Researcher roles as educator bleed into the interview process

Evidence

Reflexivity entails an honest appraisal of the various, often intersecting, ways in which the researcher’s subject position may impact the research process; underpinning this is the recognition that “knowledge cannot be separated from the knower.” As an interviewer, I often experienced uneasiness surrounding the implied narrative of book-interview-as-a-route-to-exposure, which perhaps stems from my own concern with being duplicitous when approaching potential interviewees. Moreover, it was difficult to elide the power dynamics implicated with my role as a professor interviewing numerous college students about their career aspirations and prospects. I occasionally found myself stepping into an advising capacity as I queried them about particular course assignments, curricular initiatives, and position requirements. I gleaned great insight from these discussions despite my admission that I could not “turn off” my role as an educator. — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love, 627

Categorization

• QUESTION: How much does the professor-student power dynamic skew interview data on career aspirations, given interviewees may seek advice rather than genuinely answer?
• XREF: connects to: A researcher’s worldview shapes his choice of subjects and methods — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1717

Broader Connections

• A researcher’s worldview shapes his choice of subjects and methods #expands (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1717