I benefited when they realized I was ethnically Korean. Younger
from in my personal interactions. Many of my interviewees or the children of older interviewees
students who grew up under the Burmese military spoke Korean phrases to me that they learned from
dictatorship learned English watching American TV Korean television dramas. Young women showed
shows and films and reading American novels they me images of Korean male celebrities and told
borrowed from the US Embassy’s American Center me they wanted to find husbands just like them.
as well as the British Council in Yangon. Several students I taught spoke in basic English,
Since Burma’s opening in 2011, foreign countries but fluent Korean.4 One interviewee in Pakokku
and private companies made various investments interrupted our interview to call his youngest
in this country. Store fronts and restaurants of daughter studying Korean language at a foreign
foreign brands were quickly built in Yangon and language university in Mandalay so that she could
then into other cities.3 I read opinion editorials in demonstrate her Korean language fluency to me.
local magazines and newspapers disapproving Korean stores, K-pop music, and K-beauty makeup
of the latest Chinese company’s infrastructure brands abounded in malls and open street markets.
investment in hydropower dams, or a construction Passersby blatantly stared at me and would ask,
project which forced indigenous communities from “Korean?” If I nodded, people would brightly smile
their land. My students regularly shared with me and greet me in Korean, often linking arms with me
pictures from protests they had attended to protest without asking, and give their phones to friends to
Chinese companies’ exploitative practices and take pictures with me.
lack of consideration for local human rights when Moreover, Burmese dissidents seemed to form
building their latest dam, commercial building, or an instant bond with me after learning about
roads. My students and local colleagues bemoaned my ethnicity because all of them had a working
China’s outsized economic influence on domestic familiarity with South Korea’s history of dissent,
affairs, and shared their strong preferences for anti-government mass demonstrations, state
the US to invest more in their country so that the repression against dissidents, and the country’s
citizens and the Burmese government would more ultimate transition from a military dictatorship to a
naturally want to ally with the US and other Western democracy in 1989. In my preambulatory remarks
influences. Many of the people I met seemed to before starting any interview, I shared about my
lionize the US, dreamt of studying abroad in the father’s experience as a student activist in Seoul
States, and repeatedly told me I was so fortunate during the tumultuous pro-democracy protests in
to be an American. the mid-1980s, which led to his arrest along with

3 For instance, there was a two-story Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in the center of Yangon for which people got dressed up
nicely for to dine in. In the store window, there was a sign that read “Celebrating our 2nd year of opening this restaurant.” The sign
was updated annually to reflect how many years KFC had been open, which correlated closely with the number of years prior Burma
had transitioned to a civilian-led government.
4 To embed myself in activist networks across Yangon, I taught public policy courses at Yangon School of Political Science
(YSPS). The YSPS is an alternative school founded in 2011 by five Burmese former political prisoners and teaches social sciences to
the children of former political prisoners, and other dissidents. I built a personal network of activists starting with the “88 Generation”
(activists from the 1988 Uprising). Furthermore, I taught a course at the University of Yangon and I conducted seven interactive
workshops on civic duties with various disenfranchised groups in the city, including Rohingya men and internally displaced persons.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 63

many of his friends. Sharing this personal story meals offered by monks in their monasteries,
instantly created a space between the dissidents which comprise the leftovers from monks’ lunches
and myself to trust each other more than we that are completed before noon.
otherwise would if I had not shared that story. While I did not compensate interviewees for
My institutional affiliation with Oxford University their time, I was attuned to the cultural sensitivities
and role as a doctoral researcher was helpful in in Burma. I adhered to cultural norms by showing
building credibility and trust among interviewees reverence to elders, being a respectful guest by
and my burgeoning professional network in Yangon. bringing sweets and cakes to interviewees’ homes
While having been a closed society for decades, and being respectful to monks and Buddhist rituals
everyone seemed to know of Oxford University as a Christian. Furthermore, I spent significant time
because it was the university that the well-known before and after the recorded interviews to converse
and widely beloved Aung San Suu Kyi attended. with the interviewees, their family members who
Having become accustomed to the onslaught of were present, and any friends or neighbors who may
journalists and aid workers eager to conduct short have been invited by the interviewees to sit in on
interviews, some interviewees had memorized the interviews. I played with children, chatted with
soundbites to share with foreign interviewers. visitors, went grocery shopping, and ran errands
In my interviews, I was clear that I wanted to ask with relatives of interviewees, shared meals and
open-ended questions as a thorough and trained tea, and cooked together.
researcher, and I wanted to really listen to what This level of personal relationship-building
interviewees had to say. was not a learned “research interview tactic” that
My willingness to listen to what people had to I employed to gain people’s trust. Rather, as a
say, to spend time with them, and then to answer natural extrovert who enjoys meeting new people,
whatever questions interviewees asked me further I did not view nor treat interviewees merely as
built trust between me and interviewees. Interviewee “research subjects,” but rather as people with
Ashin “Cricket” (an activist monk) explicitly pointed lived experiences who were sharing their stories,
this out and said that I was different, because most experiences, and outlooks to a complete foreign
foreigners who came to interview him and his stranger (me). My upbringing in a Korean household
fellow monks would rush in with no introduction, with traditional Confucian values of respect for
hurriedly ask their questions, and leave as soon as elders and age-based seniority, among other values,
they collected what they needed. was instrumental in naturally code-switching for
No matter how impoverished they were, my interviews and off-the-record conversations.
interviewees always offered me tea and often I describe below five of many episodes in which
meals. Meals or snacks often comprised Burmese my researcher positionality was relevant in my
tealeaf salad (lahpet thoke), fermented vegetables, immersive fieldwork and shaped the comprehensive
generous portions of white rice, and pungent experience of collecting data.
fermented fish paste. While serving, women often
apologized with heads bowed that their offerings to Episode One: Minimizing the Cultural
a guest were insufficient, regretful that they could Distance between Me and My
not offer more to a “Korean Oxford scholar.” Interviewee to Create a Mutually
I cannot overestimate how significant these three Respectful Environment Conducive to a
identifiers—American, Korean, Oxford—framed my Productive Interview
interactions with people in the country. To minimize
the mental and emotional distance created by a Upon arrival in a monastery that took two hours
perceived imbalance of power between myself and to get to by motorbike from Pakokku, the monk I
my hosts, I tried to be a polite and modest guest. would interview gestured that I should eat, as I
This meant wearing local clothing—often a longyi must be hungry from a long ride. (During our two-
and a modest top with simple sandals—and eating hour ride, my interpreter and I had to make a stop
nearly everything that was given to me, including at a makeshift gas station, which comprised a few

64 | Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork

dusty water bottles filled with used vegetable oil on back to watching YouTube videos on their Huawei
top of a standalone wooden table. A young girl no smartphones.
older than eight or nine years old filled our rented As I watched the rain pour down on Merchant
motorbike’s gas tank.) My Burmese interpreter and Street from underneath a betel nut vendor’s tarp
I sat down at the open table (this rural monastery cover, I wondered why these two men did not
had no doors, walls, electricity, nor plumbing), and take the opportunity to try to sell this foreigner
I looked down to see half eaten rice, half-eaten something. After ten minutes, I realized these men
potatoes in soy sauce, and oily curries that had bits truly were not opportunists, so I looked to see if I
of rice and dead gnats in them. One of the several could purchase something. I opened and peeked
stray dogs with open wounds on his face and belly inside their Styrofoam “icebox” with no ice in it and
sat next to me and licked my feet. saw a small dead cockroach, a few grimy water
Smiling widely, the monk asked the interpreter bottles that were clearly re-used, and a Shark energy
if the meal was up to my standards as an “Oxford drink. I purchased the energy drink and sipped on
scholar.” Refusing to offend the monk—a son of the sugary drink through the straw I was offered, as
Buddha in the eyes of Buddhists, who was also these two young Burmese men and I silently waited
the person I was going to interview, who allowed out the rain.
a non-Buddhist into his sacred space—I dove into
my meal. Episode Three: A Perplexing Act of an
Honest Shopkeeper Reminds me to
Episode Two: My Korean Identifier Consider my Researcher Positionality in
Assists with Eliciting Non-Opportunistic the Field
Kindness
I was warned by everyone—from veteran
While recognizing that Yangon and Pakokku are researchers of Burma, Burmese friends, and
not representative of a country populated by over local restaurant staff—to drink only bottled water
135 ethnic groups speaking over 118 languages, in Burma. So, no matter how inconvenienced or
I could not help but think that they could not overheated I was, I would always go to a teashop
be that much of an outlier. While walking down or store to purchase bottled water. A 16-ounce
Merchant Street in downtown Yangon, a monsoon bottle of water was about 200 kyat (about $0.13),
rain shower hit, triggering young men to race out so I would usually buy two bottles, some gum, and
of their homes to shower underneath rain gutters some candies to add up to a 1,000 kyat bill ($0.66).
of their dilapidated homes. Without an umbrella, I One afternoon, I went into a family-owned shop
ran towards the closest street vendor. By this point, and bought my usual necessities and walked out
I had mastered running in flipflops through rain into the rain with my umbrella. When I was about a
showers atop slippery moss-covered sidewalks. block away, I heard a child’s voice, yelling “Ma! Ma!”
Soaked, I squeezed myself underneath the blue (which means “sister” in Burmese). I did not think
tarp held up by a few bamboo rods and twine, anything of it until a stranger tapped me on the
which was the roof of this makeshift street vendor shoulder and pointed to a child running after me.
selling betel nuts, individual packets of instant He was about six or seven years old, drenched from
Nestle coffee, and Shark energy drinks. Two young the rain, wearing shorts and no shirt. I had just seen
men with betel nut lips and teeth (lips and decaying him in the store, playing with a red toy car while his
teeth dyed red from the betel nut chewing habit) mother tended to customers.
casually looked up at me and asked “Korean?” Now, he was standing before me, wiping the
Once I nodded yes, they smiled widely and rain away from his young face that was causing
enthusiastically gestured for me to sit down on a his thick black eyelashes to stick together, and
child-sized plastic chair and welcomed me to wait opened his hand to reveal a scrunched-up, wet
out the rain underneath the blue tarp. They smiled 100-kyat bill ($0.06). I looked past him and saw
at me, making me feel welcomed, and they went his mother standing outside her store, overseeing

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 65

this interaction. It was clear that she had sent her A young girl (no older than ten or eleven years
young son through the rain to give back the change old), who was helping her mother run this tiny
that was owed to a customer. While 100 kyat is a bookstand stepped out from inside the booth
non-negligible amount of money for some local and handed me a small packet of tissues in pink
residents, the store owner must have known that packaging, using both hands. Using both hands to
six U.S. cents was a trivial amount to a foreigner, give or receive an object is a sign of respect and
which, for a self-interested store owner, would have grace in many cultures, including Burmese and
been easy to keep without any reputational risk. Korean culture. I smiled and said no, I don’t need
Yangon taxi drivers were known for calling higher it. She gently insisted, saying “Present. Present.
prices for foreigners; beggars targeted foreigners Very hot here for Americans.” I figured she guessed
for cash; children followed foreigners for several that I was an American because I was wearing a
blocks to sell postcards and handmade drawings; T-shirt and running shorts that both had “USA”
and tickets for venues, boat rides, and events often on it (I wasn’t trying to advertise that I was an
cost multiple times higher for foreigners than American, but rather, the two clothing items were
for those of local residents. The phenomenon of made of moisture-wicking fabric that made the
asking foreigners for higher prices in a developing heat somewhat bearable for me.) This young girl
country was not at all unique to Burma. was gifting me a small packet of tissues. I thought,
Therefore, I reflected on this shopkeeper’s act of maybe she wants me to buy the tissues. Maybe
selflessness the whole day. I asked a few Burmese she wants me to buy a few books in return for this
friends, and they debated about to what prompted seemingly kind gesture? Either way, I was happy to
this shopkeeper’s act of honesty. Was she just purchase the dictionary that had my perspiration
an unusually moral person? Was it due to the on it, so I offered to buy the book. The girl shook
general desire among Burmese people to attract her head, and said, “No, it’s a present. No need to
Westerners to keep visiting so they don’t return buy anything. I like Americans. I want to study in
to another era of a closed military dictatorship? America one day.” I was astonished. I insisted and
Maybe she recognized that I was a researcher purchased that dictionary.
from Oxford, given that I walked up and down
the street her shop was on multiple times a day Episode Five: My Korean-American
while wearing an Oxford T-shirt at times? Was I Identifiers Are Salient in a Rural Town
simply overcomplicating a simple act of an honest and Draw Kindness from a Young
person? Her kindness perplexes me and my friends Teenager
in Yangon to this day.
Pakokku was a significantly more rural, less
Episode Four: My American Identifier developed town than Yangon. Compared to
Frames a Positive Interaction with a Pakokku, Yangon seemed like Burma’s Manhattan,
Young Stranger with the standstill traffic, high rises, and throngs
of people buying and selling goods throughout the
I walked past a series of book vendors on city. As the sun slowly set, Pakokku became dusty,
Bogyoke Road and stopped at one to browse quiet, and dark. While finding it eerie at first to sit
through an English-Burmese dictionary. I had just in my hotel room with my single fluorescent light
landed in Yangon the night before and hadn’t re- bulb flickering on and off, listening to a singing
acclimated to the intensely hot and humid weather lizard somewhere inside my hotel room, I quickly
at the height of monsoon season. My face was got used to it.
drenched, sweat dripping onto the small dictionary The first night my interpreter and I arrived in
I held. Everyone else who was shuffling through Pakokku, we walked around the small town to orient
the sidewalks, including women wearing longyis ourselves and find cafes where we could have
and tight matching tops with their long straight hair our daily debriefs. Seeing that the lights around
down their backs, didn’t seem to mind the heat. the downtown area were shutting off, we thought

66 | Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork

it would be best to head back to the area where and refused to take money. “We’re brothers,” he
our hotel was, which was about four kilometers said in Burmese. My interpreter then told me that
from where we were roaming around. We had the young man said he was grateful to have met his
difficulty finding paved roads in near darkness, so first Korean and first American in his life. “Two in
we approached one betel nut vendor after another, one!” he told my interpreter in Burmese. I realized
asking where we could find a taxi. Every vendor the young man knew I was Korean-American
apologetically shook her head and said she didn’t without having asked us this, nor us having offered
know, and then asked my interpreter where I was that information to him. I insisted that we pay him,
from, and what brought a foreigner to Pakokku. and my interpreter stuffed 2,000 kyat ($1.33) into
He told every vendor I was Korean-American the man’s jean jacket breast pocket and said, “buy
and was in Pakokku as a tourist. Then it became your family a meal.” The two men bowed to each
completely dark, and most signs of human activity other, shared blessings, and the young man drove
had disappeared off the streets except for men of off. We did not see him again during our stay in
all ages drinking at beer stations. Pakokku.
A male teenager wearing white headphones If I did not know that the two men were
and a jean jacket pulled up in his motorbike next to strangers, I would have thought they were cousins,
me and my interpreter and asked where we were or at least good friends. The familiarity with which
going. I told my interpreter not to tell him because they treated each other was unfamiliar to me as
how could we trust him? The young man—probably a well-traveled American. And the absence of any
fifteen or sixteen years old—said he had overheard desire to exploit a foreigner in a situation ripe for
our conversation with a vendor about needing to opportunism seemed too counterintuitive to me.
get back to our hotel. He said he would take us. My
intuition silently screamed, “No way!” in my head and Conclusion
gut. All day, people stared not only at me, who was
clearly a foreigner, but also at my interpreter, who Observations gained from these anecdotes—
looked like he was from the big city. I thought we and so many others that I do not have space to
would definitely be taken advantage of in some way. describe—are not meant to stereotype Burmese
My interpreter said he trusted this young guy, people in a romanticized, naively altruistic manner.
and that we should hop on his small motorbike. I recognize that I may have been the recipient of
Various scenes from the “Taken” trilogy movies favorable treatment because I was a foreigner in a
starring Liam Neeson vividly flashed through my formerly isolated country that recently opened up
mind. But my interpreter, who I had spent nearly after four decades of a brutal military dictatorship.
every day with for the previous three months, had I also happened to have three characteristics that
good judgment. Trusting him, both of us squeezed were favorably viewed by many of the people I
onto the stranger’s small motorbike. The young came across, hence eliciting more trust, warmth,
man and my interpreter shouted questions at and favorable treatment as a qualitative researcher
each other over the sound of the engine and wind who heavily depends on interviews.
as we biked through the cool evening. Where was It was within these contextualized environments
my interpreter from? What was a foreigner doing that I conducted my interviews. People usually
in Pakokku? What did my interpreter recommend invited me to their homes to do the interviews, but
to the biker on opportunities leading him to the big sometimes, I conducted my interviews in people’s
city (Yangon or Mandalay)? What could the biker do offices, shops, bookstores, and teashops. Tea and
to learn English? snacks were always involved. Most of the men
When we arrived at the restaurant near our hotel, either smoked cigarettes or cheroots throughout
we both hopped off as I breathed a sigh of relief. the interview. Some men chewed betel nut and
How much did he want for driving us? I asked. spit out the inedible parts, along with their bright
When my interpreter asked the young man, he red expectorate, into small cups or plastic bags
vehemently shook his head, scrunched up his face designated for this sole purpose.

Qualitative and Multi-Method Research | 67

 While I had to fight the discomfort of speaking
with betel nut-chewing interviewees at first, I
quickly came to realize that it was I who had
asked for the interviewees to open up to a foreign
stranger, and answer questions about some of
their most sensitive and dangerous experiences of
their lives. It was I, a foreign stranger, who walked
into my interviewees’ homes, poking and prodding
for their stories while offering nothing in return. The
least I could do was to not disrupt their daily routine
as they told me their stories about risk, heartbreak,
repression, and death.

68 | Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork

References

Atran, S. & Gómez, Á. (2018) ‘What motivates devoted actors to extreme sacrifice, identity fusion, or sacred values?’
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences. vol. 41, p. e193.
Atran, S. (2016) ‘The devoted actor: unconditional commitment and intractable conflict across cultures.’ Current
Anthropology. vol. 57, pp. S192-S203.
Ramsey, Russell W. 1973. “Critical Bibliography on La Violencia in Colombia.” Latin American Research Review 8, no.
1 (Spring): 3–44.

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