School of Social and Political Science

Description

This webinar forms part of the Research Training Centre's Talking Methods seminar series delivered in association with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS).

Abstract

Despite using qualitative methods for many years, I had the recent experience of receiving critical reviewer comments that made me question my assumptions about the meaning of the data that I tend to generate in my research. This presentation uses data from two research projects, focused on inequalities and injustice, to illustrate and explore the analytical challenges of doing justice to one’s data. The projects used are: an exploration of how the determinants of health are understood in two deindustrialised communities; and, a study of women (who have experienced domestic abuse) talking about their interactions with general practitioners.

I set out the concept of data as ‘atrocity story’, a term used in the medical sociology literature to indicate an undue emphasis on participant’s stories as some kind of factual account. Using real data, I then counter this critique with the opposite dangers of treating data as primarily performative and a type of fiction. Finally, through a reflection on my own practice, I set out a series of questions that I think it is useful for qualitative researchers to ask of their work. These include:

• What do you expect your data to do and for whom?
• What methodological, analytical, ethical considerations are involved in these expectations?
• How, practically speaking, might you achieve critical balance between treating data as atrocity story and as fiction?
• What are the markers of that balance within qualitative accounts?

Biography

Mhairi Mackenzie is Professor of Public Policy in Urban Studies which sits within the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. She is also the Depute Director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science with responsibility for studentships. Her research is focused on health inequalities and in understanding different public(s) discourses about the political and social determinants of health. She is also interested in applying concepts derived from the health inequalities literature to understanding the experiences of domestic abuse victim-survivors as they seek help from public services.