Exploring Refugees Using Narrative Inquiry
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
14-1-2021 11:45 AM
End Date
14-1-2021 12:05 PM
Abstract
In this paper, I describe the challenges I faced while researching the experiences of Syrian women refugees learning English online. I chose narrative inquiry since it provides refugees with a voice to recount their lived experiences (De Fina & Tseng, 2017). I share my involvement with narrative inquiry, discuss the various obstacles I encountered, and how I tried to overcome them. In doing so, I intend this to act as a roadmap for future researchers who wish to involve in similar research practices.
First, I discuss the multiple issues I came across during the planning and data collection stages. During those phases, I continuously made changes to my research plan and was open to adjustments given that researchers “must consider the multiple “realities” experienced by the participants themselves—the “insider” perspectives” (Suter, 2006, p. 343).
The analysis and writing phases presented a different set of obstacles. There are multiple ways to carrying out analysis, which Kim (2016) attributed to differences in interpretation. Narrative analysis was pertinent in this study since it allows for a comprehensive understanding of one’s experience (Daiute & Lightfoot, 2004). Writing was cumbersome since it included narratives from interviews, data from live sessions and journal writings, knowledge of theories, and my own teacher-researcher narratives to re-story the final narrative. Furthermore, considering that the participants were refugees, I needed to maximize the need for ethical considerations and the power of the investigator (Bourdieu, 1996); thus, I considered several measures to ensure rigor and trustworthiness.
Keywords
Narrative inquiry, online learning, refugees
ORCID ID
Alia Hadid
ResearcherID
Alia Hadid
Exploring Refugees Using Narrative Inquiry
In this paper, I describe the challenges I faced while researching the experiences of Syrian women refugees learning English online. I chose narrative inquiry since it provides refugees with a voice to recount their lived experiences (De Fina & Tseng, 2017). I share my involvement with narrative inquiry, discuss the various obstacles I encountered, and how I tried to overcome them. In doing so, I intend this to act as a roadmap for future researchers who wish to involve in similar research practices.
First, I discuss the multiple issues I came across during the planning and data collection stages. During those phases, I continuously made changes to my research plan and was open to adjustments given that researchers “must consider the multiple “realities” experienced by the participants themselves—the “insider” perspectives” (Suter, 2006, p. 343).
The analysis and writing phases presented a different set of obstacles. There are multiple ways to carrying out analysis, which Kim (2016) attributed to differences in interpretation. Narrative analysis was pertinent in this study since it allows for a comprehensive understanding of one’s experience (Daiute & Lightfoot, 2004). Writing was cumbersome since it included narratives from interviews, data from live sessions and journal writings, knowledge of theories, and my own teacher-researcher narratives to re-story the final narrative. Furthermore, considering that the participants were refugees, I needed to maximize the need for ethical considerations and the power of the investigator (Bourdieu, 1996); thus, I considered several measures to ensure rigor and trustworthiness.