“It’s okay even if you are a spy”: issues in researcher positioning within a precarious workplace

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the complexities associated with the trust-building process between participants and researcher in the context of a precarious work environment. Specifically, the paper seeks to discuss issues arising from the power dynamics, mistrust and tensions between different stakeholders in the research (i.e. employers, employees and the researcher), and the implications of such relationships for establishing rapport and trust with research participants. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the case of the shipping industry and is based upon findings from two research projects. One project examined similarities and differences between the merchant vessel and Goffman’s theoretical conceptualisation of “total institutions” (Goffman, 1961); the other focused on the increasing flexibility of labour in the global labour market, using the case of shipping. Both projects incorporated ethnographic research methods which included three voyages on board merchant vessels, as well as interviews and informal conversations with over 100 participants. Findings The researcher encountered several obstacles throughout the projects, many of which related to the access to the restricted workplace setting of a cargo ship. However, this paper is based on her positioning in the field after permission to access the ship had been granted by the shipping company. It was often challenging to overcome participants’ suspicions of the researcher as being sent by the company to spy on them. The researcher generally managed to overcome such suspicions in the course of her fieldwork by building relationships with participants over time. Nevertheless, these relationships were influenced by the complex power dynamics amongst the different stakeholders in the field. The challenges encountered in the field sites suggest that researchers should be open and fluid in the ways they present themselves in the field. The findings potentially offer useful insights for novice researchers whose research focuses on workplace settings characterised by precariousness of employment and for those conducting shipboard research. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper lies within its ability to shed light on the often-delicate relationships between different stakeholders in a research project, and the influence of these relationships on a researcher’s continuous access to the field. The experiences described in this paper are based on the global shipping industry, but they are also relevant to other closed, isolated and/or restricted research settings. Specifically, experiences described in this paper are similar to those of researchers studying “closed” research environments that are not accessible to the general public; this is particularly the case where a hierarchical work structure controls to some extent the roles played by different stakeholders within the precarious work environment, potentially influencing the way someone from outside the workplace approaches it. These include, for example, government owned establishments such as prisons, mental hospitals as well as privately owned closed business organisations.

Employment Practices, Cost Minimization, and Their Implications for Food Provisions and Seafarers’ Wellbeing on board Ships – A Qualitative Analysis

“…This was also based on previous research projects that studied the global shipping industry, 40 - 42 where interviews were used as the main data collection methods and researchers also spent time on board ships to increase trust-based relationships and rapport, often leading to improved quality and richness of interviews. 4 Participant and non-participant observation was conducted by both authors on board a total of 4 ships. The lead author, who identifies as a woman, sailed on board 3 different ships that were considered standard cargo ships, while the secondary author, who identifies as a man, sailed twice on board one ship that can be considered substandard.…”

“…The global shipping industry plays a crucial role in delivering over 70% (in volume) of the world’s food and necessities. 1 It has been previously noted how precarious employment practices are commonly used in this industry, 2 - 5 often negatively impacting seafarers’ work conditions and their physical and emotional wellbeing. One important aspect of seafarers’ work relates to food.…”

Temporalities at sea: Fast time and slow time onboard ocean-going merchant vessels

“…My first week on every ship that I sailed was always a period of adjustment and building of rapport, which at times was difficult because some would assume that I was sent by their company to spy on them. Seafarers just like any research participants in any research setting had different ways of constructing my identity as a ‘supernumerary’ onboard (see also Baum-Talmor, 2019; Hammond, 2004: 16–23; Turgo, 2012; Venkatesh, 2002). But as I spent more and more time with them and opened up myself to everyone (my role at the university and my life in the UK as an academic, also some details of my private life), they finally recognised me for who I was onboard: a researcher in their midst.…”

Cultural practices and organizational ethnography: implications for fieldwork and research ethics

“…In this spirit, qualitative researchers have contributed to the literature on qualitative fieldwork by engaging in reflexive exercises to reveal different dimensions of how positionality and fieldwork processes intersect in complex and situated ways. For example, it has been shown how a researcher's positionality shapes the data generated during interactions with Cultural practices and ethnography participants (Mikkelsen, 2013), how positionality facilitates or hinders research access (Anthony and Danaher, 2016;Borrelli, 2020) and how participants construct and ascribe specific positionalities for researchers (Baum-Talmor, 2019;Turgo, 2012). Reflexive analyses of cultural practices, such as wasta, and how they influence the positionality of a researcher during fieldwork are scarce.…”