'Thanks, but no thanks': Ethnographic Fieldwork and the Experience of Rejection from a New Religious Movement
Issue: Vol 10 No. 2 (2015)
Journal: Fieldwork in Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Linguistics
Abstract:
Rarely do researchers publicly divulge their experiences of failure and rejection during fieldwork. Negotiations for access with members of new religious movements (NRMs) can be particularly fraught, especially for new researchers, who are embarking on a rite of passage with their first fieldwork experience. This article offers the author’s experience of participant refusal during her doctoral research on a NRM in Australia in 2009, focused on the group’s home birth practices. It provides an analysis of the methodological literature on access, rapport and the importance of a reflexive approach to one’s positionality, and addresses the lack of scholarship on fieldwork rejection and failure. By engaging with the experience of rejection, this article argues that rather than a mere lack of rapport, it was the complex social and political context of the group, compounded by the politically charged topic of home birth, that generated the decline to participate. Using this experience as an example, this article argues that rather than embarrassment and shame, rejection and failure form part of the “non-data” of research practice, offering methodological and epistemological insights that come from a critical engagement with such experiences.
Author: Emily Burns
References :
lesheet" type="text/css" />
Amit, V. (ed.)
2000 Constructing the Field: Ethnographic Fieldwork in the Contemporary World. Routledge, London and New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203450789
1990 Religious Movements and “Brainwashing” Litigation: Evaluating Key Testimony. In In Gods We Trust, edited by T. Robbins and D. Anthony, 2nd ed., 295–344. Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ.
1990 “They Must Be Crazy”: Some of the Difficulties in Researching “Cults.” American Behavioral Scientist, 33(5): 562–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764290033005005
2010 Misconceptions of the Religious “Other”: The Importance for Human Rights of Objective and Balanced Knowledge. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 1(1): 5–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v1i1.5
1965 Review of “Sociologists at Work.” American Sociological Review, 30: 602–603. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2091355
1996 The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart. Beacon Press, Boston, MA.
2001 Inside out: Narrative Autoethnography as a Path toward Rapport. Qualitative Enquiry, 7(4): 504–518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107780040100700407
1969 The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Doubleday, Garden City, NY.
2009 Dying to give a natural birth. Herald Sun – Blog. April 10. http://blogs.news.com.
au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_
dying_to_give_a_natural_birth/
2012 How Did I Get Here? The Social Process of Accessing Field Sites. Qualitative Research, 13(5): 578–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794112442524
2012 Social Research Methods. University of Oxford Press, Oxford.
Campbell, L., N. Gray, Z. Meletis, J. Abbot and J. Silver
2006 Gatekeepers and Keymasters: Dynamic Relationships of Access in Geographical
Fieldwork. Geographical Review, 96(1): 97–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1931–
0846.2006.tb00389.x
1999 The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity. Sage, London.
2009 A Home Birth is Not a Safe Birth. Sydney Morning Herald, April 9. http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/a-home-birth-is-not-a-safe-birth-20090408–a0s3.html
Dickson-Swift, V., E. L. James and P. Liamputtong (eds)
2008 Undertaking Sensitive Research in the Health and Social Sciences: Managing Boundaries, Emotions and Risks. Cambridge University Press, New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545481
2008 Home-birth Baby Dies. Sydney Morning Herald, September 14. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/homebirth-baby-dies/2008/09/13/1220857899000.html
2002 “Doing Rapport” and the Ethics of “Faking Friendship.” In Ethics in Qualitative Research, edited by M. B. Melanie, L. Mauthner, Julie Jessop and Tina Miller, 107–122. Sage, London.
2010 With a Little Sunshine, Home Birth Rate is Due to Expand. The Age, March 22. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/with-a-little-sunshine-home-birth-rate-is-due-to-expand-20100612–y4rx.html
2002 Qualitative Analysis: Practice and Innovation. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.
2004 Religious Ethnography: Practising the Witch’s Craft. In Researching Paganism, edited by J. Blain, D. Ezzy and G. Harvey, 113–28. Alta Mira Press, Lanham, CA.
Feldman, M. S., J. Bell and M. T. Berger
2003 Gaining Access: A Practical and Theoretical Guide for Qualitative Researchers. Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
2014 Five Stories of Accidental Ethnography: Turning Unplanned Moments in the Field into Data. Qualitative Research, 15(4): 525–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/
1468794114548945
2014 Walking the Fine Line between Research Success and Failure: Advice for New Ethnographers. Journal of Research Practice, 10(1). http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/442/349
2005 Closed Worlds: (Not) Accessing Deobandi dar ul-uloom in Britain. Fieldwork in Religion, 1(1): 7–33.
1989 Rapport and Friendship in Ethnographic Research. Qualitative Studies in Education, 2(1): 45–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0951839890020105
2008 Doing Ethnography. Sage, London.
1991 Getting Close by Staying Distant: Fieldwork with Proselytizing Groups. Qualitative Sociology, 10(3): 267–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00988990
1987 Feminism and Methodology. Open University Press, Milton Keynes.
2003 The Social Psychology of Access in Ethnographical Research. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 32(5): 592–625. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891241603255677
1992 Communication, Rapport, and the Interview: The Social Perspective. Communication Theory, 2(2): 148–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468–2885.1992.tb00034.x
2011 Gatekeeping: An Ongoing Adventure in Research. Field Methods, 23(1): 57–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X10383388
2003 Covert Participant Observation of a Deviant Community: Justifying the Use of Deception. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 18(2): 185–96. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1080/1353790032000067518
2009 Joyous Birth Advocate’s Childbirth Death Tragedy. The Daily Telegraph, April 6.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/joyous-birth-advocates-child-birth-death-tragedy/story-e6freuy9–1225694610168
2007 Researching the Vulnerable: A Guide to Sensitive Research Methods. Sage, London.
2009 You Got it, So When Do you Flaunt it? Building Rapport, Intersectionality, and the Strategic Deployment of Gender in the Field. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38(3): 358–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891241608330456
McKinley Brayboy, B., and D. Deyhle
2000 Insider-Outsider: Researchers in American Indian Communities. Theory into Practice, 39(3): 163–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3903_7
1986 Research Interviewing: Context and Narrative. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.
Mose Brown, T., and E. M. De Casanova
2009 Mothers in the Field: How Motherhood Shapes Fieldwork and Researcher-Subject Relations. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 37(3/4): 42–57.
2010 Midwifery Directions: The Australian Maternity Services Review. Health Sociology Review, 19(2): 245–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/hesr.2010.19.2.245
1981 Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms. In Doing Feminist Research, edited by H. Roberts, 30–61. Routledge, New York.
1994 Feminisms and Models of Qualitative Research. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln, 158–74. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
2009 Planned Homebirth in Australia: Art, Science... or Politics? Obstetrics and Gynaecology Magazine, 11(4): 29–30.
1984 Odd Man out: The Participant Observer in an Absolutist Setting. Sociology of Education, 57 (October): 254–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2112429
2006 Methodological Atheism, Methodological Agnosticism and Religious Experience. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 36(1): 57–75. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1111/j.1468–5914.2006.00296.x
Reeves, C. L.
2010 A Difficult Negotiation: Fieldwork Relations with Gatekeepers. Qualitative Research, 10(3): 315–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794109360150
2009 Exploring Participant-centred Reflexivity in the Research Interview. Sociology, 43(2): 356–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038508101170
1991 Experiencing Research on New Religions and Cults, Practical and Ethical Considerations. In Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research, edited by W. B. Shaffir and R. A. Stebbins, 62–71. Sage, London. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483325514.n5
Richardon, J. T., R. Balch and J. G. Melton
1993 Problems of Research Data in the Study of New Religions. In Religion and the Social Order, edited by D. G. Bromley and J. K. Hadden, 213–28. Jai Press, Connecticut and London.
1991 Reflexivity and Objectivity in the Study of Controversial New Religions. Religion, 21: 305–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0048–721X(91)90034–N
Richardson, J. T., M. W. Stewart and R. B. Simmonds
1978 Researching a Fundamentalist Commune. In Understanding the New Religions, edited byJ. Needleman and G. Baker, 235–51. Seabury Press, New York.
1981 Doing Feminist Research. Routledge, London and New York.
2009 Power Relations at Play in Fieldwork: Researching Spiritism in Brazil. Fieldwork in Religion, 3(2): 145–60.
Rossman, G. B., and S. F. Rallis
2012 Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Sage, London.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
2014 Home Births. http://www.ranzcog.edu.au/documents/doc_view/2051–home-births-c-obs-2.html
1979 Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14661380022230660
2000 Ire in Ireland. Ethnography, 1(1): 117–40.
1995 A Postmodernist Critique of Research Interviewing. Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(3): 239–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0951839950080303
1997 Research Method in the Postmodern. RoutledgeFalmer, Philadelphia.
1991 Managing a Convincing Self-presentation. In Experiencing Fieldwork: A Inside View of Qualitative Research, edited by W. Shaffir and R. Stebbins, 72–82. Sage, Newbury Park, CA. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483325514.n6
Shaffir, W. B., and R. A. Stebbins
1991 Introduction. In Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research, edited by W. B. Shaffir and R. A. Stebbins, 1–25. Sage, London. http://dx.doi.org/
10.4135/9781483325514
2001 The Ambiguity of Boundaries in the Fieldwork Experience: Establishing Rapport and Negotiating Insider/Outsider Status. Qualitative Enquiry, 7: 436–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107780040100700403
2014 Old Fieldwork, New Ethnography: Taking the Stories out of the Bag. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(5): 699–708. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077800413513729
Wallis, R.
1973 Religious Sects and the Fear of Bad Publicity. New Society, 7 (June): 545–47.
2008 Getting Past the Gatekeepers: Differences between Access and Cooperation in Public School Research. Field Methods, 20(2): 191–208. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1177/1525822X07313811
Wilkes, E., B. Teakle and J. Gamble
2009 Medicare Rebates for Midwives: An Analysis of the 2009/2010 Federal Budget. Women and Birth, 22: 79–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2009.07.001
2010 Hunter Rally for Birth Choice. The Herald, February 18. http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/hunter-rally-for-birth-choice/1754102.aspx