Abstract
Ethical considerations in social research tend to focus on data collection rather than data interpretation and representation. The tendency of qualitative research to limit ethical concern to confidentiality and anonymity in the representation of data, combined with the academic convention of maintaining an objective distance from the object of study, creates tensions for the reflexive researcher. On the one hand, they must meet academic expectations to communicate findings with demonstrable reliability and validity. At the same time, there are deontological obligations—to protect study participants (and groups they represent) from harm, to honour their contributions accurately and to report with integrity. This article argues for the use of poetic ‘re-presentation’, both as a form of inquiry and unique mode of data representation and as a means of obtaining a deeper understanding of the experience of migration and homelessness. By integrating insights from Critical Race Methodology, the article deploys the concept of ‘counter-storytelling’ through poetic inquiry. The article concludes that this approach enables a nuanced, insightful approach, allowing the authentic voice of migrant groups negotiating the complexities of homelessness to be clearly articulated and heard.
Highlights
Ethical considerations in social research tend generally to focus on data collection methods; considerably less attention is paid to the ethics of data interpretation and representation beyond matters of confidentiality and anonymity (Swauger 2011; Denzin 2003; Currier 2011)
The academic conventions of qualitative research studies require researchers to maintain an objective stance when communicating findings, presenting the object of study at a distance which, this article argues, privileges empiricism over other ontological stances—a critique commonly made by critical, postmodern and liberation perspectives (Hall 1999). Such positivist approaches to qualitative research draw heavily from the scientific method in a manner epistemologically more aligned with approaches found in the life sciences—they are problematic when the concerns of marginalised populations are under study: ontological empiricism allows for one way to see the world
The pretence that social scientists have a monopoly on Truth and singular access to a ‘God’s eye’ point of view serves to reify the prevailing hegemony undergirding the very social processes that so preoccupy qualitative researchers
Summary
Ethical considerations in social research tend generally to focus on data collection methods; considerably less attention is paid to the ethics of data interpretation and representation beyond matters of confidentiality and anonymity (Swauger 2011; Denzin 2003; Currier 2011). The academic conventions of (some) qualitative research studies require researchers to maintain an objective stance when communicating findings, presenting the object of study at a distance which, this article argues, privileges empiricism over other ontological stances—a critique commonly made by critical, postmodern and liberation perspectives (Hall 1999). Such positivist approaches to qualitative research draw heavily from the scientific method in a manner epistemologically more aligned with approaches found in the life sciences—they are problematic when the concerns of marginalised populations are under study: ontological empiricism allows for one way to see the world. Such a distancing effect replicated in the communication of research findings (that is, ostensibly, the hallmark of scholastic rigour in the applied disciplines) contributes to the production of ‘Otherness’ and is counterproductive to achieving the objective of a politically concerned social science oriented towards social justice (Aldeia 2013)
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