Hearing the stories of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers: challenging and educating the system

Hearing the stories of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers highlights the powerful influence that cultural identity has on their practice. Their identity is continuously negotiated alongside a professional social work identity that is dominated by Western discourse. The tensions that these social workers experience in their practice is revealed in the findings of a qualitative research project conducted by an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous practitioner and researcher. The researchers spoke to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers engaged in diverse areas of practice across Australia. Their stories reveal a complex range of cultural and professional challenges. These include the difficulties encountered when working with their own kinship networks and the need to constantly negotiate personal and professional boundaries. The paper concludes with some thoughts about how the practice of Indigenous social workers can provide valuable lessons for Australian social work.     

Research project on advocacy and autism

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research project about the difficulties in accessing advocacy faced by adults labelled as having autism and Asperger's Syndrome in the Northwest of England. It is also an example of partnership working between three organisations. The article examines both the process of team-led (emancipatory) research and the project findings. Seven main themes emerged throughout the research: late diagnosis and lack of service support; bad experiences with systems of care; feelings of 'not belonging' (identity issues); barriers around communication and sensitivity towards individuals; lack of awareness and access to advocacy and rights; difficulties of 'fitting into' what is already available; and interest in developing knowledge around advocacy. Examination of the main themes pointed to a disturbing link between poor service response, episodes of crisis and mental ill health. The Carlisle People First Research Team is made up of 6 researchers who are labelled as having 'learning difficulties' who work in partnership with one other researcher.     

From Methodological Stumbles to Substantive Insights: Gaining Ethnographic Access in Queer Communities

This article demonstrates precisely how issues of access—in this case differential access to informants and the scenes that they populate in three sites—can reveal substantive findings. In the case it features, a comparative study of small cities with growing populations of lesbian couples, actors’ disparate and place-specific sexual identities produced disparate and place-specific responses to research. Integrationist sexual identities impeded access, whereas identity-politics orientations facilitated it. The paper identifies three mechanisms via which sexual identities influenced access: directly, by shaping informants’ orientations to the research topic, and, indirectly, by influencing local networks and institutions that emerge from and reinforce local identities. By explicating one ethnographer’s path from methodological trouble to substantive insight, the article traces the utility of an expansive and flexible reflexivity that begins with but extends beyond the researcher’s identity and role. This reflexivity, the article proposes, encourages identification of substantive findings and the development of social theory, and can advance a comparative sociology of ethnographic access.     

Institutional Barriers to Doing Public Sociology: Experiences of Feminists in the Academy

In recent years, the discipline of sociology has seen an increased discussion of public sociology, but the discussion has focused on whether or not it is a good idea for sociologists to become more engaged with their various publics. A different question motivates this research: What are the institutional arrangements that make doing public sociology difficult, and thus less likely? Following Dorothy Smith, we start from the perspective of frontline actors and ask them about their experiences. We combine data from two sources: individual interviews with a sample of 50 academic feminists, a group that has theoretical motivation to be interested in public sociology and group interviews with 15 feminists engaged in some form of public sociology. These informants tell us about two related institutional barriers to doing public sociology: the culture of professional sociology and the standards we use for evaluating scholarship. The impact of these disciplinary barriers probably varies by institution type and career stage but there is reason to suspect they generate costs not just for individuals but for the discipline. Taking steps to break down these barriers would ameliorate concerns some have raised about public sociology.     

“We have nothing to hide”: Legitimacy narratives,researcher positionality and the ethics of accessing the Dutch deportation apparatus

This article presents a reflection on the contentious access negotiations involved in researching the Dutch deportation apparatus. Previous studies described how hostility towards researchers and the opacity within migration control regimes more generally lead to difficulties for conducting academic research. This article instead relies on a self-reflexive account of two successful access negotiations to question what acquiring access tells us about the workings of migration control, and what consequences entering into a relationship with powerful actors has for academic knowledge production. I argue that granting access as such serves an important function for the deportation apparatus, as it helps to legitimise state power and assert their moral authority. By selectively facilitating access and enabling scrutiny by researchers, journalists and the wider public, I argue that the deportation apparatus strategically performs transparency and “voluntary accountability.”     

Using a model of group psychotherapy to support social research on sensitive topics

This article describes the exploratory use of professional therapeutic support by social researchers working on a sensitive topic. Talking to recently bereaved parents about the financial implications of their child’s death was expected to be demanding work, and the research design included access to an independent psychotherapeutic service. Using this kind of professional support is rare within the general social research community, and it is useful to reflect on the process. There are likely to be implications for collection and interpretation of data, research output and the role and experience of the therapist. Here, the primary focus is the potential impact on researcher well‐being.     

Work after stroke: focusing on barriers and enablers

Previous research on work after stroke has used quantitative methods and a medical model approach to identify factors that influence return to work. This study uses an inclusive, qualitative methodology (focus groups) to begin to explore stroke survivors' own perspectives about what helps and hinders paid or voluntary work after stroke. The research was conducted in partnership with Different Strokes, a British organisation of stroke survivors. Five focus group discussions were held with 37 stroke survivors and 12 of their supporters. Data was analysed using an adapted Framework approach to identify themes within and across individuals and groups. Factors representing barriers to or enablers of work were identified in four key themes: rehabilitation process, employer agency, social structural and personal. The study found evidence of social oppression via infrastructure, institutional structures and practices, and some individuals' attitudes. Alongside this, some supportive individuals, practices and strategies were identified.     

Documents as ‘risky’ sources of data: a reflection on social and emotional positioning – a research note

As units of analysis, documents are often seen as unproblematic, easily accessed sources of data. This research note discusses and reflects on a research project where documents were not easy to access and instead prompted significant negotiation, contained disturbing information and images and had an emotional impact on the researcher. A reflexive account is provided in this paper, which draws upon feminist methodological theory and explores the researcher’s experiences of using documents in research. The paper concludes that documents should not always be categorised as a low risk data source, rather issues such as access difficulties, ethical dilemmas and potential emotional harm, should also be considered.     

Staying safe: strategies for qualitative child abuse researchers

Undertaking interview‐based research with victim/survivors of child abuse can be difficult and challenging for researchers. Much has been written about the impact of research on participants, but researcher effects are less explored. This paper reviews the literature on sensitive interview‐based research and child abuse research. The theoretical underpinnings of researcher trauma are outlined and challenges identified and related to child abuse research using researcher reflections from the authors' interview‐based research with children who have been abused and young mothers who were sexually abused in childhood. Strategies and recommendations are developed to minimise child abuse researcher trauma. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sexual and Family Violence: Overcoming Barriers to Service Access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Clients

ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities typically experience a high prevalence of sexual and family violence, service responses have mostly been culturally inappropriate and ineffective. This article reports on a collaborative, participatory research project aimed at exploring barriers to service access by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients when they have been affected by sexual and family violence. The findings reveal multiple barriers to service access, including justice system deterrents, social taboo, shame, and a lack of culturally appropriate services. The article highlights the importance of recognising and addressing the complex interplay of historic, social, and cultural factors influencing service access.     

E. Digby Baltzell: Moral Rhetoric and Research Methodology

The ways in which values are assimilated to social research differ according to the theoretical frame of reference informing the research. An example from the writings of E. Digby Baltzell illustrates how a moral commitment shaped his assumptions about the nature of the social matrix and his research strategies. A Western moral rhetoric fares well if the researcher chooses a methodologically individualist framework. The framework assists a moral rhetoric by providing it with concrete rather than abstract social actors and with a basis for explanation in terms of motive rather than situational forces. Along the way moral statements can appear in the form of empirical generalizations and historical laws. Should sociologists deem ethically neutral social research desirable, this study suggests that concentration on scientific method, without exploring the value bases for selecting a frame of reference, is not a promising approach. A value analysis, especially around Weber's "value relevance," may function propaedeuticly.     

Class matters: interviewing across social class boundaries

In this paper, we explore the methodological implications of conducting qualitative interviews when researchers and participants come from different social classes. Singling out class on its own terms, rather than considering it as an auxiliary structural factor, we examine the unique challenges that arise during cross-class interviews. Such challenges, we contend, require researcher reflexivity about how researcher–participant interactions unfold and the ways in which knowledge is generated during the interview process. In our discussion, we draw on Bourdieu’s cultural view of social class to argue that cross-class dynamics between the researcher and the participant – along with the normalization of middle-class values often inherent in interview questions – create potential obstacles to establishing rapport and facilitating fertile conversation. We use examples from our own field research in a U.S. fast-food chain to illustrate these barriers. We also provide practical recommendations to researchers regarding how they can minimize class-based biases, reduce class saliency, and gain awareness of their own class positions during cross-class interviews.     

When the snowball fails to roll and the use of ‘horizontal’ networking in qualitative social research

Snowball sampling is frequently advocated and employed by qualitative social researchers. Under certain circumstances, however, it is prone to faltering and even failure. Drawing on two research projects where the snowball failed to roll, the paper identifies reasons for this stasis. It goes on to argue that there are alternative forms of networking that can be developed by the qualitative social researcher in lieu of snowballing. Specifically, when research momentum fails to build, rather than drilling down ‘vertically’ through social networks, we argue that the researcher can move ‘horizontally’ across social networks and cast the sampling and recruitment net wide and shallow rather than deep. This change in emphasis can, we argue, make the difference between a project failing and a project succeeding, and points to the importance of a variegated understanding of the social networks on which our social research depends.     

More Powerful Forces? Women,Nonviolence, and Mobilization

In this survey of studies of women's nonviolent mobilization, I scrutinize “more powerful forces,” the mobilizing forces of marginalized social actors that add to and make possible the development of broad‐based people power. The study of people power has yet to extensively consider the contribution of marginalized social actors. Specifically, I ask: (i) What do women contribute to the development of nonviolent protest power and (ii) What can we learn about mobilizing power, the power of people to protest nonviolently and gain the franchise they seek, when we expand our analytical lens to incorporate women's roles? How do we account for the gendered but often unseen actions taken by marginalized social actors? My focus on women in nonviolent mobilization stems directly from my research on gendered invisibility with an empirical focus on women's gendered socialization. Here, I review how gendered social structures shape women's power of participation and success in nonviolent mobilization.     

Hospital social work in Sweden and the UK: Access to chances of physical health and well-being

In Swedish and UK practice, interest is developing in social work's contribution to tackling service users' unequal chances and experience of physical health. This is through alleviating disadvantaged social conditions such as relative poverty which service users face and which are associated with health inequalities. Ready access to social work services is an essential preliminary if service users are to gain the material and social resources services can provide, to alleviate their adverse social circumstances and thereby improve their health prospects. However, despite hospital social work's well-established position, its significance as an access point for services has tended to be marginalized. Drawing on a comparative account of Swedish and UK practice featuring two action research projects, we explore how hospital social work is a key point of access to services for service users experiencing profound disadvantage. We analyse major barriers to such access, notably the underfunded nature of hospital social work, discriminatory procedures, and unequal professional service user power relations. Nevertheless, the action research projects show how these barriers may be breached to some degree, enabling service users as patients and carers to access resources which contribute to more equal chances of health and well-being in ill-health.     

The experiential gap in disaster research: Feminist epistemology and the contribution of local affected researchers

ABSTRACT

In this article, we make the case for a situated knowledge of disasters. By applying a feminist standpoint framework, we argue that an ethic of “objectivity” and a privileging of the unattached researcher creates an experiential gap in the disaster literature whereby researchers who themselves experience disaster are undervalued and underrepresented. We analyze reflexive accounts by disaster researchers to show what epi stemological barriers emerge from conventional processes of inquiry and the systematic disadvantaging of local, affected researchers. We also study patterns in articles by “outsider” and “insider” researchers, focusing on differences and similarities in research questions, reflexivity, relationships with and access to participants, and larger theoretical goals. This comparison reveals that the unique position of affected researchers can help to bridge formal knowledge and practical life knowledge, creating new and worthwhile paths to understanding the social effects of disaster.     

Researching religion: The vocation of the sociologist of religion

This paper reflects on the vocation or 'calling' of the researcher in the sociology of religion in the light of his experiences of researching transformations in English Catholicism in the last quarter of the twentieth century. It takes as its starting point Weber's two essays. A consideration of religious perspectives on the lay vocation leads to an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of insider research. The paper reflects on research mistakes, threats and attempts to co-opt the researcher, unexpected surprises and serendipity, and the need for the social scientist to retain control of his/her research. It concludes with inspiration from Havel that the calling of the sociological researcher is socially important and urges renewed commitment to seeking with integrity the extension of certified knowledge and the demystification of powerful institutional structures.     

Social work and applied theatre: creative experiences with a group of homeless people in the city of Seville

This article presents a series of creative social intervention experiences developed with a group of homeless people in the Spanish city of Seville. These experiences are part of an applied research project that uses theatre as a tool to aid social work, and they are led by a group of homeless people who have become actors through this initiative. The group is known as ‘Theatre of Inclusion’ and has been running for a decade now. Using group social work and applied theatre techniques, this initiative creatively exposes the needs of this collective and also generates spaces in which they can reclaim their dignity. The systematisation of these experiences highlights the potential of combining disciplines such as social work and theatre to work with vulnerable collectives, in the same way Jane Addams did. The aim is also to move beyond the dominant welfare proposals in place in Spain currently, which are intended to meet the needs of homeless people.     

Something new in old Europe?

This paper investigates whether EU research programmes have led to innovations in European social research. This is based on an assessment of a group of EU‐funded projects on the changing nature of work in Europe. EU‐funded projects have contributed to the creation of a European social space for European researchers, but at the cost of consolidating English as the lingua franca of European social research. Such projects tend to involve heterogeneous research actors and are oriented towards policy issues. To some extent they are therefore representative of a ‘Mode 2’ form of knowledge production. More clearly, they have ensured that social research about Europe is no longer simply comparative research. The new EU Sixth Framework Programme on RTD will undermine many of these achievements through its focus on conventional definitions of ‘excellence’ and the insistence on large‐scale research instruments.