Becoming a Qualitative Researcher with a Postcolonial Sensibility in South Korea

Abstract

It seems that qualitative research has spread worldwide as a new research method beyond the Western world. Despite the fact that qualitative research in South Korea developed not only quantitatively but also qualitatively, there has not been enough effort to find out how the South Korean researcher grows into a qualitative researcher compared with the Western researcher. In this article, we try to approach the experience of becoming a qualitative researcher in South Korea with an autoethnography method. As a result, the experience and process of becoming a qualitative researcher in South Korea can be considered in three themes: learning qualitative research skills though field work, learning writing skills, and cultivating a postcolonial sensibility. This article can provide not only a new perspective on qualitative research and the process of becoming a qualitative researcher in South Korea but also a postcolonial perspective by conceptualizing that.