Module 3 Assignment 1

The Role of the Qualitative Researcher

In most qualitative research studies, the participants and the researcher come face-to-face. The very presence of the researcher changes the research setting in ways often unknown. Therefore, when researchers engage in naturalistic inquiries, it is important that they be able to identify their positions, worldviews, and biases in an attempt to bracket these out during data analysis. The knowledge created by the knower reflects both subjectivity and objectivity related to a phenomenon.

In this regard, the autobiographies, cultures, and historical contexts of researchers matter a great deal in qualitative research because these determine what the researchers will pay attention to and what they will disregard as they attempt to analyze data and construct knowledge. A participant's social structure is based partially on relations of race, social class, and gender, which frame what we see and view as significant. As researchers, it is important for us to recognize ways in which social location produces subjectivity and influences the construction of knowledge.

Read the following article: Qualitative Health Research