AR2021-The Tension Between Story Collecting and Story Telling in Research (Bilan Hashi, WSIB)
—> Today’s talk is focused on ethical implications of story collecting and story telling
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I thought dilemma was initially about ownership
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But I also realized it also included the method of whose story gets told, and whose story is legitimate and gets listened to
—> Stories connect us to ourselves and each other
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How often have you met someone ask a question, and they tell you a narrative, consisting of What, Why, and How
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Observe it the next time when you have conversation
—> Stories allow us to reveal ourselves
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Through telling a story we show up (our past experience, our worldview, and identity)
—> Stories make us human, and are powerful in creative and connective elements
—> Also have power to disrupt, depending on story, and who is telling it
—> What is meant by power to disrupt?
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Storytelling has the power to disrupt hegemonic narrative
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It allows people to be author’s of their stories and represent themselves
—> Through act of telling a person, a person bring their story into a story
—> Listening also matters:
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Specific parts of brains are activated when you listen to a story, such as mirror neurons
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This allows us to assimilate what we hear and relate to other people through shared commonalities
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We have an ability to empathize with others, as something we naturally strive towards as researchers
—>So how does storytelling relate to research?
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Research is story
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Research has a story like process, with design, conducting of research, synthesis and analysis
—> In qualitative research, people tell stories in interview
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Researcher establishes psychological safety, and needs to listen to story being told
—> The risk is when trying to build rapport with an interviewee in the beginning, researchers are not mindful, and can’t tell if story is being told
—> You may know Amitav Ghosh from his novels, but he was originally an anthropologist who went to Egypt.
—> He sought out the imam of a village for traditional herbs and remedies
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The imam diverted topic politely, than forcefully to modern methods of healing
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Ghosh wasn’t interested in imam’s showcase of modern syringes
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—> Ghosh saw his inability to establish connection with the iman over herbal medicine, as a defeat
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It is a failure, if we are talking about not building rapport and connection
—> I had similar experiences in Jordan and Senegal where I was labeled as a foreigner, despite resembling the local population.
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I just couldn’t build rapport with someone whose life experiences were outside of my everyday life
—> However, from a different perspective failure to build rapport might not be failure
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It could be opportunity to see if this the story that is actually being told
—> We think researchers and participants are telling the same story, but they are in fact not, given that they are in different positions of power
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Researchers have the capacity to collect and shape participant stories, while participants don’t have this ability
—> Tension between story-telling and story-collecting began with my work in qualitative research
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Driven by education, and I thought how it could reflect my values
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Anthroplogy through seeing differences between people
—> In gender studies, I encountered critical sense for participatory approach to resource, and a way to tell the story
—> But anthropology and ethnography are tainted by their origin in colonial history.
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Ethnography was originally a mechanism meant to oppress and disempower groups of people
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Researchers have challenged approach through a reflexive lens
—>Reflexivity lets you examine your practices, and how you show up in your work
—> Positionality refers to access and power
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Your identity regarding poistionality is fluid and intersecting
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And we all have advantages/disadvantages depending where we are on the metaphorical map
—> As researchers we are in position of power, but we have control over what to do with this knowledge
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First we should acknowledge power we have
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Second, we should acknowledge discomfort and normalize it
—> We should create a space where power is negotiated between the researcher and the participant.
—> Goal is to find a comfortable middle-ground through co-creation
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Co-creation can exist in all three stages
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Best entry point is interview
—> Unlike the colonial gaze, as interview is egalitarian, so long as people can switch between interviews and interviewee roles
—> Sharing of power, needs new approach and identity,
—> So we need to unpack certain principles
—> Task One: Stop pretending you have an agenda, and be open and transparent
—> We need to challenge assumptions and biases either at the start of an interview or later in design phase
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Find way for interviewer and interviewee to keep themselves honest
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Challenge tools and guidelines, since they might not work the same way
—> Example of protecting privacy and confidentiality
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Participant might not want to remain anonymous , as they may want to have ownership over the area
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Risk of privacy
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Check in with participant
—> The researcher should not be an authority with pre-concevied notions
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Instead be a student, ask open-ended questions, and let the participant drive the story
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This lets you see participant in another light
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Not as just a user or customer
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—> Downside of this, is that co-creation derails research objective, but might create new more relevant objectives
—> Example of Judith, an interviewee I had
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I was doing research on catastrophic injury, and felt nervous about asking Judith about how she got injured
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But Judith was more than her injury though and had been able to move on from it
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Interview changed to letting me look broadly at resilience and quality of life rather than recovery
—> With scripts, we can come across as automatons
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Worse, where the interviews appears to be an interrogation
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So we should use inviting language, with conditionals such as “if you like” “might” or “could”
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Let’s people get in charge of the interaction
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—> You also need to hear their story, as people have reason to tell their story
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Imagine if Ghosh was curious about imam and syringe
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Different story
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—> Messy, as people occupy different spaces, all you have control over is what you can do
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For her that’s the space of the interview session, where people listen to each other in authentic manner
—> So when designing a project, ask yourself, how do you want to show up?
Thank you!
Q&A
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Thought on code design method for positionally and reflexivity?
A: Think that being more reflexive in conversation, and positionally does help. Depends on end result and what is produced in the end
—> Yes, helpful, but is not end all be all.