Heather Elliott

Research encounters, reflexivity and supervision

Reflexivity in qualitative and ethnographic social science research can provide a rich source of data, especially regarding the affective, performative and relational aspects of interviews with research subjects. This paper explores by means of three case examples different ways of accessing and using such reflexivity. The examples are drawn from an empirical psycho-social study into the identity transitions of first-time mothers in an inner-city multicultural environment. Fieldnotes and supervision were used to engage with researcher subjectivity, to enhance the productive use of reflexivity and to address the emotional work of research. The methodology of the supervision was psychoanalytic, in its use of a boundaried frame and of psychoanalytic forms of noticing oneself, of staying engaged emotionally as well as creating a reflective distance. The examples illustrate how this can enhance the knowledge gained about the research subjects.

Practices, Identification and Identity Change in the Transition to Motherhood

Identity transformation is of major concern in the social sciences (Brooks and Wee, 2008), but there is currently little agreement about the processes through which it occurs. This chapter illustrates the ways in which processes of identity change can be theoretically accounted for by analysing the ways in which Silma (a pseudonym), a first-time mother of Bangladeshi parentage, engages in practices that demonstrate to herself and others that she can successfully ‘do’ motherhood. The chapter can therefore serve to illuminate, and contribute to understanding the role of practices in identity transformation more generally. In summary, using vignettes from one case, we aim to provide a psychosocial account of the identity transitions involved in becoming a mother, highlighting how practices, of many different kinds, are vehicles for identifications, investments in motherhood and identity change.

“Another long and involved story”: narrative themes in the marginalia of the Poverty in the UK survey

Phoenix, Boddy, Edwards and Elliott use historical material to explore the importance of marginalia drawing on Townsend’s renowned Poverty in the UK Study 1967/8 (PinUK). Rather than focusing on the extensive data collected by Townsend’s team in the original survey research Phoenix et al. explore the detailed handwritten notes on the paper questionnaires. The authors use 69 annotated questionnaires from the original study to develop a typology of marginalia. This consists of seven different categories that enabled them to analyse the comments made by the interviewers as amplifications, justifications and explanations of codes and evaluations of responses made by participants. They then use narrative analysis to reveals much about the research process and the ways in which the field interviewers positioned themselves in relation to their interviewees in the marginalia and as a way of making sense of research encounters.