The insider–outsider role of a Chinese researcher doing fieldwork in China: The implications of cultural context

Abstract

The discussion and debates regarding researcher’s insider–outsider role in qualitative methodologies is not new in Western academia. But it remains to be ascertained and subjected to sustained analysis within Chinese sociological studies. This article addresses the influence of the relation-oriented nature of Chinese culture on researcher’s identity in qualitative methodologies that require reflexivity. Confucianism considers proper human relationships as the basis of society and assumes that man exists in relationship to others. Considering such cultural characteristics, I analyzed the interactions between my interpersonal relationships with the research participants and my professional status in the fieldwork. I also uncovered how I moved from seeing myself as an insider to reconceptualizing the researcher-researched relationship as a dynamic one. This article maintains that a researcher’s identity in Chinese context is subject to constant negotiation and re-negotiation through interaction between researcher and research participants as the research process proceeds.