voi Cesknowledge about the baleful effects of globalized injustice. artists who hold the position
that they should develop their practice by learning, for example, from young children
or from communities they are working with, expect and then discover that this is what
happens. a similar effect can be seen in performers researching performances in which
they have invested enthusiasm, time and resources.
i argue to the contrary. The call for value neutrality begs the question whether it is
possible to be a value- neutral observer. like many others, i take the position that it is
impossible to research any human context disinterestedly (griffiths 1998). There is no
‘god’s eye view’ (haraway 1991) or ‘view from nowhere’ (nagel 1989). Researchers
not only take political and ethical stances, but, being human beings, they also inhabit
them and are not fully aware of them. only when political and moral positions are
acknowledged or exhibited can strategies be found to enable the outcomes to be judged
rigorous or otherwise. such strategies do not entail that it is better to be an outsider
than a participant researcher.
The second assumption, ‘personal human relations interfere with judgements’, is as
unwarranted as the first. We all learn to make judgements, including academic ones,
within human relationships. indeed, only if we understand the meanings and nuances
of a human situation, can we be in a position to assess it at all. it is not necessary to be
a participant, but in some cases being a participant is the only way to understand some
of the subtleties of a research context. Working as a participant in research can help in
other ways too. Bridges says:
simply, some social conditions and relationships are more likely than
others to enable people to be open and honest about their experience, their
perceptions and their feelings – and hence to enable them to contribute
to a fuller and more truthful understanding of that situation. hence, if
researchers allow their work to be governed by principles which support
those sort of social conditions and relationships, they will be able to produce
better research.
(Bridges 2003)Further, when the researcher is part of the context, or a focus of the research, as in
autoethnography or some reflective practices, he or she is the only one with access to
some of the knowledge required.
participant research is not only an epistemological issue. it is also an ethical one
because it is about human relationships and how one person involves another person
in their projects. outsider research may be research ‘on’ or research ‘for’ others. This is
something done to a person by another person, though in the latter case it is intended
altruistically. in both cases there is a human relationship created, whether or not this
is recognized by the researcher. subjects of outsider research notice their position and
its relative powerlessness. They may accept this. or they may resent it and find ways
to sabotage or subvert the research. participant research may be research ‘for’ but it
may also be research ‘with’ the subjects of the research and it may be research ‘as’ the
subject of the research. in the last of these, the relationship is one of a self to his or her
own self and immediate personal circle.