When fieldwork hurts: on the lived experience of conducting research in unsettling contexts
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Authors
Claus, L
de Rond, MEJ
Howard-Grenville, J
Lodge, J
Publication Date
2019-04Journal Title
Research in the Sociology of Organizations
ISSN
0733-558X
Publisher
Emerald
Volume
59
Pages
157-172
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Claus, L., de Rond, M., Howard-Grenville, J., & Lodge, J. (2019). When fieldwork hurts: on the lived experience of conducting research in unsettling contexts. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 59 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000059009
Abstract
Prolonged exposure to the lived experience of others—by observation as in ethnography or vicariously through interviews—can be deeply unsettling. Human misery is contagious. Some of what makes research unsettling is context specific. Thus, repeated encounters with, for example, those living life behind bars (Rogers, Corley, & Ashforth, 2016), victims of rape (Whiteman, 2010; Zilber, 2002), human trafficking and street-level sex workers (Eberhard, 2017), or drug addicts (Lawrence, 2017) will likely impact the one collecting data. Occasionally, contexts are not obviously unsettling but reveal incidents or exposure to the emotional experiences of others that can be. Research can also be experienced as deeply troubling for reasons not specific to context in forcing us to front up to moral questions around voyeurism and exploitation, the answers to which are often deeply personal.
Sponsorship
This research was sponsored by the ESRC through the University of Cambridge ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership as well as the Benavitch Foundation of St. Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge.
Funder references
ESRC (1923362)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000059009
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/279613
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Licence:
http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
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