Abstract:
Until quite recently the dominant 'scientific' view of social research located the researcher outside the research context. Inherent within this research approach is the supposed stance of neutrality, impartiality and detachment on the part of the researcher, who invariably becomes a disinterested, disembodied and disembedded observer (Usher, 1996). Postmodern approaches to research have challenged positivist research methodologies and its clear distinction between the subjective knower and the objective world as the privileged model of investigation. By contrast, postmodernism posits the researcher as centrally and socially located within the research context. Rather than suspend our researcher subjectivities, postmodernism invites the researcher to become explicit within the research process, and encourages us to identify our subjectivities as a starting point for acquiring knowledge.
This article is a reflective critique of the process within a study into place pedagogies in school garden contexts. It highlights the researcher's initial position of detachment, and her transition towards a more critical and central positioning within the research. The first part of the paper focuses on the background to the study and emphasises the developing relationships between the research participants (three gardening teachers) and the researcher. The paper draws on specific feminist writings and critiques which have contributed to the disruption of dominant positivist research approaches, and explores how the researcher begins to make sense of her 'multiple identities' within the research. Finally, the paper speaks to the significance of how these identities generate 'other' ways of making knowledge in the research process.
This article is a reflective critique of the process within a study into place pedagogies in school garden contexts. It highlights the researcher's initial position of detachment, and her transition towards a more critical and central positioning within the research. The first part of the paper focuses on the background to the study and emphasises the developing relationships between the research participants (three gardening teachers) and the researcher. The paper draws on specific feminist writings and critiques which have contributed to the disruption of dominant positivist research approaches, and explores how the researcher begins to make sense of her 'multiple identities' within the research. Finally, the paper speaks to the significance of how these identities generate 'other' ways of making knowledge in the research process.