Complex Roles in Qualitative Inquiry: Researcher, Professor, and/or Mentor?
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
12-1-2021 2:00 PM
End Date
12-1-2021 2:20 PM
Abstract
In this presentation, we explore the complexities and reflections of two researchers completing research on and with our senior undergraduate teacher candidates. The study in which we contextualize our grapplings explored five teacher candidates’ experiences completing the edTPA, a performance-based teaching assessment completed during their senior student teaching year. The inquiry employed the use of individual interviews, informal conversations, focus groups, and open-ended survey data. The project transitioned from a case study to a more responsive and dynamic research design as participants asked for voice in the shape, outcomes, and presentation of the research.
Part of the participants’ desire for involvement resulted from their trust of the researchers due to overlapping roles embodied by each researcher. Both researchers taught the participants in core courses in their program, served as co-teachers in the participants’ senior seminar, and acted as supervisors during participants’ internships. Thus, we had to constantly determine the lines between researcher, mentor, and professor admitting that perhaps at times there were no lines. Throughout the course of the study, we recognized the complexities of the roles we served in relation to our participants and found ourselves pausing before responding to participant insights or questions, asking ourselves, “Under which role should I respond?”. Herein, we share our experiences in navigating blurred boundaries between researchers and our professional obligations to mentor and support participants. Further, we aim to problematize how our own biases impacted these roles while guiding our design and then re-contemplating that design and analysis as the process emerged.
Keywords
Researcher roles, participant voice
Complex Roles in Qualitative Inquiry: Researcher, Professor, and/or Mentor?
In this presentation, we explore the complexities and reflections of two researchers completing research on and with our senior undergraduate teacher candidates. The study in which we contextualize our grapplings explored five teacher candidates’ experiences completing the edTPA, a performance-based teaching assessment completed during their senior student teaching year. The inquiry employed the use of individual interviews, informal conversations, focus groups, and open-ended survey data. The project transitioned from a case study to a more responsive and dynamic research design as participants asked for voice in the shape, outcomes, and presentation of the research.
Part of the participants’ desire for involvement resulted from their trust of the researchers due to overlapping roles embodied by each researcher. Both researchers taught the participants in core courses in their program, served as co-teachers in the participants’ senior seminar, and acted as supervisors during participants’ internships. Thus, we had to constantly determine the lines between researcher, mentor, and professor admitting that perhaps at times there were no lines. Throughout the course of the study, we recognized the complexities of the roles we served in relation to our participants and found ourselves pausing before responding to participant insights or questions, asking ourselves, “Under which role should I respond?”. Herein, we share our experiences in navigating blurred boundaries between researchers and our professional obligations to mentor and support participants. Further, we aim to problematize how our own biases impacted these roles while guiding our design and then re-contemplating that design and analysis as the process emerged.