Open AccessThe Emotional and Psychological Labor of Insider Qualitative Research Among Systemically Marginalized Groups: Revisiting the Uses of Reflexivity
Author(s) -
David J. Kinitz
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
qualitative health research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.303
H-Index - 113
eISSN - 1552-7557
pISSN - 1049-7323
DOI - 10.1177/10497323221112620
Subject(s) - insider , reflexivity , openness to experience , relevance (law) , equity (law) , sociology , embodied cognition , public relations , psychology , inclusion (mineral) , diversity (politics) , qualitative research , social psychology , political science , social science , epistemology , philosophy , anthropology , law
In response to decades-long exclusionary practices, academic institutions are now recruiting early career researchers (ECRs) from systemically marginalized populations who specialize in equity-related research. As a result, these ECRs are likely to conduct research within their communities on topics that have personal relevance-insider research. Methodological training for insider research places an emphasis on methods, such as reflexivity, to ensure rigor; however, the emotional and psychological impacts of these research methods on the researcher are seldom discussed. Therefore, I use analytic autoethnography to illustrate the embodied impacts of conducting insider research using an example of personal relevance and argue that methodological practices require an embodied reflexivity that centers the researcher and the impacts the research has on them. This paradoxically rewarding and taxing work necessitates changes in methodological training and practice, institutional support, and an openness to innovation when calling for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the academy.