Voice, representation, relationships: Report of the Open Qualitative Research Working Group

Margaret Westbury; Mathieu Candea; Jennifer Gabrys; Sara Hennessy; Ben Jarman; Kiera McNeice; Curtis Sharma

doi:10.17863/CAM.91979

Abstract

There is strong support for the open research agenda among qualitative researchers. This report broadly defines qualitative research as the exploration of communities’ and individuals’ perspectives and lived experiences and how people meaningfully construct and negotiate social worlds in specific contexts. Such research typically involves natural-language descriptions, rather than numerical measurements. However, University advocates of open research and funders’ open research policies tend to frame key tenets and desired outcomes in terms of the priorities, methodological approaches and quality markers of STEMM fields and the quantitative social sciences. Qualitative research is heterogeneous, and STEMM-oriented open-data policies can be at odds with qualitative researchers’ values. Instead of building trust and transparency into the research process, such policies can undermine or inhibit collaboration and engagement that are crucial for ongoing qualitative work. Nevertheless, many qualitative researchers – and we as a working group – feel that open research presents huge opportunities for innovation in our fields and, therefore, hope to make discussions about open research at Cambridge University more inclusive of qualitative researchers’ viewpoints. This report includes a number of concrete recommendations that respond to the dialogic, emergent, abundant and relational aspects of qualitative research by proposing context-specific guidelines, infrastructures and training resources.

Availability

Report of a working group on Open Research in the qualitative social sciences. Available from https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344820.

Reuse

CC BY-ND 2.0

Copyright

Citation

BibTeX citation:

@report{westburyVoiceRepresentationRelationships2022,
  author = {Westbury, Margaret and Candea, Mathieu and Gabrys, Jennifer
    and Hennessy, Sara and Jarman, Ben and McNeice, Kiera and Sharma,
    Curtis},
  publisher = {Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository},
  title = {Voice, Representation, Relationships: {Report} of the {Open}
    {Qualitative} {Research} {Working} {Group}},
  date = {2022-12-20},
  url = {https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344820},
  doi = {10.17863/CAM.91979},
  langid = {en-GB},
  abstract = {There is strong support for the open research agenda among
    qualitative researchers. This report broadly defines qualitative
    research as the exploration of communities’ and individuals’
    perspectives and lived experiences and how people meaningfully
    construct and negotiate social worlds in specific contexts. Such
    research typically involves natural-language descriptions, rather
    than numerical measurements. However, University advocates of open
    research and funders’ open research policies tend to frame key
    tenets and desired outcomes in terms of the priorities,
    methodological approaches and quality markers of STEMM fields and
    the quantitative social sciences. Qualitative research is
    heterogeneous, and STEMM-oriented open-data policies can be at odds
    with qualitative researchers’ values. Instead of building trust and
    transparency into the research process, such policies can undermine
    or inhibit collaboration and engagement that are crucial for ongoing
    qualitative work. Nevertheless, many qualitative researchers – and
    we as a working group – feel that open research presents huge
    opportunities for innovation in our fields and, therefore, hope to
    make discussions about open research at Cambridge University more
    inclusive of qualitative researchers’ viewpoints. This report
    includes a number of concrete recommendations that respond to the
    dialogic, emergent, abundant and relational aspects of qualitative
    research by proposing context-specific guidelines, infrastructures
    and training resources.}
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

Westbury, M., Candea, M., Gabrys, J., … Sharma, C. (2022). Voice, representation, relationships: Report of the Open Qualitative Research Working Group, Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. Retrieved from https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344820