Guest editorial: Investigating trauma: methodological, emotional and ethical challenges for the qualitative researcher

Miralles, Megane; Stierand, Marc; Dörfler, Viktor; Lee, Bill

doi:10.1108/qrom-11-2022-999

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…. the field of management and organization QROM 17,4 studies is largely missing such reflexive accounts of researchers" (Miralles et al, 2021). The literature review by Branson (2019) also called for a wider understanding of VT research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating vicarious trauma: dramaturgical challenges for qualitative research

Corrigan

2022

QROM

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PurposeThis article examines personal performances of vicarious trauma (VT) related to the Ocean Ranger Disaster. It investigates the extent to which the self is at stake in passionate storytelling about tragic consequences of extreme work.Design/methodology/approachDramaturgical concepts of self-presentation and impression management are used as a qualitative lens to provide an alternative view of published trauma stories arising from emotional research interviews.FindingsThe catastrophic disaster created secondary traumatization for families and friends of extreme workers lost at sea. This article shows that research interviews of these disaster survivors are opportunities for participants to engage in dramatic storytelling. The paper also reflects on related (problematic) storytelling by the trauma researcher.Research limitations/implicationsThe article provides a theory illustration using dramaturgy as an alternative theoretical perspective to document previously under-appreciated aspects of the Ocean Ranger case. The discussion causes us to think about research interviews in a way that past research would not normally suggest.Social implicationsThe Ocean Ranger Disaster continues to be a remarkable source of sorrow for the people of Newfoundland. This research provides a needed contrast to the numerous positivist, and overwhelmingly technological, studies of the disaster.Originality/valueThe research tradition of dramaturgy is a useful lens to apply to the expanding field of trauma studies. VT is rarely a subject of direct discussion in the management and organization studies (MOS) literature. This paper is among the first to consider storytelling interviews from a VT perspective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating vicarious trauma: dramaturgical challenges for qualitative research

Corrigan

2022

QROM

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“…Preparation is necessary, as trauma research involves dealing with “stressful and potentially shocking experiences of injustices and suffering that can create feelings of guilt and exhaustion in the researcher” (Miralles et al. , 2021) and requires sensitivity to the traumatic effects of change: compassion, empathetic listening skills without explanation, awareness of own emotions, and vulnerability to show your own pain (de Klerk, 2007).…”

Section: Emotional Experiences and Challenges Of Researching Work-cau...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There has been very little research considering the emotional effects on the researcher (Miralles et al, 2021), yet as the reflexive extract shows, researchers of trauma often hear "sensitive and traumatic stories, and may witness first hand traumatic or emotionally distressing events" (Winfield, 2022, p. 15). In viewing vulnerability as strength, the diary extract removes the "mask" of professional researcher, illustrates my vulnerabilities and communicates the experiences of what happens in practice when witnessing and experiencing emotional distress in research.…”

Section: Emotional Experiences and Challenges Of Researching Work-cau...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preparation is necessary, as trauma research involves dealing with "stressful and potentially shocking experiences of injustices and suffering that can create feelings of guilt and exhaustion in the researcher" (Miralles et al, 2021) and requires sensitivity to the QROM 17,4 traumatic effects of change: compassion, empathetic listening skills without explanation, awareness of own emotions, and vulnerability to show your own pain (de Klerk, 2007). The reflexive extract illustrates how a researcher cannot "just" prepare for a study and "do" research about trauma through dialoguing, connection and relational vulnerabilitythey can feel and experience the participant's trauma and sometimes relive their own.…”

Section: Emotional Experiences and Challenges Of Researching Work-cau...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the special issue call highlights, "while some research acknowledges that trauma scholars need to be able to deal with participants' vulnerability, there is very little research conducted that considers the emotional effects on the researcher (Stoler, 2002;Campbell, 2013)" (Miralles et al, 2021). Following Shaw et al (2020), this paper seeks to emphasise the importance of articulating emotion when undertaking research on sensitive topics and contributes understandings of the emotional struggles and challenges for the researcher in three ways.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Women leaders' work-caused trauma: vulnerability, reflexivity and emotional challenges for the researcher

Mavin

2022

QROM

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PurposeThis paper advances what is known about emotional experiences and challenges when researching work-caused trauma in organisations and illustrates learning for researchers of work-related trauma. Viewing vulnerability as strength could be conceived as an oxymoron. The paper explains how vulnerability can lead to strength for researchers/participants and focuses on researcher reflexivity in relation to one interview with a woman leader in a small-scale qualitative study.Design/methodology/approachThe research protocols of the qualitative study are outlined: pre-interview briefings, participant journaling and semi-structured interviews. Researcher reflexivity, following Hibbert's (2021) four levels of reflexive practice (embodied, emotional, rational and relational), is applied to an interview with a woman leader.FindingsThe paper illustrates how research design and recognising vulnerability as strength facilitates considerable relational work and emotional experiences. Researcher reflexivity conveys impact of work-caused trauma on participants and researchers. The paper advances understandings of vulnerability as strength in practice, emotional experiences and challenges of work-caused trauma research.Research limitations/implicationsIn this paper, a single case of researcher reflexivity is considered.Practical implicationsThere are practical implications for researcher relationships with participants; demonstrating emotional awareness; responding to traumatic stories, participant distress and impact on the researcher; issues of vicarious/secondary traumatic stress; having safe psychological systems; scaffolding a process which recognises vulnerability as strength and becoming personally and methodologically vulnerable; risk of embodied and emotional impact; commitment to reflexivity and levels of reflexive practice.Originality/valueThere is lack of researcher reflexive accounts of practice when studying trauma. Few scholars suggest ways to support researchers in challenging and difficult research. There is silence in research exploring leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma. This paper provides a reflexive account in practice from a unique study of women leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma.

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That’s Gonna Leave a Mark: Positionality and Secondary Trauma in Researching Mass Killing and Genocide

Nelson

2024

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

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In this article, I describe two fieldwork experiences dealing with traumatic subject matter: a three-month trip to the Russian Federation, researching the crimes of Stalin against the Soviet population, and a two-week odyssey across Poland, researching memorialization of the Holocaust as it occurred there. I had a much more difficult time on the Polish trip. These trips took place at different times, and my positionality had changed dramatically between the two experiences. The other relevant factor in each case was the nature of the material itself and the extent to which I was exposed to it. The Stalinist Terror is much more submerged in Russian society, for example, and it was often challenging to find evidence that it had occurred, as this involved travel to often far-flung Gulag and mass execution sites. In the Polish case, however, the Holocaust narrative and evidence of its occurrence was front and center in my experiences there, to the extent that the ubiquity of sites where terrible events occurred became overwhelming. The interaction of my positionality and the extent to which I was exposed to different types of traumatic experience, led to widely differing emotional tolls on my psyche in each case. I hope an analysis of this interaction, and the differing effects it produced provides information about planning and executing research on traumatic subjects that is valuable to others preparing to undertake it. (Or perhaps it will provide a cautionary tale about what to avoid). This article adds to the literature on personal negative outcomes experienced by those researching traumatic subject matter, particularly in the social sciences.

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Guest editorial: Investigating trauma: methodological, emotional and ethical challenges for the qualitative researcher

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Investigating vicarious trauma: dramaturgical challenges for qualitative research

Investigating vicarious trauma: dramaturgical challenges for qualitative research

Women leaders' work-caused trauma: vulnerability, reflexivity and emotional challenges for the researcher

That’s Gonna Leave a Mark: Positionality and Secondary Trauma in Researching Mass Killing and Genocide

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