Reflexivity: Interviewing Women and Men Formerly Addicted to Drugs and/or Alcohol

Authors

Judith Grant, University of OntarioFollow

Abstract

This article considers how one researcher used reflexivity in two research projects. Qualitative research often involves a consideration of sensitive topics, one which may include research with individuals formerly addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. However, there is little in the literature that focuses directly on such experiences for researchers in this field; that is, a consideration of how a researcher might use reflectivity while interviewing those formerly addicted to substances. Exploring the following themes, I highlight how I reflected on the experiences that my participants (25 women and 25 men) revealed about their stories of their addiction and recovery processes: (1) my personal characteristics and my background work; (2) the importance of documenting power balance or power imbalance in my research; (3) documenting the unexpected; and (4) reflecting on the impact of my interviews/field notes.

Keywords

reflexivity, women, men, addiction, recovery, interviewing

Publication Date

9-22-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1004

Recommended APA Citation

Grant, J. (2014). Reflexivity: Interviewing Women and Men Formerly Addicted to Drugs and/or Alcohol. The Qualitative Report, 19(38), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1004