Rees DPhil students presented at University of Bath’s Qualitative Research Symposium

DPhil students Lucy Robinson, Jennifer Ginger and Josie Scammell attended and presented at the University of Bath’s Qualitative Research Symposium in January.

Lucy and Jennifer presented on the topic ‘Credibility, trust and power: is sharing positionality with participants always ethical?’ In their presentation, both students discussed how they shared their differing positionalities with their participants, within their respective research contexts, and reflected on their rationales for doing so. They also reflected on what they chose to hold back, what was left unsaid and what impact this may have had on their participants. They left the audience to question their own experiences of sharing positionality with research participants and encouraged further debate around the ethical complexities of this practice. Lucy also shared her research ethics tree.

Josie presented on her paper titled ‘(Over) thinking exit ethics: conceptualising a trauma-informed approach to the ethics around leaving the field.’  Her paper explores the ethics around the actual exit from the field itself, looking at the ways in which trauma-informed qualitative research frameworks could be expanded and adapted to include guidance around ethical considerations for both the participants and researcher when considering the exit from fieldwork.