Abstract
This article applies paradox as a metatheoretical framework for the reflexive analysis of roles within a participatory video study. This analysis moves us beyond simply describing roles as paradoxical, and thus problematic, to offer insights into the dynamics of the interrelationship between participant, researcher, and video technology. Drawing on the concept of “working the hyphens,” our analysis specifically focuses on the complex enactment of Participation-Observation and Intimacy-Distance “hyphen spaces.” We explore how video technology mediates the relationship between participant and researcher within these spaces, providing opportunities for participant empowerment but simultaneously introducing aspects of surveillance and detachment. Our account reveals how video study participants manage these tensions to achieve participation in the project. It examines the roles for the researched, the technology, and the researchers that are an outcome of this process. Our analysis advances methodology by bringing together a paradox perspective with reflexive work on research relationships to demonstrate how we can more adequately explore tensions in research practice and detailing the role of technology in the construction and management of these tensions.
Highlights
While a relative ‘‘blind spot’’ in organization studies (Bell & Davison, 2013), video research is a well-established methodology in other disciplines, for example sociology and anthropology (Erickson, 2011)
‘‘working the hyphens’’ (Cunliffe & Karunanayake, 2013; Fine, 1994) here involves examining the roles of researcher, participant, and video technology as they are constructed and enacted and the nature, dynamics, and management of tensions that arise within this relational system
Our discussion identifies specific features of the video methodology that make it better equipped than other methods for the examination of tensions in the research process, in particular through delivering opportunities for reflexivity on behalf of both the researchers and the participants
Summary
While a relative ‘‘blind spot’’ in organization studies (Bell & Davison, 2013), video research is a well-established methodology in other disciplines, for example sociology and anthropology (Erickson, 2011). The focus of this article is a reflexive analysis of the paradoxical nature of the relationships and roles produced by participatory video research. The core concepts of the paradox perspective led us to focus in our analysis on how the tensions of the intersecting roles of researchers-videocam-participants are managed without necessarily being resolved. Constructionist approaches reject the idea of the ‘‘observer’s paradox’’ as a methodological problem Instead, these studies explore participant interactions with video and audio devices and how these are used as a resource for identity work by participants (Gordon, 2012; Hazel, 2015). We go further by applying a reflexive paradox perspective to identify how tensions in participatory video research are produced and managed in a three-way relationship between researcher, videocam, and participant. We want to draw attention to the role of the videocam in research relationships and the creation of research data as part of a reflexive paradox perspective.
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