Flexible Methodologies: A Case for Approaching Research with Fluidity

Abstract

Undertaking qualitative research requires flexibility in academics, because researching peoples’ lifeworlds is an inherently messy process because the lived realities of those being researched can be convoluted and changing. Academics make structured research designs with the implicit knowledge that the research will not happen in a linear way. This knowledge takes time and experience to achieve. In this article I propose flexible methodologies to describe researchers’ adaptability in terms of their methods, techniques, positionalities, roles, and changes in the research plan. For my PhD research looking at a range of urban places and spaces in Dublin, by being fluid in my research from the beginning, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the lifeworlds of my participants, and I demonstrate this with three vignettes from my own research. Rather than adjusting my research plan as problems occurred, I instead began with a flexible approach. I argue that beginning with flexibility can aid graduate students in understanding changes and developments in research as a positive, necessary shift in the research plan and is helpful to beginner researchers but also their supervisors. Flexible methodologies are a pragmatic approach for PhD students and early career researchers to achieve their research aims.

被研究者的现实生活是复杂和不断变化的, 研究人们的生活世界在本质上是一个混乱的过程。因此, 定性研究需要学术上的灵活性。在结构化研究设计中, 研究人员需要具备非线性研究方法的知识。这些知识的获取需要时间和经验。本文提出灵活方法论, 以描述研究计划在方法、技术、位置性、角色和变化等方面的适应性。我的博士论文研究都柏林的各种城市场所和城市空间。由于在研究中始终保持流动性, 我能更深入地了解被研究者的生活世界。通过研究中的三个小插曲, 我证实了这一点。我没有在出现问题时才调整研究计划, 而是从开始就采用灵活的方法论。我认为, 从开始就采用灵活性, 能帮助研究生把研究变化和进展理解为研究计划的积极和必要转变。这对早期研究人员及其导师都有帮助。灵活方法是博士研究生和早期研究人员实现研究目标的实用方法。

Para emprender una investigación cualitativa se requiere flexibilidad entre los académicos involucrados ya que investigar los mundos de vida [lifeworlds] de la gente es un proceso inherentemente desordenado, debido a que las realidades vividas por los investigados pueden ser enrevesadas y cambiantes. Los académicos conciben diseños de investigación estructurados con el implícito conocimiento de que la investigación no se desenvuelve de forma lineal. Para adquirir este conocimiento se requiere tiempo y experiencia. En este artículo propongo metodologías flexibles con las cuales se describa la adaptabilidad de los investigadores en lo que concierne a métodos, técnicas, posicionamientos, roles y cambios en el plan de la investigación. En mi investigación para el PhD, enfocada sobre una serie de lugares y espacios urbanos de Dublín, buscando fluidez en aquel proceso académico desde el principio, pude lograr una comprensión de mayor profundidad sobre los mundos de vida de mis participantes, lo cual demuestro con tres viñetas de mi propia investigación. En vez de ajustar mi plan de investigación a medida que surgían problemas, comencé con un enfoque más flexible. Yo arguyo que empezar con flexibilidad puede ayudar a los estudiantes graduados a entender los cambios y desarrollos en la investigación, como un cambio positivo y necesario del plan de investigación, que ayuda a los investigadores novatos, lo mismo que a sus supervisores. Las metodologías flexibles constituyen un enfoque pragmático para que los estudiantes doctorales y los investigadores principiantes puedan alcanzar sus objetivos de investigación.

Key Words:

• academics
• empirical
• flexibility
• methodology
• research

关键词:

• 学术
• 实证
• 灵活性
• 方法论
• 研究。

Palabras clave:

• académicos
• empírico
• flexibilidad
• investigación
• metodología

Acknowledgments

This research was done while I had a scholarship with the Irish Research Council, to whom I am grateful. I thank Dr. Debangana Bose, Dr. Malene Jacobsen, and Dr. Dean Phelan for their help on an earlier draft, as well as their support more generally, and the Department of Geography at Maynooth University for holding a writing retreat in July 2021 where this article was finalized. Also, thank you to the supervisors of the PhD project, Professor Karen Till and Professor Mark Boyle, and to Professor Gerry Kearns and Professor Mary Gilmartin for contributing to making Maynooth Geography an intellectually stimulating department. I finally want to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors who have helped me greatly in improving this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rachel McArdle

RACHEL McARDLE is currently a Lecturer at the National University of Ireland, Galway H91 TK33, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected]. This research was based on and written during her time at Maynooth University, County Kildare, Ireland. Her research interests include activist and artistic spaces in cities, as well as participatory forms of community-based research.