Session Information
05 SES 12 A, Symposium: Doing Participatory Research In Education With At-Risk Participants: Paradoxes And Provocations
Symposium
Contribution
This paper primarily addresses aspects which have been little discussed so far in qualitative participatory research. The contribution is primarily theoretically-focused, contextualised using the findings from three research studies. The first used observations as well as interviews with four detainees and three staff members in a penal institution, analysed using depth-hermeneutics (Langer et al., 2021). In the second, a five-day photovoice workshop was conducted with 15 refugee language learners and analysed using content analysis (Obens 2023). In the meta-analysis, six qualitative studies on Pupil Referral Units in England were re-analysed in relation their implications for related policy changes introduced in Germany (Zimmermann, 2023). In the qualitative research community, it is almost "state of the art" to refer to the individuals and groups being researched as "partners". This often blurs the boundaries between research perspectives and activism. While studies may include a large number of participants, the methodological approach is often limited to content analysis and similar approaches. Therefore, the paper uses data from the research projects indicated to address three central questions, which reflect the provocations of the symposium abstract: 1. Does this powerful paradigm of participation, which seems to be ethically valuable, possibly also conceal researchers' fear of results that are uncomfortable and difficult to communicate (Devereux 1967)? 2. Is the apparent distinction from the scientific mainstream (understood as quantitative-empirical), which is often emphasised in educational research projects, really just another form of neoliberal research? Terms such as "relevance", "impact" or "value" typically signify this supposed research responsibility (Henwood & Lang 2005). The inclusion of (often “marginalised”) participants in research projects may actually legitimise educational measures that are individual-centred and conceal social distortions. Shouldn't research be much more resolute in opening up spaces in which more radical criticism is possible? 3. In view of this, what place is there for critical theory which uncovers taboos in the individual and social unconscious? Relevant, more psychoanalytic research methods, such as depth hermeneutics, offer ways of illuminating this "dark side of the moon" and identifying changes to the education system. However, it is precisely those perspectives that are highly anxiety-provoking, as they bring into focus those parts of individual and group experience that have been repressed from professional and institutional self-images (Lorenzer 2000). There are neither clear nor simple answers to those questions. However, they suggest that critical and open discussion of participatory research is urgently needed.
References
Devereux, G. (1967) From Anxiety to Method in the Behavioral Sciences. The Hague: Mouton. Henwood, Karen; Lang, Iain (2005): Qualitative Social Science in the UK: A Reflexive Commentary on the “State of the Art”. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6(3): The State of the Art of Qualitative Research in Europe. DOI: 10.17169/fqs-6.3.16. Langer, J., Link, P.-C., Fickler-Stang, U., Zimmermann, D. (2021): Perspektiven von Bediensteten des Jugendstrafvollzugs auf pädagogische Beziehung - tiefenhermeneutische Einsichten aus einer qualitativ-empirischen Studie. ESE. Emotionale und Soziale Entwicklung in der Pädagogik der Erziehungshilfe und bei Verhaltensstörungen 3, 14–28. Lorenzer, Alfred (2000) Sprachzerstörung und Rekonstruktion. Vorarbeiten zu einer Metatheorie der Psychoanalyse. 5. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp (Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft, 31). Obens, K. (2023). Vom (Adels-)titel und der dreifachen Sprachlosigkeit – Eine tiefen-hermeneutische Interpretation eines Deutsch-als-Zweitsprache-Unterrichts für Menschen mit Behinderungs-, Flucht- und Traumaerfahrungen. Psychosozial 45(2) (issue 168), in print. Zimmermann, D. (2023). Die Beschulung psychosozial erheblich beeinträchtigter Kinder und Jugendlicher in Kleinklassen. Praxeologische Desiderata und empirische Antworten aus dem englischen Diskurs. Vierteljahreszeitschrift für Heilpädagogik und ihre Nachbargebiete, submitted.
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