Trying to Complete Socially Just, Politically Sensitive Social Work Research

Abstract

• Summary: For new social work researchers — especially those committed to using research to create a better society — research can entail a daunting series of challenges. In this article I review some of the lessons I have learned from the research I have undertaken over the last two decades, including those associated with, getting started; creating a focus; acquiring the requisite resources; using theory; using supervision; handling ethical dilemmas; writing up; and finishing the research. • Findings: Knowledge creation activities involve many potential opportunities and stumbling blocks. Emotions and politics are part of the process. Appreciating some of the easily overlooked dimensions of the research process may help new researchers avoid some of the problems. • Applications: This article is dedicated mostly to new researchers hoping to avoid commonly experienced problems associated with undertaking socially just and politically sensitive research. More seasoned researchers might use the article as guide to re-evaluate their own research histories.

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“…I understand that up to this point, I am the only person who has directly benefitted from this research; I got some great data for my Honours thesis and along the way have begun to train my mind, eye and soul in researching women's lives (Hill, 2007). I cannot really tell if I have "done no harm" (Fraser, 2009) in interviewing the five women and can only endeavour to continually reflect upon this experience and use it to maintain working towards social justice role in social work, whether it be on the frontline or in the loneliness of research.…”

What can Ruby do with a camera? Ex-prisoners use Photovoice to reverse the rules of surveillance

“…I understood that people with stigmatised identities have been classified and labelled routinely by ‘professionals’ and can distrust researchers from academia (Newbold et al., 2014), even those who purport to have a social justice agenda (Duvnjak and Fraser, 2013: 176). I believed it was important to ensure participants that labelling and pathologising were not my intentions, that I value the importance of an egalitarian approach to research (Fraser, 2009) and that my own ‘class consciousness’, guides my exploration.…”

“…Texts foregrounding the importance of socially just research (Fraser, 2009) which challenge dominant ideas (Brown and Strega, 2005) have influenced my approach to social work research. From these texts, I learned the value of researching with oppressed groups.…”

Narrative feminist research interviewing with ‘inconvenient groups’ about sensitive topics: affect, iteration and assemblages

“…In effect, this means that researchers adopt specific positions vis-a-vis the research area and their participants, often opting for collaborative research rather than following ‘top down’ strict questions and answers. This often leads to more politicised data given participants are able to talk freely about the issues that affect them, and researchers are likely to analyse their responses in terms of the power dynamics they represent (Fraser, 2009; Denzin, 2017; Lohmeyer, 2019). As Denzin writes (2017: 9),Critical qualitative inquiry scholars are united in the commitment to expose and critique the forms of inequality and discrimination that operate in daily life (Garoian and Gaudelius, 2008).…”