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Skulking and spying then telling tales

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 16:13 authored by Hazel R. Wright
I share a different way of writing about research by doing and discussing it. First, the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic forced me to adapt my methods of researching, to catch snippets of data when and where I could, by email, phone, and family chats and then by observing and eavesdropping on passers-by on my daily walks in rural England. Then, to protect identities I adapted my way of writing, crafting partly fictionalised composite stories. I use my short vignettes, Living in Lockdown, to show how I wrote as ‘others’, and changed roles to fully examine my processes-in-action. Writing narratively and ‘telling’ stories to engage my audience, led me to parallels within the theatrical tradition, especially the Method Acting approach of Stella Adler. I also found that the archetypal figure of the flâneur (particularly as conceived by Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin) provided a conceptual framework for my walking/watching practices. He, too, simply wandered, seeing what there was to see, but usually in a city. I use these frameworks to reflect on my own work, drawing on parallel methodologies to show how it constitutes research, and explore the role that writing plays overall.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

8

Issue number

1

Page range

110-136

Publication title

Qualitative Studies

ISSN

1903-7031

Publisher

Royal Danish Library

File version

  • Published version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2023-05-05

Legacy creation date

2023-05-05

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine & Social Care

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