Policy Press
11 Challenging inequalities with critical biographical research methods
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Abstract
Gender inequality is endemic in our society and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all areas of life, both in Europe and beyond, rolling back on progress of recent decades (European Commission 2021: 3). Emerging evidence since the onset of the pandemic shows that this has been acutely experienced by marginalised and minority groups, compelling researchers and policy makers to critically interrogate this ‘new social architecture’ and the notion that ‘we are all in this together equally’. This chapter reflects on two research projects that took place pre-pandemic utilising critical biographical research methodologies: the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) for data collection and both the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method and the Voice Centred Relational Method (VCRM) for analysis. We discuss two of the many valuable contributions of these methods: the Participant Structured Interview in BNIM which amplifies the voice and experience of the research participant; and how the VCRM and BNIM analysis facilitates the analyses of the biographical within the structural. We assert that critical biographical methodologies can make a significant contribution to the need to understand gender-based and intersectional inequalities in pandemic and post-pandemic times.
Abstract
Gender inequality is endemic in our society and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all areas of life, both in Europe and beyond, rolling back on progress of recent decades (European Commission 2021: 3). Emerging evidence since the onset of the pandemic shows that this has been acutely experienced by marginalised and minority groups, compelling researchers and policy makers to critically interrogate this ‘new social architecture’ and the notion that ‘we are all in this together equally’. This chapter reflects on two research projects that took place pre-pandemic utilising critical biographical research methodologies: the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) for data collection and both the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method and the Voice Centred Relational Method (VCRM) for analysis. We discuss two of the many valuable contributions of these methods: the Participant Structured Interview in BNIM which amplifies the voice and experience of the research participant; and how the VCRM and BNIM analysis facilitates the analyses of the biographical within the structural. We assert that critical biographical methodologies can make a significant contribution to the need to understand gender-based and intersectional inequalities in pandemic and post-pandemic times.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series editors’ preface vii
- List of figures x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xvii
- Overview: Theorising the new social futures through the lens of the past 1
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Facing the new turn in biographical research: methodological adaptations to the new social context
- Creative applications of biographical research: time–space interactions in walking biographical methods 7
- Touching from a distance: gaining intimacy with research participants during the COVID-19 pandemic 30
- Collaborative (auto)ethnography for researching (in) new social contexts: reflections from COVID-19 lockdown times in Europe 49
- Technological mediation of biographical research and its risks 66
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Creative, interdisciplinary and comparative approaches
- Walking new horizons for critically reflexive pedagogy and research 89
- The ‘new normal’ for oral history? Challenge and opportunities of interviewing during the global pandemic and its aftermath 106
- Relations between biographical dispositions and teaching strategies of computer science teachers during lockdown: application of triangulation in biographical research 124
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The multidimensionality of vulnerability and risk in biographical research: ethics, vulnerabilities and trauma
- Reframing focus groups as deep collective and (sometimes) collaborative conversations: biographical vulnerabilities, anti-racist East and Southeast Asian solidarities and protective silences 141
- Revising the researcher’s ‘borders’: the narrator demands expansion of the researcher’s ‘presence’ in storytelling 162
- Research opportunities and challenges during COVID-19: the case of volunteer firefighters 180
- Challenging inequalities with critical biographical research methods 196
- Epilogue: Biographical futures: responding to the new challenges 215
- Index 220
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series editors’ preface vii
- List of figures x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xvii
- Overview: Theorising the new social futures through the lens of the past 1
-
Facing the new turn in biographical research: methodological adaptations to the new social context
- Creative applications of biographical research: time–space interactions in walking biographical methods 7
- Touching from a distance: gaining intimacy with research participants during the COVID-19 pandemic 30
- Collaborative (auto)ethnography for researching (in) new social contexts: reflections from COVID-19 lockdown times in Europe 49
- Technological mediation of biographical research and its risks 66
-
Creative, interdisciplinary and comparative approaches
- Walking new horizons for critically reflexive pedagogy and research 89
- The ‘new normal’ for oral history? Challenge and opportunities of interviewing during the global pandemic and its aftermath 106
- Relations between biographical dispositions and teaching strategies of computer science teachers during lockdown: application of triangulation in biographical research 124
-
The multidimensionality of vulnerability and risk in biographical research: ethics, vulnerabilities and trauma
- Reframing focus groups as deep collective and (sometimes) collaborative conversations: biographical vulnerabilities, anti-racist East and Southeast Asian solidarities and protective silences 141
- Revising the researcher’s ‘borders’: the narrator demands expansion of the researcher’s ‘presence’ in storytelling 162
- Research opportunities and challenges during COVID-19: the case of volunteer firefighters 180
- Challenging inequalities with critical biographical research methods 196
- Epilogue: Biographical futures: responding to the new challenges 215
- Index 220
