The Researcher vs. the Researched: Demystification of the Researcher in the Interview Encounter

Abstract

Given the hegemony of positivism in social science and particularly within political science, it is not surprising that work within the sub-field dealing with political recruitment and political representation are also influenced by this approach. Like other positivist work, political scientific studies on the recruitment or politics of disadvantaged groups, for example, assume that the researcher documents, questions, critiques, and analyses the research object in a pure, neutral, passive manner free of biases. By extension, “good” research can only be conducted by a “good” researcher who behaves accordingly. Such a view, as correctly put by Marsh and Savigny (2004: 158), does not “acknowledge the subjectivity of the observer,” and leaves the researcher’s positionality ‘unmarked’ and bereft of any role in the research. While when human agents are the direct and immediate sources of information, the researcher is an agent in a dual capacity: on the one hand, the researcher follows the normative standards of her discipline, testing theoretical considerations and advancing them into categories.