Open Access“The Times They are a Changing” 1 : Undertaking Qualitative Research in Ambiguous, Conflictual, and Changing Contexts
Author(s) -
Lea Kacen,
Julia Chaitin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1671
Subject(s) - qualitative research , relevance (law) , context (archaeology) , sociology , focus (optics) , epistemology , focus group , social psychology , psychology , social science , political science , anthropology , geography , philosophy , archaeology , physics , optics , law
This article explores qualitative research issues that arise when researchers engage in study within their own ambiguous, unstable, conflictual, and rapidly changing society. We explore the topics of the relationship between the researcher and the context, the difficulty in choosing relevant research quest ions under such conditions, and the relevance of generalizing or transferring findings from such contexts to other sites and populations. We present two research cases from the Israeli context: one that demonstrates an external conflict (between Israelis and Palestinians) and one that demonstrates an internal conflict (between Israelis and Israelis), analyzing them according to these three main issues. Our conclusions focus on the methodological implications that researching one’s ambiguous and conflictual “backyard” have for qualitative researchers.