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‘An Audit on Self’—Positioning Ourselves for Researching with Young Families

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Respectful Research With and About Young Families

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods ((PSERM))

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Abstract

The researcher and the researched are unavoidably situated in a complex mix of paradigms, and framed by discourse that shifts and morphs, depending on context and over time. This chapter illuminates considerations regarding our and others’ positionality. Later in the chapter, a number of valued axiological perspectives are profiled that researchers may wish to consider when engaging in family research. The intent is that these topics may provoke reflection, a raised sense of consciousness, and hopefully a sensitivity to one’s inescapable subjectivity as a social researcher in entering the privileged space of the family home or other environments where young children and families reside and are embedded. In doing so, it is anticipated that our and others’ endeavours will create more ‘humanised spaces’ for researching with members of young families.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Lived experiences’ are defined as the way an individual interprets and describes experiences which occur within particular contexts of their everyday lives (Van Manen, 1990).

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  1. Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, QLD, Australia

    Alice Brown

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Brown, A. (2019). ‘An Audit on Self’—Positioning Ourselves for Researching with Young Families. In: Respectful Research With and About Young Families. Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02716-2_2

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