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Perspektiven qualitativen Forschens – zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

 

KKC-IPU event series in the summer semester at the IPU Berlin

 

Qualitative research promises a lot: an in-depth examination of psychosocial realities and dynamics, the opening up of differentiated perspectives on complex phenomena, the recognition of the “lived experience” of research partners, the systematic consideration of research subjectivity(ies), the discursive representation of marginalized groups, and the contribution of research to social change and social justice.

 

How do we meet the epistemological and methodological requirements that come with this in our research practice? Implementing programmatic demands for “strong reflexivity” and the greater inclusion of emotions and affects is proving to be tricky. Participatory and transdisciplinary approaches bring with them demands on the established research discourse that are met with resistance. Working in interpretation groups is often seen as a means of methodological control—whereby the associated assumptions of democratization of knowledge production and the collaborative generation of multiperspectival and thus “better” knowledge often remain unreflected. In politically, emotionally, and normatively charged fields of research (not least those surrounding trauma, hegemony, and violence), methodologically and ethically challenging ideas about how to deal with vulnerability, recognition, memory, and testimony in qualitative research settings also come into play.

 

In this joint event series organized by IPU and KKC, we will address the question of how these methodological requirements are dealt with in concrete research practice, how we as researchers grapple with them (and how we can fail in doing so). Using paradigmatic project examples, we will reflect on methodological foundations as well as the associated scope for practical research design and the many areas of tension. We invite you to join us in a discussion about the perspectives that are opening up for our qualitative research community.

Program

Prof. Phil Langer (Internationale Psychoanalytische Universität Berlin): It is professional to have feelings – but it is anything but easy to conduct productive research with affects and emotions.

 

The affects and emotions of researchers are a constitutive part of their research activities and constitute a valuable source of data for various traditions of qualitative social research.

Based on this fundamental conviction, which can be summarized as “strong reflexivity,” I will develop further ideas on how to deal with affect and emotion in qualitative research in a way that is productive for knowledge. These ideas were developed together with my colleagues Andrea Ploder and Angela Kühner. The relationship between strong reflexivity, vulnerable researchers, and “academic kindness,” through which qualitative research always becomes a place of subjectivation, will be discussed. Because strongly reflexive research makes the relevance of research relationships particularly visible, the lecture will also explore perspectives for a relational research ethics and an engaging university teaching that is oriented toward the epistemic potential of researching subjectivity.

 

Location: IPU Berlin, Stromstr. 2, Lecture Hall 1

Zoom:  https://ipuberlin.zoom-x.de/j/67891615322

Meeting-ID: 678 9161 5322 | Kenncode: 194448

Dr. des. Constanze Oth (Johann-Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main):  “The confusion remains, and there is no solution.” On the claims of interpretation groups and what remains of them for more democratic and better knowledge production in reality

 

Evaluating qualitative data in interpretation groups and research workshops has become a quality standard in qualitative research. However, we still know remarkably little about what actually happens in such groups. In this lecture, I would like to provide an insight into the theory and practice of group interpretation and examine its self-image on the one hand and its contradictions on the other. Currently, the quality argument of better knowledge has come to the fore over the democratization of knowledge and the rejection of the myth of male genius. Together, I would like to discuss the challenges associated with this development for collective knowledge practice and the extent to which the concepts of acting and doing (Alice Pechriggl) can prove helpful in answering the question of how we actually want to produce knowledge together.



Zoom:  https://ipuberlin.zoom-x.de/j/67891615322

Meeting-ID: 678 9161 5322 | Kenncode: 194448

 

Prof. Dr. Carol Kidron (University of Haifa, Israel): Qualitative research in the context of trauma and commemoration

 

This talk presents a self-reflexive and self-critical account of the author's methodological and moral dilemmas when undertaking qualitative research on second and third generation Holocaust descendant memory contextualized within the Israeli commemorative landscape. Focusing on my epistemological, ideological and methodological interpretive lens, I explore the way my three scholarly trajectories were shaped by: critical constructivism and hegemony theory; critical perspectives on trauma theory and pathologization; and my personal positioning as Holocaust descendant protective of survivor family silence and authenticity. I also consider the methodological challenges of accessing data on the predominantly silent embodied and emotive experience of transmitted Holocaust legacies and the no less problematic challenge of accessing the lived childhood experience of the now adult descendants, adults whose current experience has been framed for decades by the national socio-cultural narratives of Holocaust and post-Holocaust memory. Implications are raised pertaining to the politics of memory and memory scholarship and the way the politics of memory is forever entangled with formative ideological, emotive moral missionswhile data collection and analysis is forever grappling with issues of methodological reliability and validity. Moving beyond the micro case study of Israeli politics of memory to broader epistemological and ethical questions, the talk problematizes the way subjective moralistic scholarly and personal positions shape our analytical lens. 


Location:  RUB Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, GD E1/338

Zoom:  https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom-x.de/j/65390739660?pwd=eLBiXVLnxNoEWkklKO4WTub1TAlOHV.1

Meeting-ID: 653 9073 9660 | Kenncode: 628723

 

Dr. Ines Gottschalk (Ruhr-Universität Bochum): Healing storytelling and testimony in the context of qualitative research: What can qualitative research achieve (and not achieve) in comparison to therapeutic settings?

 

Narrative-biographical interviews can be used to collect and reconstruct life stories, including crises and transformations. The narratives generated in this way are also believed to have a healing potential for the interviewees. Especially when interviewees have experienced suffering such as violence and trauma, the interview setting can also be understood from a normative perspective as a place of testimony and recognition. The interviewer then takes on the role of the significant other, who bears witness not only to painful experiences, but also to moments of resilience and resistance. This applies to the selection of the research design and the interview partners, the momentum of the interview itself, and the evaluation of the data and presentation of the results. In all these moments, qualitative research can be understood as a practice of testimony and recognition. I argue that the vulnerability inherent in this carries with it not only healing potential but also the risk of overwhelming the participants. Accordingly, I will discuss not only the possibilities but also the requirements and limitations of qualitative (biographical) research as practices of recognition and testimony, drawing comparisons with therapeutic settings.


Location:  RUB Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, GD E1/338

Zoom: https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom-x.de/j/64201948160?pwd=jCKYnVoTg1uitOHWCtGf4j0WJjMyVT.1

Meeting-ID: 642 0194 8160 | Kenncode: 379517

Organized by: Dr. Ines Gottschalk, KKC (ines.gottschalk@rub.de) and Prof. Phil Langer, IPU (phil.langer@ipu-berlin.de)