Towards a political economy of the use of research assistants: reflections from fieldwork in Tanzania and Mozambique

Abstract

Research assistants play a vital role in the research process, often acting as more than just translators or interpreters. However, their contributions to and impacts on the research process and outcomes often remain unacknowledged or unaccounted for. We build on previous work that looks at the subjective relations between the researcher, research assistant and research participant to explore this issue. In particular, drawing on a political economy approach, we look at how research assistants, through their objective position, mediate relations between researcher and participants, and also how power relations and different configurations of roles influence the research process and outcomes. Our analysis concludes that ignoring the role of research assistants in empirical research will lead to flawed processes, biased data and possibly misleading results.

Exploring the Backstage: Methodological and Ethical Issues Surrounding the Role of Research Brokers in Insecure Zones

“…As the relationship between brokers and researchers is asymmetrical and in a variety of ways politicised, managing different versions of stories are essential. When we deal with the triple subjectivity of researcher, research broker, and researched we need to address the versions in all relations as different relations form different sets of problems (Deane and Stevano 2016).…”

“…In short, while 'mutual responsibility' clearly seems more accurate and preferable to the notion of 'researcher responsibility' it arguably risks to problematically downplay that the risks are seldom equal. Moreover, it hides that brokers often consider themselves as the host whose role is to secure the researcher (Jenkins 2015, Deane andStevano 2016). Ironically, such sentiments may put the broker in even more risk as he/she tries to safeguard the safety of the researcher, at times through efforts at mitigating effects of researchers suspicious and risky behaviour.…”

Exploring the relationship between population mobility and HIV risk: Evidence from Tanzania

“…The author observed the focus groups in phase one, but was not present for the rest of the research activities due to the sensitive issues covered. The research assistants undertook a training programme which included an introduction to the key themes of the project and the different qualitative techniques to be used, and practising and piloting all 2 For a full discussion on the role of research assistants, see Deane & Stevano 2016 research tools before use in the field. Informed consent was gained from all participants, and research activities were recorded where appropriate 3 and later transcribed and translated.…”

Why Me? Challenges Associated With Recruiting Participants for a Study Focusing on “Wealthy Men”: Reflections From Fieldwork Conducted in Tanzania

“…All interviews were conducted by Samwel in Swahili with the other authors not present. This approach (see Deane & Stevano, 2016, for a full review of the strenghts and weaknesses of this approach) reflected the potentially sensitive topic under discussion and, in light of the linguistic limitations of one of the authors (Kevin), ensured that interviews could flow without the continuous interruptions necessitated if this had been done using Samwel or other authors as interpreters (Pitchforth & Van Teijlingen, 2005). Usually, the interviews were conducted in the participant's workplace according to their convenience.…”