An important aspect of the voice-centered relational method of data analysis is the concept of reflexivity. Reflexivity is a process of reflecting on how ones personal qualities and assumptions may impact on various aspects of the research process (Doucet & Mauthner, n.d). Once these
elements have been recognized, the researcher needs to find a way to accommodate the impact that he or she has had on the research process, for example, by making it explicit. The
researcher's unique characteristics may affect the process of data collection by shaping the direction that the interviews take. By virtue of such things as personality, personal characteristics and beliefs; as well as theoretical inclinations and assumptions, individual researchers will ask unique questions and respond to the interviewees in unique ways that would probably not be replicated by another researcher. This unique interaction will partially determine the nature and content of the data that is collected. It is assumed that these same issues will impact on the process of data analysis. That is, that the way individual researchers interpret the data will be colored by the lenses through which they examine the data. The particular lenses they use are framed by the unique combination of their personal characteristics and theoretical assumptions.
Given the impact of the researcher on the research, and in the interests of transparency, a discussion of the personal position of the researcher is warranted.
Perhaps a reflexive discussion should start by outlining and thus making evident for the reader, the personal characteristics of the researcher. I am a young, white woman with a much younger transracially adopted sister. I therefore had a personal interest in this issue. Due to the small- town nature of the context in which this research took place, the fact that I had a transracially adopted sister was known to some of the participants in this research. Where they did not already know, I told them. My reason for doing this was two-fold. Firstly, I required openness and
honesty from my participants and I therefore felt that a certain level of openness and honesty was required from me. Secondly, I felt that it increased my credibility as someone who was genuinely interested in their experiences, and distinguished me from someone who was merely interested in them in a voyeuristic-type fashion. I feel that my personal experience with transracial adoption helped me to establish rapport with the research participants, both the children and their parents.
However, I also need to consider the possibility that some of the participants may have
downplayed the more negative aspects of their transracial adoption experience out of a desire to protect me from this knowledge. Although I have considered this possibility, after much
reflection I do not believe that this played out in the research process. However, in making it transparent, the reader is in a position to assess this issue for themselves.
It is also possible that being a white person affected some of the collection of my data. Most of my participants identified themselves as white and only spoke English. I believe that my being an English-speaking white person may have influenced the way in which the spoke about themselves. It is also possible that the research participants may have downplayed aspects of their black racial identity in order to identify with me, as a white person. Had I been an isiZulu- speaking black person, it is possible that the participants may have felt embarrassed or apologetic about their racial identity, and may have emphasized the aspects of themselves experienced as black. It is therefore worth considering that the information I obtained regarding their racial identity may have been coloured my by own racial identity.
Through my reading of the literature, I approached the interviews with the understanding that these children could be struggling to form a black racial identity. This could have influenced the way I approached the interviews, and in particular, the types of questions that I asked. In the following extract concerning his name, one can see my assumption that a black racial identity was the identity that Thabo would be trying to engage with. This theoretical assumption biased the questions that I asked during this extract (first name and surname are pseudonyms):
R: Do you like your name?
J: Mm, I chose it cause it would have been Thabo Harper, but urn, I wanted to, it sounded stupid Thabo Harper, so then I wanted to keep my Mom's surname and it was also my Mom's idea to keep it so then it was Thabo Mbatha Harper. To keep my Mom's surname and I get the Harper.
R: It sounds like it was important for you to keep something of your mom?
Thabo: Ya
R: Urn, why does Thabo Hyde's sound stupid?
Thabo: It doesn't sound right, a Zulu name with an English surname, it doesn't sound right to me. Like with my ID book, they said I had to have one surname and she said Thabo Harper and I was like No! I'd rather have no ID book than have someone say Thabo Harper. But then we went to (name of place) and I got both my surnames.
R: So just having, like not having the Mbatha is like really bad.
Thabo: Yes
R: Um, and the Thabo, cause you say people often, because it's a Zulu name, people often think that you speak Zulu, that you're a proper Zulu boy.
Thabo: Ya
R: Would you prefer to have an English name, or do you like it?
Thabo: I wanted an English name first, but then my parents said No, you're a Zulu person, so then I kept my name.
R: Do you feel like a Zulu person?
In my final question of this extract one can see the way in which my theoretical assumption impacted on the question I asked and consequently, in the direction that I led the interview.
Having just expressed that he would have liked an English name, but his parents thought he should have a Zulu name, it may have been more appropriate to engage with his white racial identity. In this regard I could have asked him if he feels like an English person. However, given my assumptions, I did not do this.
A final personal characteristic that may have influenced the data collection process is the issue of my age. I am reasonably close in age to the participants, and I do believe that this helped me to establish rapport with them, and to get a more open account than had I been a lot older.
One of my major concerns at the outset of the data analysis was that my personal experience with transracial adoption should not affect the results that I obtained. Specifically, I very much wanted to believe that the research from America and Britain was accurate and that transracially adopted children were generally well adjusted and happy, with no major conflicts. I wanted this for my sister. However, I was aware that this was not necessarily the case, and I hope that this personal desire has not biased my interpretation of the data in this regard.
It is assumed that the same personal characteristics that may have affected the data collection process could have impacted on the process of data analysis. It is more difficult for me to understand the ways in which my personal characteristics may have impacted on the process of analysis. The reason for this is that I have attempted to conceptualize the results with as much conscious awareness about how I may have affected this process as possible. Any impact that these issues may have had on the analysis are therefore out of the realm of my awareness.
However, my supervisor has also been instrumental in assessing the process of analysis, and in ensuring that overt bias due to my own personal position was not evident.
Chapter four Results