When veiled silences speak: reflexivity, trouble and repair as methodological tools for interpreting the unspoken in discourse-based data

Abstract

Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal silences or such things as laughter. We consider the analysis of veiled silences where participants speak, but their speaking serves as 'noise' that 'veils', or masks, their inability or unwillingness to talk about a (potentially sensitive) topic. Extending Lisa Mazzei's 'problematic of silence' by using our performativity-performance analytical method, we propose the purposeful use of 'unusual conversational moves', the deployment of researcher reflexivity and the analysis of trouble and repair as methods to expose taken-for-granted normative frameworks in veiled silences. We illustrate the potential of these research practices through reference to our study on men's involvement in reproductive decision-making, in which participants demonstrated an inability to engage with the topic. The veiled silence that this produced, together with what was said, pointed to the operation of procreative heteronormativity.

A Qualitative Case Study of Smartphone-Connected Hearing Aids: Influences on Patients, Clinicians, and Patient–Clinician Interactions

“…Critical social scientists often attend to silences, or what is ''not'' said, in the data of qualitative studies (Morison and Macleod, 2013). Before discussing ''silences'' in this study's dataset, first the authors introduce the practice of a critical social science concept ''critical reflexivity.''…”

A Hashtag Worth a Thousand Words: Discursive Strategies Around #JeNeSuisPasCharlie After the 2015 Charlie Hebdo Shooting

“…It is important to note that silence in this context is not a mere absence of words but the result of a strategic choice. Besides, Morison and Macleod (2014) draw attention to "veiled silences" (as opposed to literal silences), where speaking takes place but serves as "noise" that masks the speaker's inability or unwillingness to talk about a potentially sensitive topic (p. 694).…”

Researching children’s silences: Exploring the fullness of voice in childhood research

“…More specifically, there might be epistemological, political, and ethical value when we actively pursue the task of bringing forth what would otherwise have remained unaccounted for because of its normative character. For instance, as Morison and Macleod (2014) have argued, a failure on the part of the researcher to question the research participant in a way that allows for the disclosure of silences which are based on normative, taken-for-granted assumptions about the social world might lead to the maintenance of these silences (Morison and Macleod, 2014). At the same time, our attempts to turn silence into speech by encouraging children to talk about those aspects of their lives which they resist talking about carries ethical implications and should not be taken lightly.…”