Framing participant and analyst roles in research

This brief comment or observation turns on questions and issues surrounding the production of research material, the data derived from that material and the subsequent interpretation of the data – particularly in the social sciences. Here, I want to lay out a framework for considering some of the interdependencies involved which have arisen from certain puzzles I’ve encountered when analysing data from a longitudinal case-study I carried out with one of my children (see e.g., Forrester, 2008). Over time this has germinated into an outline sketch or framework for highlighting important implications for research practices when carrying out studies of everyday social interaction. In this instance, I’m particularly interested in research contexts that involve ‘insider participation’, i.e., where the researcher/analyst is also a participant in the context being studied. This raises some interesting questions regarding data collection, identification of material, transcription, and subsequent interpretation and analysis. I should say at the outset that the qualitative method of choice in my research is best described as ethnomethodologically-informed CA (CA&E).