Queer(ing) the Bias Monster and Subjectivities: Shifting From Confessions to Reflexivity

Abstract

Bias is a long-established concern in qualitative research, and researchers often work to erase, or at least manage, bias through subjectivity statements that work as confessionals, rather than approaching bias and subjectivity as inevitable, humanizing, and valuable research concepts. This paper draws on imaginative narratives and Barad’s engagements with queer theory to emphasize the importance of disrupting these notions and understanding bias and subjectivity as dynamic and mutable concepts that might contribute to deeper reflexivity and new research possibilities. The overarching argument is to tie bias, subjectivity, and reflexivity together not as oppositional or even complementary concepts but as a queer self-birthing of multiple, mutable selves full of possibility.