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Researcher’s Positioning and Knowing in Qualitative R esearch The Qualitative Report-2 nd Annual Conference Jan 7-8, 2

Researcher’s Positioning and Knowing in Qualitative R esearch The Qualitative Report-2 nd Annual Conference Jan 7-8, 2011. Aliya Zafar University of Florida aliazafr@ufl.edu. Overview:.

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Researcher’s Positioning and Knowing in Qualitative R esearch The Qualitative Report-2 nd Annual Conference Jan 7-8, 2

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  1. Researcher’s Positioning and Knowing in Qualitative ResearchThe Qualitative Report-2nd Annual ConferenceJan 7-8, 2011 Aliya Zafar University of Florida aliazafr@ufl.edu

  2. Overview: • I will share my experience of engaging in an empirical study in Pakistan and how my identity as a researcher shifted and changed as I investigated teachers perceptions of action research(AR) for professional development (PD) in Pakistan. • I found myself in the midst of conflicting identities of being a novice researcher, a graduate student at UF, and a Pakistani female educator.

  3. About me: • Fulbright/ graduate student at UF since 2006. • Taught English courses in P-12 and to undergraduate & graduate students. • Multiple identities because of traveling: China, India, United Kingdom, and USA.

  4. How I view myself as a researcher • Enthusiastic about QR. • Emerging as a novice researcher. • Maintaining equal status between researcher and researched. • Co-constructing knowledge. • Following research conventions in the U.S. such as IRB, consent form.

  5. About Pakistan: • Colonized by the British; gained freedom in 1947. • East and West Pakistan separated in 1971. • After colonization British systems of governance and the English language prevailed. • Current population: 170 m. • Major Languages: Urdu, English , Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Siraiki, Balochi.

  6. Background of the study: • Teacher education in Pakistan is almost non-existent. • Banking education (Freire, 1970) dominates. • The need to develop teacher education programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers in K-12 as well as in higher education is a huge concern and a need. (Common Wealth Report, 1993; Ministry of education (Moe) 2008; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2008).

  7. AR for PD in Pakistan…1 • I became intrigued by AR for PD of teachers in Pakistan during my M.Ed. program at UF. • Action research is “…a spiral of cycles of planning, execution, fact-finding, and reflection leading to social action and social change” (Borko, Whitcomb & Byrnes, 2008, p.1029) . • Purpose: to investigate the perceptions of teachers and school leader(s) regarding AR for PD in a K-12 school in Pakistan. • Participants:12 Pakistani, female teachers

  8. AR for PD in Pakistan…2 • Methodology: Introduced AR, conducted focus group interviews; and collected field notes, and documents. • Findings: Participants perceived AR as a viable form of teacher PD if the required support (time, flexibility) was provided by the administration, parents and school leaders.

  9. Shifting positions in the U.S./Pakistani context.

  10. Border-crosser …1 • Social constructionism post colonial. • My desire to be seen as a ‘local’ was unsettled in transnational research. • ‘Halfie’ researchers ‘whose national or cultural identity is mixed because of migration, overseas education, parentage’(Subedi, 2006). • Participants problematized my desire for legitimacy as an insider.

  11. Border-crosser …2 • Owing to Western discourses Western-affiliated researchers cannot avoid how research is connected to discourses of power and hegemony (Subedi, 2006). • Halfie’s shift between multiple identities and confront the politics of representation (Abu-Lughod ,1991).

  12. Shifting identities…1 • Positioning: • Participants assumed subordinate positions creating the “Self” and “Other” binary. • Examples: • Presence prior to the researcher's arrival, requesting permission to leave the room. • Informed consent as a western construct; perceived differently by participants and school leader. • Role of school leader in the research activity. • Assumptions of power in relation to western experiences and knowledge. • Influence of positivist epistemology.

  13. Shifting identities…2 • Feedback from participants: • We thought this would be another one of those sit and get workshops where we would be lectured but it was not … we were able to participate … we enjoyed that. • You should come more often and spend more time with us. • We really enjoyed the ice breaking activity, we were able to share our experiences. It seemed that what we said was valued.

  14. Post colonial theories: • research is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonization (Denzin, Lincoln & Smith, 2008). • Knowledge used for domination and control by constructing “positional superiority” (Said, 1979, p.7). • Research seen as a positivist construct.

  15. Conclusion: • Positivist frames of reference can pose several challenges for researchers in post colonial contexts. • Geographic decolonization is not synonymous with deconstruction of binaries that position the self as “Other” (Said, 1979) and is further reinforced by hegemonic practices and constructed consciousness (Hinchey, 1998).

  16. Lingering Questions: • What gives us the right to study them? • When we speak of others in our voice do we not displace and appropriate theirs? • Is representation of others free of the play of power and domination in any way possible? • Does it all come down to who writes whom? (Geertz, 1995, p.107)

  17. My Reflection and learning: • The image of the helping Western colonizing Other must be resisted. • Traditional ways of doing science should be deconstructed (Denzin, Lincoln & Smith, 2008). • Relationships of trust and transparency of the research process are vital to creating a third hybrid space (Bhabha, 1985).

  18. References: • Abu-Lughod, L. (1988) Fieldwork of a dutiful daughter, in: S. Altorki & C. F. El-Solh (Eds.) Arab women in the field: studying your own society . Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Press. • Bhabha, H. (1985). The third space: interview with HomiBhabha. (Jonathan Rutherford, Interviewer). In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, culture, difference. (pp. 207-221). London: Wishart. • Borko, H., Whitcomb, J. A., & Byrnes, K. (2008). Genres of research in teacher education. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser, D. J. McIntyre, & K. E. Demers (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education:Enduringquestions in changing contexts(3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. • Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y., & TuhiwaiSmith, L. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of critical indigenous methodologies. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. • Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. • Gramsci, A.(1999).Selection from Prison Notebooks. New York: International publishers. • Greetz, C. (1995). After the fact: Two countries, four decades, one anthropologist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Hinchey, P.H. (1998). Finding freedom in the classroom: A practical introduction to critical theory. New York: Peter Lang. • Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books. • Subedi, B. (2006). Theorizing a 'halfie' researcher's identity in transnational fieldwork. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(5), 573-593.

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