Qualitative Researcher Vulnerability

2 Research journaling to deal with vulnerabilities in research

Nicole Brown

DOI: 10.4324/9781003349266-4

Setting the scene

Since the dawn of qualitative research, researchers have explored key themes such as positionality and reflexivity, as they have been painfully aware of the roles they play in a research process. Research methods textbooks and articles have long highlighted significant tensions of being an insider researcher (e.g. Elliott, 1988; Zinn, 1979), researching sensitive topics (e.g. Lee and Renzetti, 1990; Sieber and Stanley, 1988), and/or getting involved with vulnerable groups (e.g. Goodin, 1986; Weil, 1989). At the time, vulnerability was discussed under the umbrella of ethnographic fieldwork, in anthropology for example, ...