KWALON - Volume 29, Issue 1/2, 2024

Beyond the paradox of action research: building the bridge, not being the bridge

This essay discusses the paradox of action research. There is an increasing demand for action research and other participative (research) methods, partly fueled by growing discontent about the mismatch between life worlds and system worlds and the inability of governments and social institutions to address inequality. Although action research has the potential to empower and transform, it can also lead to – unintended – manipulation and consolidation or even worsening of the status quo. Due to the way the roles of creating and facilitating communicative spaces are shaped and to a lack of attention to contextual forces, action researchers may find themselves standing in the way of empowerment and transformation instead of fostering this. To break this paradox, action researchers need to address the awareness and empowerment of professional participants more thoroughly as they tend to hold the key to transformation.

Study of source materials within ethnographic fieldwork: A proposal for a methodological framework

This article discusses the study of source materials in ethnographic fieldwork in order to propose a methodological framework. The aim of the framework is to show the relation of source materials to its representation and to a production context or broader to societal frames of references that bring producers and users together. Pursuing the framework enables ethnographic fieldworkers to observe and interpret the meanings enshrined in the source materials as well as to study its (un)intended consequences. The methodological question whether the source represents or shapes social reality was found to mediate the relation between the production context and the source materials. Three examples of ethnographic fieldwork are described that serve as an illustration of the framework. Subsequently, we discuss how the procedural iterations between the constituent parts of the framework – source materials, representation and production context – contribute to more focused research questions on and deeper insights into the topic of research.

About the dual role of the participating policy researcher: Opportunities, dilemmas (and solutions) in collaboration with practice

Societal and academic calls to leave the ‘ivory university tower’ increasingly bring social researchers in cooperation with practice partners. Methods such as action research are on the rise. Researchers in these partnerships between theory and practice take on dynamic roles in relation to the field of research. By taking a seat at the table where policies are made or put in practice, researchers can impact the policy or social world they are simultaneously researching. In so doing, the researcher becomes a describer from within a social world, whilst actively contributing to shaping meanings of that social world. This can potentially harm the vital independence of a social researcher, but also allows the researcher to impact practice whilst remaining theory-based. In this article, I elaborate on a fieldwork experience related to a participatory budgeting process in a diverse urban neighbourhood, where I navigated between ‘observer’ and ‘proactive partner’.

Positionality in ethnographic police research

Ethnographers typically immerse themselves in a setting or milieu to understand how people in a specific context give meaning to their world, experiences, and behaviors. Given their immersion in a field, ethnographers engage in a crucial process known as reflexivity. In recent years, reflexivity has evolved to encompass a focus on positionality which can be understood in terms of aspects of the self, such as age, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, as well as multiple social positions that researchers strategically draw upon during fieldwork. Classic male-oriented police ethnographic accounts, however, rarely include a reflection on how researchers’ positionality shaped the research process. Fortunately, a growing number of female policing scholars reflect on how their positionality and gendered power dynamics impacted the course of their research. In this article, I discuss how my positionality affected fieldwork during a long-term multi-site ethnographic study of violent interactions within the Dutch police force. I specifically reflect on three dimensions that impacted the research process: my gender, race/ethnicity, and former profession as a social worker, part of my ‘ethnographic toolkit’. The latter, especially, helped to navigate discomfort, gain access, and build rapport.