The workshop will be of interest to early career researchers. The session will be interactive and focus on the importance of critical reflection to enable researchers to develop insights into the importance of who they are to shaping their research findings.  The workshop explores how this is not a case of bias, but an inevitable, important and valuable aspect of doing research and building knowledge. To do this aspect of research rigorously and well, all researchers need to regularly subject themselves, their research practices, findings and theorisations to reflection and scrutiny. The audience will be invited to challenge their beliefs as we explore well-known phenomena through the fresh lens of unacknowledged and hidden forms of sexism, racism and other forms of prejudice. 

Workshop Objectives

• To explore how a researcher’s perspective shapes their research focus and the analysis of data.
• To raise awareness of the risk of bias in the interpretation of findings, taking account of the impact of lived experience.
• To sensitise reseachers to the complexity of intersectionality and the many layers of positionality which have the potential to distort research results. 

By the end of this session, participants will be better able to:  

Identify and eliminate the propensity for personal perspectives to influence the interpretation of research data.

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