ERIC Number: EJ1189879
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1364-5579
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Available Date: N/A
Reverse Interviewing: A White Adoptive Mother Engaging with Black Birth Mothers and Vice Versa
Högbacka, Riitta
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, v20 n6 p681-692 2017
Researcher reflexivity, meaning the revealing of the researcher's assumptions and her position vis-à-vis those researched, has by now become commonplace. This article explores such issues in the context of a larger study of transnational adoption for which I conducted interviews with South African birth mothers as both a researcher/interviewer and an adoptive mother. Instead of seeking to eliminate researcher bias, I propose using it as data that could reveal novel aspects of the phenomenon under study. This article specifically explores the use of reverse interviewing, which in this case meant disclosing my double positionality and inviting the interviewees to ask me questions. It is not a matter of merely extracting information: the technique allows participants to air their concerns, and facilitates investigation of the researcher's reactions to them. All this, in turn, carries implications with regard to how the study area is conceptualised.
Descriptors: Reflection, Mothers, Adoption, Research Methodology, Interviews, Researchers, Foreign Countries, Blacks, Whites, International Programs, Geographic Location, Power Structure, Parent Child Relationship, Racial Identification, Cultural Influences, Racial Bias
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
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