CREATIVE METHODS: VISUAL, POETRY AND … Conference Presentations/Rajesh...EXPLORING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN YCW 16 JAN 2016 Working Poetically with Emotion Eliciting Narratives

EXPLORING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN YCW 16 JAN 2016

Working Poetically with Emotion

Eliciting Narratives from Qualitative Data

DR RAJESH PATELSENIOR LECTURER YOUTH AND COMMUNITY WORK

[email protected]

@rajyouthworker

CREATIVE METHODS: VISUAL, POETRY AND DIGITAL SPACES


•Under what circumstances do issues of race and identity arise for educators, and how do they intersect with other aspects of ‘difference’?•What are educators’ perceptions of these incidents and how do they act in response to them?•What experiences do they draw on in order to respond to these incidents?•To what extent do they draw on notions of reflective practice to support their response?•How do they construct the notion of reflective practice, and what are the key influences on these constructs?•What situational factors do they perceive as influencing their responses?•To what extent do emotions of shock and puzzlement shape their response and in what way might this relate to ‘sites’ of reflection?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS


PUZZLEMENT CONFUSION SHOCK

‘The practitioner allows himself (sic) to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation.

(Schön 1983: p68)


•Problems with reflection-in-action (Schon:1983,1987) •What is an I-poem?•Data collection – images and interviews•Moving to a narrative•Use of ‘listening guide’ (Gilligan et al: 2003) to examine feelings via I-poems•Thinking about theory

OUTLINE


TASNEEM

42 years old Year 4/5 teacher (aged 8-10)Middle leader for last 12 yearsUndertaking the NPQH Practicing Muslim wears a HijabTaught at Queen’s Lane Primary for 15 years (Yorkshire)Change of headteacher coincided with her perceived decline


I-POEM

If there is an odd number I can guarantee you that it is a Somali girl I don’t see any direct racism how many more times can I sit there and talk about it ‘

I err going back a couple of years now going Miss Koliwala do I look brown enough I just thought that oh I felt for him really


and I'm usually in here it's work-related stuff I'll be thinking through and if it gets too much if I can't solve it if I can't see my way through it then I kind of walk round over there it gets warm this room that's another reason why I like it if it's prayer time I don't have to come out and wash and go into the ladies I can wash there you know and put my prayer mat down and do my prayers (p) I think it's kind of compact and I do go in there when I do go there I think there are times when I am in there and I'm really upset and I am trying to work my feelings and emotions through as well sometimes I don't even get on to that pc I get on to that chair it's just about the right level that chair that kind of desk there I kind of find levels being a small person and I just kind of stare and I'm like (p) going through the

DATA -TASNEEM

emotions that that I've experienced and tryingto work them through (p) I just feel if I amthere with somebody and I want to talk aboutthings I feel more comfortable (p) even if it'sthe head and I want to talk things throughwith him and it's confidential I will open up Itend to open up in that room


ALCHEMY

“And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so ?” “They were only looking for gold,” his companion answered.” They were seeking the treasure of their destiny, without wanting actually to live out the destiny.”

(Coelho:2006, p120)


DATA – TASNEEM

right ok the thing is when you’re pure er when when people

don’t buy pure gold because it’s too soft and malleable a

metal yeah you’re right OK I was thinking no off course they

don’t buy it they don’t buy it they don’t buy it for jewellery

I’m not so therefore I’m not adornment I’m not so people will

not see but people do buy pure gold but they buy it for

investment so so she started the train of thought that ‘cos I

started thinking about about what qualities I’ve got that make

me gold


I-POEM

I went for an interviewI didn’t get it I got back here again one of the staff said to me don’t see it in a negative “you’re gold to us” she said it in Gujarati “hona ni chhe” and I went away

I went away I didn’t really think about it but then it kept coming back to me so I wrote it down I went back to it a couple of days laterI thought ...gold


I-POEM

I would say thatI mean one of the things I didn't want this middle leadership role twelve years ago they theywanted me to take it on 'cos I was saying no no no they were sending all these messages

I went and sort of talked to my friend aboutI said I really don't want thisI just want to be in the classroom I want to be teaching I am going to sacrifice a bit of my (p) life 'cos I'm going to have to put in more some extra hours here


they were really good the headteachers of mine (p) you know

what we are what this school is (p) has been shaped by the

headteachers that have run it (p) and they’ve not all been

successful headteachers but (P) you know the way have made

individuals feel (p)they wouldn’t let me go because there were

several times when er others er there were there were other

heads there were times when ethnic minorities were in high

demand they’re not any more (laughs) there’s a lot in teaching

now but I might have been in mainstream I must have been

the second in Conchester (P)

DATA – TASNEEM


I-POEM

I’ve got a lot of different hats I’ve been middle leader for twelve years I reflect and I think ‘I’ve been middle leader for twelve years that’s a long time’ I am a middle leader that is ,I enjoy the middle leadership one of my strengths that I said to the head I create a strong I build a strong team and not me not you as an individual


I am not being subjugated it is a decision that I have made

and I want it it's liberating because that is my values they

are judging me by their values , oh this is subjugation of

women

DATA – TASNEEM


I-POEM

I don’t really fit I am finding I never I have not I don’t fit in the community I’m not part of the c..

I am I mean the parents this school the intake (P) the catchment area the area in which I live I don’t fit I don’t fit into any categories there


THE LISTENING GUIDE

“method of psychological analysis that draws on voice, resonance, and relationship as ports of entry into the human psyche. It is designed to open a way to discovery when discovery hinges on coming to know the inner world of another person. Because every person has a voice or a way of speaking or communicating that renders the silent and invisible inner world audible or visible to another”

“The collectivity of different voices that compose the voice of any given person—its range, its harmonies and dissonances, its distinctive tonality, key signatures, pitches, and rhythm—is always embodied, in culture, and in relationship with oneself and with others. Thus each person's voice is distinct— a footprint of the psyche, bearing the marks of the body, of that person's history, of culture in the form of language, and the myriad ways in which human society and history shape the voice and thus leave their imprints on the human soul

(Gilligan et al 2003: p157)


Voice Relational Method associated with feminism Relies on listeningRecognises centrality of relationshipsSocial constructivist epistemological positionRecognises that human experience bound up in larger relational dynamics.Voice of narrators heard above researcher……But recognises researcher’s story

(Finch:2011 )

THE LISTENING GUIDE


SUMMARY

ADVANTAGESUseful method of pinpointing inter-relationshipsDraws on (unevoked)emotionVery rich detailed accounts when connected with other fieldwork data

PROBLEMSHighly subjectiveWhat does it add to representing intersectionality?How does it link to wider discourses


I SAID, HE SAID

I thinkI must have been showing it afterwards I went into his office he said “to me are you free” I said oh I am

he said “look the thing is the last governors’ meeting that we had the chair of governors noticed that you were a bit down”

I said what did you tell them he said “oh I said to them it might be the passing of the age”


I SAID, HE SAID


THEORETICAL FRAMES

CRITICAL THEORY There is no ‘objective’ neutral stance

FEMINIST INFLUENCESDorothy Smith Institutional Ethnography - ruling relationsFeminist Standpoint – by focusing on informant problematicBifurcation of the consciousness (patriarchy/personal)

CRITICAL RACE THEORYMatrix of Domination from Black Feminist work e.g. Hill-Collins, CrenshawCounter-stories, critiquing Majoritarian narrativesNecessary to avoid essentialised views of race ie intersectionalityEveryday racism

BOTH PLACE EMPHASIS ON INTERSECTIONALITY and on ALIENATION through ideological means, Marxist influences


METHODOLOGICAL STEPS

OBSERVATION OF ‘REAL LIFE’

‘REAL WORLD’ EFFECTS ‘CAPTURED’ BY ETHNOGRAPHIC

MEANS

REQUIRE INTERPRETATION

I-POEMS AS ‘UNCONSCIOUS REPRESENTATION

PROVIDED ACCESS TO A. EMOTION IN THE SETTING &B. POWER RELATIONS

HEAVY REFLEXIVITY REQUIRED, HOWEVER (MANY) OTHER POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS


READING/REFERENCES

Finch, J. (2011) Innovation or Imitation? The Use of the Voice Centred Relational Method in Social Work Research at Methods@Plymouth Plymouth University, 19th & 20th May 2011

Gilligan, C., Spencer, R., Weinberg, M.K., & Bertsch, T. (2003). On the listening guide: A voice-centered relational method in Camic, P.M., Rhodes, J.E. & Yardley, L. (eds) Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design Washington, DC: APA

Patel, R. (2015) The Role of Reflective Practice in Educating About Race, Identity and Difference Unpublished PhD Thesis Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University available at http://www.e-space.mmu.ac.uk/e-space/handle/2173/582935 [Accessed 14/01/16]Rose G. (2007). Visual Methodologies: an Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials London: Sage

Walby, K (2012): Institutional ethnography and data analysis: making sense of data dialogues in International Journal of Social Research Methodology 1(1) pp 1-14

http://www.e-space.mmu.ac.uk/e-space/handle/2173/582935

Documents

CREATIVE METHODS: VISUAL, POETRY AND … Conference Presentations/Rajesh...EXPLORING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN YCW 16 JAN 2016 Working Poetically with Emotion Eliciting Narratives