The Elephants in the Room (one starts with "E" and one is green)...
Hello Qualitative Mind,
I have the impression that covid has added not one but many elephants in most rooms around the globe. The list is long and probably familiar to most of you and include topics like masks, vaccines, social gatherings, physical distancing, emotional health, travelling, etc. As much as I think these topics might overlap with (and influence) qualitative research projects, they aren’t the topic of today’s blog post.
I recently touched on sampling in one of my Facebook™ videos inside the Quali Q for Qualitative Minds Group, and a member of our community said that the number of participants in her qualitative research projects is often a question (or dare I say, concern) raised by reviewers.
I think this issue is all too familiar to most of us qualitative researchers and, in my opinion, it’s time we acknowledge the elephant in the room called epistemology. Researchers’ knowledge and awareness of their epistemology (read more about epistemology here - https://www.qualiq.ca/blog/the-philosophy-of-science?rq=epistemology) will undeniably shape the comments they make as reviewers. However, many reviewers don’t understand their epistemological differences in relation to qualitative researchers, and simply raise questions that are rooted in completely different worldviews and paradigms.
One might say it’s within their right to do so. But, I do think that sometimes it’s too much (and by too much, I mean too much ignorance of the basic tenants of qualitative inquiry). Let me drive this idea home with an example. Imagine I, Dr. Maira Quintanilha, am invited to review a paper in the area of maternal health reporting the results of a quantitative study. How acceptable would it be if I asked questions related to simple, basic descriptive statistics (e.g., how did you calculate the mean)? I’ll let you ponder that.
Yet, if a reviewer looks at my well-designed, richly described focused ethnographic study and asks why there were only 12 participants, I need to respond to that. And I do respond using the literature I know and the well-founded knowledge of qualitative research I have. As a mentor and consultant, I’ll always encourage you to do the same. But, we’re allowed to acknowledge the “E” elephant in the room, and know that we aren’t wrong…we simply see things differently from reviewers and we’re not alone.
In Quali Q’s programs, especially Qualitative Research Blueprint (QRB), we devote a considerable amount of time and energy to discussing “elephants” in the academic rooms where we present our qualitative research proposals and projects. These discussions are rich, empowering and filled with aha moments. QRB, as I said in last week’s blog post, is an incredible resource to qualitative researchers at various career stages; however, the second elephant in the room is one that influences qualitative researchers’ willingness to join QRB. This elephant is green and called money/funding ($$$).
Who is going to pay for my registration? Depending on your career level and academic institution, that answer might be obvious to you. To some of you that answer might be, “If I want to take this course, it needs to come out of my own pocket.” I’m not going to get into the discussion of whether that is right or wrong, fair or unfair. All I want you to know is that you won’t regret investing in QRB, in your qualitative learning, in fostering rigor and building community. QRB will energize you, and help you find the zest in your qualitative research that you might be missing (or slowly losing) because of all the unacknowledged elephants in rooms out there.
If the green elephant named money/funding is bothering you, I invite you to listen to Cathy Mazak’s podcast Episode 89: Why Investing In Yourself Is a Radical Act of Self-Care.
Don’t take too long to work through this though, because QRB registration for the last cohort of 2021 closes on September 18th at 12:01 am MST! You have some time (but not a ton of time) to tackle the multifaceted elephants in your own room. 🙂
~ Maira