A Courtly Dance: Reflexivity and Reputational Sensitivity in Research with Well-Established Non-Profit Organisations

ABSTRACT

Interactive research with large non-profit organisations holds the promise of deepening scholarship, benefitting the research enterprise, and improving service delivery to vulnerable groups. Research implementation can be finessed from start to completion by not being tone-deaf to the reputational sensitivities of well-established non-profit organisations and by being reflective about how the researcher contributes to the research process. Reflexivity and sensitivity contribute to mutual trust, keep the research process flowing, and energise the building of constructive research relationships. In this article, we reflect on the lessons learned by working with two cancer organisations, one of their flagship programmes, and a cross-section of their members. We discuss the conundrums of doing this type of research, highlight the continuous process of managing access as the study progresses, and offer practical ways of overcoming some of the challenges encountered.

KEYWORDS:

• Interactive research
• South African context
• non-profit organisation
• reflexivity
• reputation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The doctoral research used as an example in this article was funded by a Free-standing Doctoral Scholarship, National Research Foundation (NRF), Grant numbers 79834 & 91730.