“Come as You Are” & Its Meaning in Qualitative Research
Hello Qualitative Mind,
In 1992 Nirvana released their album “Nevermind”, and track #3 “Come as You Are” became one of their biggest hits.
“Come as you are, as you were
As I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend
As an old enemy...”
I was too young (and truthfully English illiterate) to understand the lyrics back then. But more than a decade later, it became a song I liked. Coincidentally, I was also obsessed with the American show “Cold Case” and Nirvana was often part of the show’s soundtrack.
What does any of this have to do with qualitative research?
Well, pop culture often sparks my creative juices for blog posts so hang in there , I promise I’m going somewhere with this...
Last time I heard “Come as You Are” I thought about how we “come” to qualitative research projects (and pretty much everything in life) as we are, including our physical bodies, mental being, ethnicity, beliefs, values, ethics, family history, etc. We can’t leave any part of us “excluded” from a project because we’re humans, and we exist as one beautifully complex package.
In the context of qualitative research, I want to use a few lines in “Come as You Are” to encourage you to think about two things: your positionality in research and transparency in teamwork.
Positionality in research is something we’ve discussed at length in other blog posts, and have a {free} resource available on the website to guide you in writing your own. Researcher’s positionalities describe our worldviews, and the complex packages (i.e., ourselves) we bring to the qualitative research process.
In a 2020 paper, Researcher Positionality – A Consideration of Its Influence and Place in Qualitative Research – A New Researcher Guide, Holmes explains that researchers’ worldviews are “colored by an individual’s values and beliefs that are shaped by their political allegiance, religious faith, gender, sexuality, historical and geographical location, ethnicity, race, social class, and status, (dis) abilities, and so on” (p. 2, 2020). As such, a researchers’ positionality takes a close look at how they are “coming” to research.
The fact that we come to qualitative research as we are makes us unique in how we go about every step of the research process, from designing to publishing. It doesn’t mean we cannot do qualitative research that doesn’t perfectly align with our worldviews. However, it does mean we need to engage in reflexive practices that allow us to recognize and become self-aware of our personal stance.
“A reflexive approach suggests that, rather than trying to eliminate their effect, researchers should acknowledge and disclose their selves in their work, aiming to understand their influence on and in the researcher process.”
“As I want you to be” is a line in the lyrics of “Come As You Are” that we need to be very careful with when engaging in teamwork in qualitative research. The fact that you like and admire other researchers personally and professionally doesn’t necessarily mean they will come to a qualitative research project as you want them to.
In reality, you might have strikingly different worldviews from those you’re working with (and it will only hinder the progress of the research project if team members’ positionalities are unclear).
Perhaps an important activity in a qualitative project kick-off meeting, whether virtual or in person, would be to ask each team member to write their positionality in research. But let’s not stop there! I think that by sharing our positionality with at least one colleague (who will also be participating in the research project), we can foster companionship and accountability in bringing our positionality to our reflexive practices.
I do believe we can come to qualitative research as we are and do it well when we recognize (and write) our positionality, and practice reflexivity. What do you think?
I bet the next time you hear “Come as You Are,” you’ll think about your qualitative research. Hopefully it doesn’t mean I ruined the song for you, though!
Talk soon,
Maira
Ps. Today is day 2 of “Conquering Your Qualitative Research Methods”. In this 5 day video series, I’m leading the Quali Q community to effectively write their methods section (for whatever purpose they need). If you’re not in the group, don’t worry! It’s not too late and you will still be able to catch up. Sign up here and receive everything you need to get started!