The emotional labour of doctoral criminological researchers

Abstract

Embarking upon empirical qualitative research can be a daunting and emotional task, particularly for those who are new to research and for those who research vulnerable groups and emotive topics. Doctoral criminological researchers transect these realms, often making their research experiences acutely emotional and challenging. In addition, researchers must be able to perform emotional labour as an important part of their professional practice. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews, this is the first study to explicitly explore the emotional labour of criminological researchers. Using the lens of emotional labour, the performance and impact of undertaking qualitative data collection in doctoral research is examined. From the interview data, three main themes are discussed: emotional labour, the consequences of performing that emotional labour and coping mechanisms to deal with those consequences. The article concludes with recommendations around support and training for PhD candidates, their supervisors and the higher education sector more broadly.

‘I Enjoy Having Someone to Rant to, I Feel Like Someone is Listening to Me’: Exploring Emotion in the Use of Qualitative, Longitudinal Diary-Based Methods

“…Detailed accounts of ethics in practice from researchers are vital in order to highlight the ethical deliberations managed in the spaces outside of the procedural ethical review (Jackson, 2021). Moreover, as Waters et al (2020) suggest, understanding these emotional reactions is paramount to then interpreting that data. Such points are reinforced by Woodby et al (2011) who recognise that emotional reflexivity is particularly crucial during the process of transforming participants' words into analytic codes, to assure faithful reproduction of their experiences.…”

“…Further, whilst we can draw on examinations of emotional labour in other areas of allied health (such as nursing, physiotherapy or midwifery), this work tends to focus on participant or practitioner rather than researcher emotion (Brighton et al, 2019; Font-Jimenez et al, 2020; Kirby et al, 2014; Riley & Weiss, 2016; Wahlberg et al, 2020). Meanwhile, those grounded in feminist and criminological perspectives have suggested that researchers engage in various techniques, including maintaining empathy and rapport and/or paying particular attention to the way they dress or how they speak, in order to present appropriate emotional displays and engage in ‘continuous’ or prolonged emotion ‘work’ or ‘labour’ (Bergman Blix & Wettergren, 2014; Crewe, 2014; Hanna, 2018; Jewkes, 2011; McGarrol, 2017; Wakeman, 2014; Waters et al, 2020). Further, Jackson et al (2013) have previously described the challenges of maintaining ‘emotional equilibrium’, and others have detailed the tension between open and free-flowing emotion as opposed to emotional suppression and/or detachment (Van Maanen, 2011).…”

“…There is a significant body of work and ethical processes built around the protection of research participants (Dickson-Swift, 2017; Olson, 2021). However, less emphasis is placed on researchers, who may expose themselves to acute emotional distress and challenging experiences, with potential impacts to their own professional identity and well-being (Jackson et al, 2013; Olson, 2021; Waters et al, 2020). Kumar and Cavallaro (2017, p. 648) define ‘emotionally demanding research’ as ‘research that demands a tremendous amount of mental, emotional, or physical energy and potentially affects or depletes the researcher’s health or well-being’.…”

‘If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry’: Emotional labour, reflexivity and ethics-as-practice in a qualitative fieldwork context

“…Being relaxed and assuming of my own well-being around participants I had come to know was often jolted upon hearing new information or more emotive iterations of their stories, whereas I was mentally ‘braced’ for certain interviews I knew would be particularly difficult to conduct. Difficult interviews seemed to ‘harden’ me somewhat ahead of subsequent interviews where I would not forsake being empathetic but would not allow myself to feel perhaps as involved as I previously had (Waters et al, 2020 – in this Special Issue).…”

Disengaged youth? Exploring the lives of ‘hidden NEETs’ outside the benefits system

“…For PhD students, 'embarking upon empirical qualitative research can be a daunting and emotional task especially when research involves 'vulnerable groups and emotive topics' (Waters et al, 2020;1). This comment has resonance due to the absence of a blueprint on how to access 'hidden NEETs'.…”