Abstract:
Being an insider-outsider researcher is difficult as there are multiple roles to play all at one time and related issues become a methodological and ethical concern. The researcher is situated both inside and outside of a research project at one time; meaning that as well as being a researcher outside yet looking into the research, the researcher may be researched as well as researching. Or, the researcher may develop relationships with co-participants on a peer level as well as develop a researcher-participant relationship. The experience of an insider-outsider researcher will be explored through the lens of a researcher carrying out an action research project investigating the realm of teacher emotional work (the emotion involved in the practice of teaching), within a school setting. While research supervision is most useful to the conduct of research, there are limitations to the supervisor-researcher relationship, for example, thoroughly supporting in the management of the relationship between researcher and research participants or research sites. Outside of the supervisor-researcher relationship, who can offer this support? A fieldwork supervisor was employed to guide in issues arising from the social interactions within the research project. The fieldwork supervisor’s role was modelled on the supervision model from the social work profession. Throughout data collection the researcher and fieldwork supervisor met regularly and this additional supervisory relationship allowed the research to unfold in ways that it may not have otherwise. Feelings of fear, deficiency and confusion could have easily prevented progress and feelings that accompanied growing relationships with research participants may have clouded what should have been visible. In essence, the fieldwork supervisor relationship strengthened researcher reflexivity, which is paramount to the rigour and ethicality of any qualitative research.