Title: "Turns" in qualitative research
Course: EDPS0009: Researching Education and Society: Qualitative Methods 2020/2021 > Section: 7. "Turns"

Linguistic turn

The first "turn" we will look at and consider is the "linguistic turn".
Basically, researchers were focussing on the role of language, its strengths and limitations, especially within the context of questionnaires and surveys. And so, they started thinking about what we could glean from looking at how people speak in addition to what people say.
In the following video, this is referred to as "linguistic ethnography", an approach through which we look at the role and function of language.

Narrative turn

The more researchers looked at the role of language, at how people used language and how people spoke, the more they realised that we all tend to tell stories. Just think of yourself getting together with friends and family, and how you tell them about your experiences of studying at UCL IOE. You will notice that there are particular kinds of stories or anecdotes that you tell.

As this is a natural way of communicating, some researchers have decided that we should make use of that and should carry out research in such a way that we get participants to tell stories and to work with stories. It is then the researcher's task to identify different kinds of stories within what is being said.

Arthur Frank is a researcher who is particularly known for the kinds of plots he has uncovered in relation to the stories people tell when they are ill. In his view, there are many kinds of plots that can be identified in illness narratives, but the most commonly told ones are: restitution, chaos and quest (Frank, 2013).

The most favoured plot amongst illness narratives within the Westernised world is restitution, in which the ill explore their experiences as a journey from health to illness and back towards a restoration of health. At the other end of the spectrum is chaos, a narrative that depicts destitution, loss of hope, a sense of giving up and giving in to the illness experience, with no expectation that life can become better again. The quest, by contrast, illustrates how patients ascribe meanings to their illness experiences by finding a positive effect and outcome, for example through becoming advocates or activists (Frank, 2013). [Source: Brown, 2018].

This does not mean that individuals will only have one plot to tell, sometimes - depending on the illness experience - people slip from one plot to another or their narratives are mixtures of these and some other plots or sub-plots. What is common to all narrative approaches is that the researchers are trying to identify some significant plotlines to understand how individuals make sense of their experiences.

Reflect:
Tell the story of your secondary education. Which kind of plot do you describe? (e.g. overcoming challenges?, being the best?, managing?).

Frank, A.W. (2013). The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (2^nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Participatory turn

We have already spoken about the hierarchy between researchers and participants. Some scholars are not happy with the dynamics that are playing out during a research process, and how research seems to be done TO or ON other people rather than WITH them. For example, within the educational settings, we have to ask ourselves if it is okay to subject our pupils to tests or interventions or if we should perhaps give them some responsibility and agency over the process.

A consequence of these thoughts is the "participatory turn". Participatory research means to take into account and involve participants.

Participatory research, by contrast, recognises the expertise of research participants and consequently seeks to engage such individuals through handing over some responsibility within the research process. True and full participation in participatory research requires the participants to 1.) have a role in setting the agenda of inquiry, 2.) take part in the data collection and analysis and 3.) have control over the use of outcome and the whole process (Tandon, 1988, 13).

The following video is a presentation about some of the benefits and challenges researchers encounter in participatory research:

Tandon, R. (1988). Social transformation and participatory research. Convergence, 21(2), 5-18.

Reflexive turn

Some weeks ago, we have spoken about the role of the researcher within the research process, and you were asked to create a video where you reflected on your positioning and background.

This awareness regarding the researcher's role in the research process is something that has been around for a long time, but since the 2000s, there has been talk about a "reflexive turn" (Foley, 2002). For many, this reflexive turn has happened in conjunction with and as a reaction to a deeper engagement with ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches.

Some scholars like Sara Delamont, an eminent ethnographer, are a little bit more cautious about the reflexive turn. In her keynote speech in 2018 Sara Delamont specifically warned researchers, especially early careers researchers and students to be careful about what they are sharing about their backgrounds. She thinks that reflexivity is important and does have a place in research, but she also believes that there is a danger of over-sharing. She likened the reflexivity statement to social media content, and she highlighted how we try to teach children and young people not to put anything on social media platform that could haunt them later on in their lives. So whilst it is important to be aware of the potential consequences of over-sharing, Sara herself has written extensively about the relevance, the essential necessity and benefits of being reflexive (2009).

The following video presents some good practices for and of reflexivity:

Delamont, S. (2018, January). Truth is not linked to political virtue: problems with positionality. Keynote presentation at The Fourth Annual Qualitative Research Symposium, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Delamont, S. (2009). The only honest thing: Autoethnography, reflexivity and small crises in fieldwork. Ethnography and Education, 4(1), 51-63.
Foley, D.E. (2002). Critical ethnography: The reflexive turn. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(4), 469-490.

Creative turn

In the participatory research video, you will have seen what I have described as three cornerstones of human communication:
1. language is insufficient
2. human understanding is embodied
3. human communication is metaphorical.

This recognition is not something that is new at all. Many scholars have experienced these three issues in their work, and have tried to bridge the gap.  This is where arts-based research comes in.

Arts-based and creative methods are therefore often linked with research in childhood experiences or learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities. As the frameworks of arts-based and creative research have developed over time, there is now no single method or approach that clearly defines arts-based or creative research. What makes research arts-based or creative depends on the focus of the enquiry and the positionality of the artist-practitioner-researcher (Savin-Baden and Wimpenny, 2014). Arts in this context is defined broadly and includes amongst others painting, collage-making, model-making, poetry-writing, photography, music and all forms of crafting to account for the sensory, the visual and the embodied.

In all forms of arts-based enquiries, the arts are used to "raise significant questions and engender conversations; to capture meanings; to diversify the pantry of methods that researchers can use to address the problems they care about; and to contribute to human understanding" (Barone and Eisner, 2012:164-172). More specifically, employing arts-based research helps:

- to provide new insights and learning
- to describe, explore, discover, problem-solve
- to forge micro-macro connections
- to engage holistically
- to be evocative and provocative
- to raise awareness and empathy
- to unsettle stereotypes, challenge dominant ideologies, and include marginalized voices and perspectives; and
- to open up avenues for public scholarship, usefulness and social justice (Leavy, 2015:21-27).

In the following, there are two videos. The first video is trying to explain the creative turn and arts-based research, whereas the second video is an example of an arts-based project.

Barone, T. & Eisner, E.W. (2012). Arts Based Research. Sage.
Leavy, P. (2015). Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice. (2^nd ed.). Guilford Publications.
Savin-Baden, M.S. & Wimpenny, K. (2014). A Practical Guide to Arts-Related Research. Springer.

Embodied turn

From reading the previous sections, you may have already realised that even with the narrative, creative, and participatory turns, there are still issues within research, namely how to account for the body, bodily experiences and sensations.

Within sociology, in particular, there is an increased interest in making sure that we do not "forget" the body and emotions. This is because sociology itself deals with the body, but there are other disciplines, too, where the increased understanding of reflexivity is now leading to more awareness of the self - and that self being the body as well as the mind.

As a consequence, there is now an "embodied turn".

Here is a video of Sarah Pink, talking about Sensory Ethnography, which is one approach towards dealing with the body in research:

Blurry lines....

As you will have noticed, although there are several turns, the lines between each "turn" or approach or focus become more and more blurred. There is no particular right or wrong about that, this is merely a sign of each researcher interpreting the existing literature in their particular way. This last video is a good example of that.

Watch the video and make a note which philosophies, frameworks and/or "turns" you can identify: