In April 2023 I was very fortunate to attend and present at the BERA ECR Network Symposium Series. This gave me the opportunity to reflect on and discuss the methodological and ethical decisions I have made so far in my PhD research on voluntary activity in small rural primary schools. In this blog post I focus on my positionality (multiple roles) in the two schools in which I conducted my research and how this impacted the ethical decisions made (including gaining consent, managing relationships and the role of children).

The process of (re)constructing a methods and ethics milestone timeline for my presentation was a valuable reflective and learning experience. I believed that my positionality (Bourke, 2014) within the schools in which I conducted my research (attending both and working in the second) would make access a relatively straightforward process. However, it turned out to be much more prolonged than anticipated, and I am still grappling with the various levels of access and actors I am required to navigate and communicate with. For example, getting signed consent forms back in the first school (where I was largely unknown to many of the current staff and parents) to use children’s work in my research is still an ongoing process as emails and physical copies in bookbags have largely been ignored. In-person requests were more successful, especially when I had built up rapport with certain parents and was a more recognisable face on the playground. Although I am more well known in the second school, after my experience in the first, I plan to start the process of information dissemination and consent form signing earlier and focus my efforts on in-person communications.

Beyond the processes of gaining consent, I have also found it more difficult than expected to navigate relationships in these schools. My multiple positions have meant that some staff have been unsure how to respond to me (as a volunteer, researcher, colleague, former pupil?) and some have sought to defend professional boundaries in our interactions, creating tension which has required thoughtful identity work to manage. While this is interesting from a research perspective, managing role and boundary conflict is an unexpected aspect of my research I have had to learn to navigate.

‘Managing role and boundary conflict is an unexpected aspect of my research I have had to learn to navigate.’

My relationships with the children were a fundamental part of my positionality throughout the research. While the children often did not distinguish between my different roles in school (volunteer, researcher, teaching assistant?), I was always relied on as an adult they could trust and, ultimately, I had the same level of responsibility for safeguarding and confidentiality as any staff member. I have felt the emotional toll of this and am acutely aware of my position and the ethical implications of my work; always putting the children first. I was also committed to the children’s involvement in my research because they are so often absent in the literature, and yet the voluntary activity in and for their schools is ultimately for them and they have valid insights and opinions about it, which they deserve the opportunity to voice (Bradbury-Jones & Taylor, 2015). With this in mind, I ensured that I explained my research to the children in their terms, using child-friendly posters which I displayed in their classrooms and around school so that they were aware and informed about my research role. I also included space on consent forms for the child(ren) to give their own mark of consent (as well as verbal consent) so they could make decisions about their own involvement (Bradbury-Jones & Taylor, 2015), and we could have insightful discussions about what this meant.

Presenting at this event encouraged me to put my thoughts surrounding my complex positionality in these schools down on paper (or on screen) and receive constructive feedback which will be very beneficial going forward as I begin to write the chapters of my thesis. This event also enabled me to see the work other early career researchers are engaged in, comment on each other’s ideas, and created a supportive environment for sharing our work. I am very grateful for the opportunity and would definitely encourage future ECRs to take part.

References

Bourke, B. (2014). Positionality: Reflecting on the research process. The Qualitative Report. 19(33), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1026 

Bradbury-Jones, C., & Taylor, J. (2015). Engaging with children as co-researchers: Challenges, counter-challenges and solutions. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 18(2), 161–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2013.864589