This is a reflexive account of the messiness experienced by a Persian-Australian doctoral researcher interviewing social work and human service practitioners and people seeking asylum in Germany. This data collection was part of a cross-national comparative study of the impacts of policy on the experiences and perceptions of people seeking asylum and social work and human service practitioners in Bavaria and Western Australia. Through interview stories and the work of others, this article offers a first person account of the complexities, ambiguities and dilemmas that can occur before, during and after data collection, how these were navigated through the use of Finlay's (2012) five lenses for the reflexive interviewer, and some of the lessons learnt.
BergerR (2015) Now I see it, now I don’t: Researcher’s position and reflexivity in qualitative research. Qualitative Research15(2): 219–234.
2.
BermanRCTyyskäV (2011) A critical reflection on the use of translators/interpreters in a qualitative cross-language research project. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 10(2): 178–190.
3.
BlockD (2000) Problematising interview data: Voices in the mind’s machine?TESOL Quarterly34(4): 757–763.
4.
BlockKRiggsEHaslamN (2013) Values and Vulnerabilities: The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Toowong, QLD: Australian Academic Press.
5.
BodenRKenwayJEpsteinD (2005) Getting Started on Research.London, England: Sage Publications.
6.
Briskman L (2010) Nation In: Shaw I, Briar-Lawson K, Orme J and Ruckdeschel R (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Social Work Research, pp. 351–364.
7.
Clark C, Brody M, Dillon J, Hart P and Heimlich J (2007).The Messy Process of Research: Dilemmas, Process, and Critique. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 12(1): 110–126.
8.
DenzinNKLincolnYS (2018) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.
9.
EllisCBergerL (2003) Their story/my story/our story: Including the researcher's experience in interview research. In: HolsteinJAGubriumJF (eds) Inside Interviewing. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, pp. 156–183.
10.
EnglandKVL (1994) Getting personal: Reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research. The Professional Geographer46(1): 80–89.
11.
FinlayL (2002) “Outing” the researcher: The provenance, process, and practice of reflexivity. Qualitative Health Research12(4): 531–545.
12.
FinlayL (2012) Five lenses for the reflexive interviewer. In: GubriumJAHolsteinJFMarvastiAB (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft. 2nd edn.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, pp. 317–332.
13.
GaldasP (2017) Revisiting bias in qualitative research: Reflections on its relationship with funding and impact. International Journal of Qualitative Methods16(1): 160940691774899.
14.
GibbsA (2001) The changing nature and context of social work research. British Journal of Social Work31(5): 687–704.
GómezMVKuronenM (2011) Comparing local strategies and practices: Recollections from two qualitative cross-national research projects. Qualitative Research11(6): 683–697.
17.
GorskiPS (2013) What is critical realism? And why should you care?Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews42(5): 658–670.
18.
GreadyP (2014) First encounters: Early career researchers and first authorwork. Journal of Human Rights Practice6(2): 195–200.
19.
HolsteinJAGubriumJF (1995) The Active Interview.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
20.
JonesN (2014) Methods and meanings: Reflections on reflexivity and flexibility in an intercultural ethnographic study of an activist organization. Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization5: 14–43.
21.
KirmayerLJ (2013) Foreword. In: BlockKRiggsEHaslamN (eds) Values and Vulnerabilities: The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Asylum Seekers.Toowong, Qld: Australian Academic Press. pp. 5-9.
22.
KosnyAMacEachenELifshenM, et al. (2014) Another person in the room: Using interpreters during interviews with immigrant workers. Qualitative Health Research24(6): 837–845.
23.
KvaleS (1996) InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
24.
LonghoferJFloerschJ (2012) The coming crisis in social work: Some thoughts on social work and science. Research on Social Work Practice22(5): 499–519.
25.
Iosifides T (2011) Qualitative Methods in Migration Studies: A Critical Realist Perspective. Farnham, UK: Taylor & Francis Group.
26.
MannS (2011) A critical review of qualitative interviews in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics32(1): 6–24.
27.
MannS (2016) The Research Interview: Reflective Practice and Reflexivity in Research Processes. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
28.
MarmoM (2013) The ethical implications of the researcher's dominant position in cross-cultural refugee research. In: BlockKRiggsEHaslamN (eds) Values and Vulnerabilities: The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Asylum Seekers.Toowong, QLD: Australian Academic Press, pp. 85-102.
29.
MartinusKHedgcockD (2015) The methodological challenge of cross-national qualitative research: Comparative case study interviews in Australia and Japan. Qualitative Research Journal15(3): 373–386.
MoranRMohamedZLovelH (2006) Breaking the silence: Participatory research processes about health with Somali refugee people seeking asylum. In: TempleBMoranR (eds) Doing Research with Refugees: Issues and Guidelines. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
32.
NaveedASakataNKefallinouA, et al. (2017) Understanding, embracing and reflecting upon the messiness of doctoral fieldwork. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education47(5): 773–792.
33.
PhippsA (2019) A short manifesto for decolonising multilingualism. Decolonising Multilingualism: Struggles to Decreate. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
34.
RabbidgeM (2017) Embracing reflexivity: The importance of not hiding the mess. TESOL Quarterly51(4): 961–971.
35.
ReasonPRowanJ (1981) Human Inquiry: A Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research. Chichester, Eng: J. Wiley.
36.
RobertsJMSandersT (2005) Before, during and after: Realism, reflexivity and ethnography. The Sociological Review53(2): 294–313.
37.
RubinHRubinI (2004) Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data.Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
38.
Rubinstein-ÁvilaE (2013) Accounting for – and owning up to – the messiness in cross-cultural/linguistic qualitative research: Toward methodological reflexivity in South America’s internet cafés. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education26(8): 1041–1061.
39.
Sandelowski M (1993) Rigor or rigor mortis: the problem of rigor in qualitative research revisited. Advances in Nursing Science 16(2): 1–8.
40.
SmithS (2006) Encouraging the use of reflexivity in the writing up of qualitative research. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation13(5): 209–215.
WaltonRZralyMMugenganaJP (2015) Values and validity: Navigating messiness in a community-based research project in Rwanda. Technical Communication Quarterly24(1): 45–69.
