Some readings this week implicate the role of emotion in meaning-making. Citing research, discuss whether emotion can be or should be eliminated in data analysis.

In Bawa (2017), “As a learner, I have always been driven by feelings that I like to think of as “learning emotions” (p. 3). “I discuss my experiences through emotional lenses” (p. 3). “What emotions influence novice learners’ meaning-making process” (p. 3)? “Literature supports the value of emotions in teaching and learning” (p. 3). “Emotions are critical to the teaching and learning process, as they affect how a learner decides to study” (p. 3). Bawa continues to say her emotions are potent forces that enhance academic and self-learning, and she suggests they define who we are and who we become. But just because emotions are a necessity in teaching and learning, are they just as valuable in academic research? Bawa (2017) concludes by stating, “This study provided evidence, supporting the broaden-and-build theory, which states that over time, recurrent experiences of positive emotions allow people to build a cache of personal resources” (p. 35).  As a learner, I was sold long ago to use my emotions to motivate my learning. This article seemed to identify the process of meaning-making, although I feel it failed to answer whether emotions can or should be eliminated in data analysis.

Reid et al. (2017) state, “As critical social researchers, we take the position that the researcher should not shy away from experience being studied. It is a bias – a bias that needs to be accounted for and made visible. It is normally the covert biases that are harmful to research” (p. 8). The question of my biases and examining the values and principles that underpin my research should be carefully reviewed along with my worldview – ontologically, epistemologically, and methodologically. I know that making systematic research choices will present many challenges, but these are far more important than my emotions.

My qualitative research will incur multiple methods, including interviewing participants grounded in lived experiences, naturalistic, and evolving. My social interaction with participants will attribute to these interactions. In policing, emotions are used extensively during the interview process. I will be practicing an active approach to my interviewing, questioning and challenging the respondents’ answers. I will be applying empathy and emotional interaction to obtain significant and further knowledge and interpretation of my research question. In recent feminist qualitative research, there is emphasis on the knowledge potentials of feelings, empathy, and the personal dimension in human interaction, including research interviews (Ellis & Berger, 2003).

My positionality with my participants will do nothing but broaden my understanding of them and their responses during the interview. Because my participants will have emotions and feelings, I will reflect the same. However, the data I secure will not be gathered to fit into my paradigms. I will check back and sensitively discuss interpretive authority issues because similar to myself, some of my participants would have been exploited, bullied, or harassed throughout their policing careers. Patton (2014) describes autoethnography as a process where researchers apply their personal experiences to the culture they are studying. From my research, I see no reason not to involve my emotions as well.

References

Bawa, P. (2017). Making sense of making meaning, the semiotic way: Emotional journey of a novice       learner. The Qualitative Report, 22(1), 73–104. https://search-proquest- com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/docview/1867930764?accountid=142373

Ellis, C, Berger, L. (2003). Their story/my story/our story: Including the researcher’s experience in           interview research. In J.A. Holstein & J.F. Gubrium (Eds.), Inside Interviewing: New lenses, new       concerns (pp. 467-493). Sage.

Patton, M. (2014). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Sage.

Reid, C., Greaves, L., & Kirby, S. (2017). Experience, research, social change: Critical methods (3rd        ed.). University of Toronto Press.