“If You Weren’t Researching Me and a Friend . . . ”

Abstract

This article explores the affordances and risks of practicing friendship and mentorship as methodological approaches in two qualitative studies: (a) the mentor’s study in a diverse 9th grade classroom and (b) the protégé’s subsequent study of teacher professional development in the same school. Friendship methodology, as theorized by Tillmann and others, is extended to include protection and mentoring. The effect of mentoring is demonstrated through examples of the former protégé’s own research. Explosive moments in each study demonstrate how research can be analyzed and the course of the research projects influenced within a friendship/mentorship context. Like friendship-as-method, mentorship as methodology can result in rich data, but there is also the potential for more transparent and rigorous data analysis when the researcher is a mentor because the mentor can model research skills for the protégé-participant. Thus, mentorship as methodology socializes peers into the conventions of qualitative research.

Notes from the Field of the Scholar–Practitioner: Inhabiting the Liminal Space between Research and Practice—A Reflective Account of Holding Dual Identities

“…In her discussion of friendships made whilst in the field, Ponocná [38] judges this phenomenon as unproblematic when considered through a feminist framework where participants are invited into the researcher's world. Indeed, there are multiple accounts within ethnography where such a boundary between scholar and practitioner both overlaps and merges (see [39,40]). Over the years, Kirsten has attended weddings and even funerals of community members as well as hosting individuals in her own home.…”

Mentoring with(in) care: A co-constructed auto-ethnography of mutual learning

“…The nature of a reciprocal, friendship-based mentoring relationship itself leads to rich data collection and analysis, and profound insights into the experience can be gained as the participants in the relationship are more open and vulnerable (Sassi & Thomas, 2012;Tillmann-Healy, 2003). A co-constructed auto-ethnography also avoids a number of ethical issues, such as consent and privacy (Ellis, 2007).…”

“…Both Miranda and Ragna were able to influence the research content and procedures, and the chosen analytical method was familiar to both. Nevertheless, mutual compassion and a consequential danger of over-empathising, and the power imbalance resulting from differences in experience, demanded constant attention (Owton & Allen-Collinson, 2013;Sassi & Thomas, 2012). Through continuous negotiation (Ellis, 2007), discussion about how the relationship influenced the individual and reflexivity (Etherington, 2007;Tracy, 2010), self-awareness and care for self and the other were encouraged.…”

Authority in Cross-Racial Teaching and Learning (Re)considering the Transferability of Warm Demander Approaches

“…Eager to participate in the study, Ms. Turner played a central role in a collaborative research process in which decisions about representation and "meaning [were] negotiated through a reciprocal process of discussion and mutual respect" (Irvine, 2003). Her perspective as an African American teacher was validated through a mentoring relationship that became a critical facet of the research methodology (Sassi & Thomas, 2013).…”