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
  • I thought dilemma was initially about ownership
  • 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
  • How often have you met someone ask a question, and they tell you a narrative, consisting of What, Why, and How
  • Observe it the next time when you have conversation
—> Stories allow us to reveal ourselves
  • 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?
  • Storytelling has the power to disrupt hegemonic narrative
  • 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:
  • Specific parts of brains are activated when you listen to a story, such as mirror neurons
  • This allows us to assimilate what we hear and relate to other people through shared commonalities
  • We have an ability to empathize with others, as something we naturally strive towards as researchers

 

 

—>So how does storytelling relate to research?
  • Research is story
  • Research has a story like process, with design, conducting of research, synthesis and analysis
—> In qualitative research, people tell stories  in interview
  • 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
  • The imam diverted topic politely, than forcefully to modern methods of healing
    • Ghosh wasn’t interested in imam’s showcase of modern syringes
—> Ghosh saw his  inability to establish connection with the iman over herbal medicine, as a defeat
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Driven by education, and I thought how it could reflect my values
  • 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.
  • Ethnography was originally a mechanism meant to oppress and disempower groups of people
  • 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
  • Your identity regarding poistionality is fluid and intersecting
  • 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
  • First we should acknowledge power we have
  • 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
  • Co-creation can exist in all three stages
  • 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
  • Find way for interviewer and interviewee to keep themselves honest
  • Challenge tools and guidelines, since they might not work the same way
—> Example of protecting privacy and confidentiality
  • Participant might not want to remain anonymous , as they may want to have ownership over the area
  • Risk of privacy
  • Check in with participant

 

—>  The researcher should not be an authority with pre-concevied notions
  • Instead be a student,  ask open-ended questions, and let the participant drive the story
  • This lets you see participant in another light
    • Not as just  a user or customer
—> Downside of this, is that co-creation derails research objective, but might create new more relevant objectives
—> Example of Judith, an interviewee I had
  • I was doing research on catastrophic injury, and felt nervous about asking Judith about how she got injured
  • But Judith was more than her injury though and had been able to move on from it
  • Interview changed to letting me look broadly at resilience and quality of life rather than recovery
—> With scripts, we can come across as automatons
  • Worse, where the interviews appears to be an interrogation
  • So we should use inviting language, with conditionals such as “if you like” “might” or “could”
    • Let’s people get in charge of the interaction

 

—> You also need to hear their story, as people have reason to tell their story
  • Imagine if Ghosh was curious about imam and syringe
    • Different story

 

—> Messy, as people occupy different spaces, all  you have control over is what you can do
  • 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
  1. 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.