Researching in your Own Backyard: Lessons Learned
Location
1054
Format Type
Paper
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
12-1-2017 1:15 PM
End Date
12-1-2017 1:35 PM
Abstract
Recently, I have been researching teachers who feel their administrators bullied them. Participants’ references to administrators that are current or former students at my university were one of the unforeseen consequences of the study. These administrators have not been my students, but I have needed to interact with them occasionally, and my participants’ words return at these times, affecting how I engage with the administrators. The research question guiding this study is: What strategies best allow for a separation of research and teaching when there is an overlap of my participants’ experiences with their administrators and my university students? My data sources for this autoethnographic study are the reflective journals and analytic notes I kept throughout my research on teacher bullying. This paper explores the coping mechanisms I employed to deal with the conflicting emotions I experience when I realize, mid-interview, that I have some knowledge of the bullying administrator a participant is describing, or when I must interact with one of the administrators. These include: keeping a reflexive journal, debriefing with a colleague, and attempting to compartmentalize research and other aspects of university life. I consider the varying degrees of success of these strategies, as well as future avenues to explore.
Researching in your Own Backyard: Lessons Learned
1054
Recently, I have been researching teachers who feel their administrators bullied them. Participants’ references to administrators that are current or former students at my university were one of the unforeseen consequences of the study. These administrators have not been my students, but I have needed to interact with them occasionally, and my participants’ words return at these times, affecting how I engage with the administrators. The research question guiding this study is: What strategies best allow for a separation of research and teaching when there is an overlap of my participants’ experiences with their administrators and my university students? My data sources for this autoethnographic study are the reflective journals and analytic notes I kept throughout my research on teacher bullying. This paper explores the coping mechanisms I employed to deal with the conflicting emotions I experience when I realize, mid-interview, that I have some knowledge of the bullying administrator a participant is describing, or when I must interact with one of the administrators. These include: keeping a reflexive journal, debriefing with a colleague, and attempting to compartmentalize research and other aspects of university life. I consider the varying degrees of success of these strategies, as well as future avenues to explore.
Comments
Thanks for the suggestions to improve my abstract! I think I addressed all of your concerns. I cut and pasted the changes into the Event Description box, but if you need the document, I can send that, too. Thanks!