Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project

Frank Hang Xu; Leena Saurwein

doi:10.29333/ajqr/13699

Frank Hang Xu ¹ ^* , Leena Saurwein ²

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 140-158

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

OPEN ACCESS 1008 Views 506 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

In this paper, two authors have explored and demonstrated their own multi-dimensional positionality’ in the manner of reflectively interpreting four meaningful scenarios relating to their encountered methodological challenges in a cross-border COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) project. Throughout the construction of multi-dimensional positionality, the recognition of the subtle insider-outsider binarism encouraged these two authors to revisit the role of national cultures in the formation of researcher positionality and then to incorporate the idea of ‘simplexity’ into their understanding of the on-going positionality, which has resulted in the proposition of ‘simplex multi-dimensional positionality.’ Alluding to this concept, the two authors acknowledge the possible intervention of national cultures as their researcher positionality evolves and contend that it is the degree to which researchers tend to (not) make use of national cultures as resources that keep their positionality oscillating rather than the national cultures per se.

Keywords: multi-dimensional positionality, simplexity approach, fluidity and relatedness

References

Adamson, J., & Donovan, J. L. (2002). Research in Black and White. Qualitative Health Research, 12(6), 816–825. https://doi.org/10.1177/10432302012006008
Amelina, A., & Faist, T. (2012). De-naturalizing the national in research methodologies: Key concepts of transnational studies in migration. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(10), 1707–1724. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2012.659273
Appiah-Kubi, P., & Annan, E. (2020). A Review of a Collaborative Online International Learning. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (IJEP), 10(1), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v10i1.11678
Baker, W. (2015). Culture and identity through English as a lingua franca. In Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502149
Baker, W. (2021). From intercultural to transcultural communication. Language and Intercultural Communication, 22(3), 280–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2021.2001477
Barata, P. C., Gucciardi, E., Ahmad, F., & Stewart, D. E. (2006). Cross-cultural perspectives on research participation and informed consent. Social Science & Medicine, 62(2), 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.012
Barnes, G.-J. (2021). Researcher positionality: The liquid inbetweener. PRACTICE. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/25783858.2021.1968280
Beck, U., & Sznaider, N. (2006). Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: a research agenda. The British Journal of Sociology, 57(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2006.00091.x
Berger, R. (2015). Now I see it, now I don’t: researcher’s position and reflexivity in qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 15(2), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794112468475
Birman, D. (2006). Ethical issues in research with immigrants and refugees. In The handbook of ethical research with ethnocultural populations and communities (pp. 156–177). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412986168.n9
Bishop, R. (2011). Freeing ourselves from neo-colonial domination in research. In R. Bishop (Ed.), Freeing ourselves (pp. 1–30). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-415-7_1
Brayboy, B. M., & Deyhle, D. (2000). Insider-outsider: Researchers in American Indian communities. Theory Into Practice, 39(3), 163–169. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3903_7
Carling, J., Erdal, M. B., & Ezzati, R. (2014). Beyond the insider–outsider divide in migration research. Migration Studies, 2(1), 36–54. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnt022
Chavez, C. (2008). Conceptualizing from the inside: Advantages, complications, and demands on insider positionality. The Qualitative Report, 13(3), 474–494. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1589
Chawla‐Duggan, R. (2007). Breaking out, breaking through: Accessing knowledge in a non‐western overseas educational setting—methodological issues for an outsider. Compare, 37(2), 185–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920601165538
Chernilo, D. (2011). The critique of methodological nationalism: Theory and history. Thesis Eleven, 106(1), 98–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513611415789
Chiseri-Strater, E. (1996). Turning in upon ourselves: Positionality, subjectivity, and reflexivity in case study and ethnographic research. In P. Mortensen & G. E. Kirsch (Eds.), Ethics and representation in qualitative studies of literacy (pp. 115–133). National Council of Teachers of English.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018) Qualitative inquiry and research design choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Crist, J. D., & Escandón-Dominguez, S. (2003). Identifying and recruiting Mexican American partners and sustaining community partnerships. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 14(3), 266–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659603014003013
Dervin, F. (2015, April 8-9). Mors et resurrectio: Towards “realism” in the (r) evolution of intercultural competence (IC) [Keynote address]. International Conference: Intercultural Competence in Communication and Education, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, Malaysia (Unpublished Work).
Dervin, F. (2016). Critical turns in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: The simple-complex continuum (simplexity) as a new perspective. In M. Dasli & A. R. Diaz (Eds.), The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice (pp. 82–96). Taylor & Francis.
Dwyer, S. C., & Buckle, J. L. (2009). The space between: On being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. International journal of qualitative methods, 8(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800105
Eide, P., & Allen, C. B. (2005). Recruiting transcultural qualitative research participants: A conceptual model. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 4(2), 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690500400204
Ergun, A., & Erdemir, A. (2010). Negotiating insider and outsider identities in the field: “Insider” in a foreign land; “Outsider” in one’s own land. Field methods, 22(1), 16–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822x09349919
Faist, T. (2012). Toward a transnational methodology: Methods to address methodological nationalism, essentialism, and positionality. Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, 28(1), 51–70. https://doi.org/10.4000/remi.5761
Foner, N., Duyvendak, J. W., & Kasinitz, P. (2019). Introduction: Super-diversity in everyday life. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429296062-1
Greene, M. J. (2014). On the inside looking in: Methodological insights and challenges in conducting qualitative insider research. The qualitative report, 19(29), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1106
Hall, B. L., & Kulig, J. C. (2004). Kanadier Mennonites: A case study examining research challenges among religious groups. Qualitative Health Research, 14(3), 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732303261866
Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2019). Ethnography: Principles in practice (4th ed.). Routledge.
Hellawell, D. (2006). Inside–out: analysis of the insider–outsider concept as a heuristic device to develop reflexivity in students doing qualitative research. Teaching in higher education, 11(4), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510600874292
Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural communication and ideology. SAGE Publications.
Holliday, A. (2018). Understanding intercultural communication: Negotiating a grammar of culture. Routledge.
Holliday, A. (2022). Searching for a third-space methodology to contest essentialist large-culture blocks. Language and Intercultural Communication, 22(3), 367–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2022.2036180
Holmes, P. (2016). Navigating languages and interculturality in the research process: The ethics and positionality of the researcher and the researched. In M. Dasli & A. R. Diaz (Eds.), The critical turn in language and intercultural communication Pedagogy: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 115–132). Routledge.
Irvine, F., Roberts, G., & Bradbury-Jones, C. (2008). The researcher as insider versus the researcher as outsider: Enhancing rigour through language and cultural sensitivity. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Doing cross-cultural research (pp. 35–48). Springer.
Jackson, M., & Niblo, D. (2003). The role of qualitative methodology in cross-cultural research. Qualitative Research Journal, 3(1), 18–27.
Kelly, P. (2014). Intercultural comparative research: Rethinking insider and outsider perspectives. Oxford Review of Education, 40(2), 246–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2014.900484
Kerstetter, K. (2012). Insider, outsider, or somewhere between: The impact of researchers’ identities on the community-based research process. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 27(2), Article 7.
Lee, J. W., & Dovchin, S. (Eds.). (2019). Translinguistics: Negotiating innovation and ordinariness. Routledge.
Liamputtong, P. (2008). Doing research in a cross-cultural context: Methodological and ethical challenges. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Doing cross-cultural research (pp. 3–20). Springer.
Lichterman, P. (2017). Interpretive reflexivity in ethnography. Ethnography, 18(1), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138115592418
Lichterman, P., & Reed, I. A. (2015). Theory and contrastive explanation in ethnography. Sociological Methods & Research, 44(4), 585–635. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124114554458
Lu, H., & Hodge, W. A. (2019). Toward multi-dimensional and developmental notion of researcher positionality. Qualitative Research Journal, 19(3), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1108/qrj-d-18-00029
Lu, Y., Trout, S. K., Lu, K., & Creswell, J. W. (2005). The needs of AIDS-infected individuals in rural China. Qualitative health research, 15(9), 1149–1163. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276690
Macklin, R. (2004). Double standards in medical research in developing countries (Vol. 2). Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, A., & Batten, S. (2004). Researching across cultures: Issues of ethics and power. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 5(3), Article 39. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0403396
Mercer, J. (2007). The challenges of insider research in educational institutions: Wielding a double‐edged sword and resolving delicate dilemmas. Oxford Review of Education, 33(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054980601094651
Merriam, S. B., Johnson-Bailey, J., Lee, M. Y., Kee, Y., Ntseane, G., & Muhamad, M. (2001). Power and positionality: Negotiating insider/outsider status within and across cultures. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(5), 405–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370120490
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2018). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. SAGE Publications.
Molyneux, C. S., Wassenaar, D. R., Peshu, N., & Marsh, K. (2005). ‘Even if they ask you to stand by a tree all day, you will have to do it (laughter)…!’: Community voices on the notion and practice of informed consent for biomedical research in developing countries. Social Science & Medicine, 61(2), 443–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.003
Munoz-Escalona, P., de Crespo, Z. C., Marin, M. O., & Dunn, M. (2022). Collaborative online international learning: A way to develop students’ engineering capabilities and awareness to become global citizens. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, 50(1), 89–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306419020934100
Piquemal, N. (2001). Free and informed consent in research involving Native American communities. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 25(1), 65–79. https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.25.1.g67261j557p2p13m
Rowe, W. E. (2014). Positionality. In D. Coghlan & M. Brydon-Miller (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of action research (pp. 627–628). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446294406
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2023). Personal stance, positionality and reflexivity. In M. Savin-Baden & C. H. Major (Eds.), Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice (pp. 68–83). Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003377986-7
Schäfer, G. (2023). Researching high-skilled migrants between social stratification and methodological nationalism. Acta Sociologica. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993221145405
Serrant-Green, L. (2002). Methodological issues for black researchers working in minority ethnic. Nurse Researcher, 9(4), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2002.07.9.4.30.c6196
Sin, C. H. (2005). Seeking informed consent: Reflections on research practice. Sociology, 39(2), 277–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038505050539
Sixsmith, J., Boneham, M., & Goldring, J. E. (2003). Accessing the community: Gaining insider perspectives from the outside. Qualitative Health Research, 13(4), 578–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732302250759
Smith, L. T. (2005). On tricky ground: Researching the native in the age of uncertainty. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (pp. 85–107). SAGE Publications.
Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Sonkar, M. (2019). Power positionality and ethnography in educational research. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of qualitative research methods in education (pp. 1–20). Oxford University Press.
Tikly, L. (1999). Postcolonialism and comparative education. In C. Soudien, P. Kallaway, & M. Breier (Eds.), Education, equity and transformation (pp. 603–621). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4076-8_15
Vahed, A., & Rodriguez, K. (2021). Enriching students’ engaged learning experiences through the collaborative online international learning project. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 58(5), 596–605. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2020.1792331
Vertovec, S. (2019). Talking around super-diversity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(1), 125–139. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429296062-8
Victoria, M. P. (2011). Ethical dimensions of shared ethnicity, language, and immigration experience. TESL Canada Journal, 28, Article 72. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v28i0.1082

Citation

Xu, F. H., & Saurwein, L. (2023). Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 7(4), 140-158. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

Xu, F. H., and Saurwein, L. (2023). Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 7(4), pp. 140-158. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

Xu FH, Saurwein L. Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2023;7(4), 140-158. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

Xu, Frank Hang, and Leena Saurwein. "Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2023 7 no. 4 (2023): 140-158. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

Xu, Frank Hang et al. "Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 7, no. 4, 2023, pp. 140-158. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699

Xu FH, Saurwein L. Interpretation of Researcher Positionality in a Transnational COIL Project. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2023;7(4):140-58. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/13699