Stepping up from the audience : the researcher as director and part of the ensemble

• Adopting a theatrical metaphor, we argue that the engaged researcher can interact with the situation studied in three different research positions: as one of the directors staging an event (1), as a member of the ensemble performing an event (2), as a member of the audience observing an event (3). The three research positions identified are developed theoretically based on action research and interactive research. Those two affiliated methodological traditions have been developed out of the conviction that the neutral and distant research ideal is unrealistic and even problematic, as it holds out the prospect of a possible “view from nowhere” where the presence of the researcher does not influence the situation studied. We give examples from two research projects. In the first project a PhD student interacted within three different events using a specific research position in all three events, thus using all three positions within the same project. In the second project undergraduate students staged his/her project with local stake-holders, and researchers interchangeably staged events as well as took part of the ensemble performing the event and took part in certain events as part of the audience. Taking different roles as well as changing roles made the travel between closeness and distance to the research process possible as well as making sense of the studied processes in both projects. In the first project with a sole researcher extended time is necessary, while in the second project the different roles can be divided by members of the research ensemble.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Företagsekonomi

Business administration

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