Session Information
19 SES 05 A, Parallel Paper Session 5A
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper contributes to the discussion on the methodic strengths and opportunities of the ethnographic (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007) and narrative (Spector-Mersel, 2010) approaches applied in intervention research. We address the methodic dilemmas which arise from a multilevel intervention research programme which aims to promote professional agency in education and health care work. The Proagent research project has double purposes: (i) to develop an intervention programme, and through the implementation of this programme, (ii) to investigate the nature and manifestations of professional agency (Eteläpelto et al., 2012). Our theoretical backgroundcan be characterised as subject-centred socio-cultural approach. We understand that professional agency is practised as a professional subject and/or communities exert influence, make choices and take stances in ways that affect their work and/or their professional identities. The socio-cultural context—with its material circumstances and physical artifacts, power relations, work cultures and dominant discourses of the workplace—acts as a resource and a constraint in the practice of professional agency. We further assume that professional agency is closely intertwined with professionals’ work related identities (e.g. comprising their professional and ethical commitments, ideals, motivations and interests, professional knowledge and competences), and subjects’ work histories. Based on such a conception of agency, we expect that to enhance work-related learning, we need to provide a collective space and support for shaping and re-negotiating professional identities.
The interventions aim to make a difference at the individual, community and organisational levels by promoting professional agency. The intervention research was conducted using a combination of ethnographic and narrative approaches. An ethnographic approach means a focus on and collection of data from the socio-cultural context, interaction and processes, for example, through observations. Through a narrative framework, we gain information on professional identities with individual backgrounds and histories, mainly through interviews. Apparently, ethnography and narrative approaches have quite different conceptions of truth (Patton, 2002). However, we argue that these are not in conflict. In fact, both are needed if we wish to exert an influence on promoting professional agency at work. In researching professional agency, both individual reasoning and sense-making through telling and observable actions in authentic contexts should be included (Ahearn, 2001).
In this paper, we ask what the methodic opportunities and challenges are in terms of researchers’ multiple positions in combining ethnographic and narrative approaches in intervention research. The focus here is on the research positions from the viewpoints of the aims of the research, nature of knowledge and knowing, ethical issues, analysis of the research data, the quality and credibility of the findings, and the reporting.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ahearn, L. M. (2001). Language and agency. Annual Review of Anthropology, 30(1), 109–137. Eteläpelto, A., Collin, K., Herranen, S., Hökkä, P., Mahlakaarto, S., Paloniemi, S., & Vähäsantanen, K. (2012). PROAGENT – Promoting professional agency in education and health care work. Poster presented at the ECER 2012 Conference. Cadiz, Spain, 19.9.2012. Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography. Principles in practice (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). London: Sage. Spector-Mersel, G. (2010). Narrative research. Time for a paradigm. Narrative Inquiry, 20(1), 204–224.
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