Chapter 3 Methodology
3.6 Methodological Reflections
3.6.3 Evaluating the research
This section evaluates the research using a framework that has been developed for qualitative, interpretive research (Golden-Biddle and Locke 1993; Hogg and Maclaran 2008). Golden-Biddle and Locke (1993) constructed a framework to enable qualitative, interpretive researchers to convince readers of the soundness of their interpretation and contribution to knowledge. Their work is particularly important for interpretive researchers who are working in disciplines in which positivistic research paradigms remain prevalent, such as consumer research (Hogg and Maclaran 2008). While positivistic researchers evaluate their research using the concepts of validity, reliability and objectivity, interpretive researchers can convince the audience of the credibility of the accounts presented, by appealing to the authenticity, plausibility and criticality of the text (Belk 2007; Golden- Biddle and Locke 1993; Hogg and Maclaran 2008). This thesis draws on these three concepts to reflexively evaluate the study. The following sections (3.6.3.1-3) discuss how the research meets each of these parts of the framework, whilst recognising that they often overlap (Maclaran and Hogg 2008).
3.6.3.1 Authenticity
Authenticity is concerned with convincing the readers that the interpretation is drawn from the data (Maclaran and Hogg 2008). Interpretive researchers develop authorial authority by making appeals to the authenticity of the findings, which have emerged from having ‘been there’ and shared participants’ lived experiences (Golden-Biddle and Locke 1993:613). Authenticity is established by using the everyday words of the respondents, through reflecting on the position of the researcher and the researched, and by offering a transparent account of the data collection and analysis (ibid.).
131 In following the tenets of existential-phenomenology, this thesis, and in particular, this chapter, has sought to demonstrate authenticity within the research process. The findings and discussion chapters draw on participants’ experiences through their own words (as outlined in section 3.3.2). This methodology chapter has endeavoured to offer a transparent account of how the data has been collected and analysed (see section 3.4), as well as outlining a reflexive account of the researcher’s position (see section 3.6.1). In particular, the iterative approach to data analysis aimed to demonstrate how meaningful interpretations were formed, whilst remaining faithful to participants’ lived experiences. In researching the experiences of participants within an unfamiliar field (i.e. the (British) South Asian context), the researcher could draw on her unfamiliarity to reflexively challenge her interpretations throughout the research process (Golden-Biddle and Locke 1993).
3.6.3.2 Plausibility
Plausibility is concerned with accounting for as much of the data as possible, so that the reader can be convinced that the interpretations that emerge are credible. Readers should be able to reflect that the interpretation of the data makes sense, and that the study has something ‘distinctive to offer’ (Maclaran and Hogg 2008:138).
In this thesis, plausibility has been sought by highlighting gaps in the literature to which the research contributes, suggesting that the research can fill them with ‘something new in an area of generally shared importance’ (Golden-Biddle and Locke 1993:609). The literature review (Chapter 2) has outlined several ways in which existing research could be extended. The research constitutes ‘something new’ by examining how South Asian women negotiate their gender identities, through consumption practices, on becoming a mother. In foregrounding the negotiation of gender identity, rather than acculturation, the thesis offers
132 a plausible, but different means of examining South Asian women’s mothering and consumption practices.
It is recognised that the thesis presents an account of the data that may highlight only some aspects of participants’ lives, whilst possibly overlooking others. Yet this is a fundamental tenet of interpretive consumer research: ‘all we can offer is an interpretation, not the interpretation (Shankar and Patterson 2001:491, original emphasis). Plausibility was sought by extensively using the data to provide rich descriptions to illustrate the interpretations presented (Shankar and Patterson 2001), with primacy placed on participants’ own words and interpretations.
3.6.3.3 Criticality
Criticality refers to the ability of the text to encourage the reader to reflect on the ideas and underlying assumptions that shape the readers’ interpretations (Golden-Biddle and Locke 1993). Criticality is achieved when the reader re-examines their views, enabling them to imagine new possibilities (Maclaran and Hogg 2008).
This thesis seeks to encourage the reader to re-examine their views in several ways, most notably to question their assumptions regarding South Asian women’s ability to negotiate new gender identities and challenge gender norms on becoming a mother. It does so by using a different theoretical lens (based on a performative approach) to understand these women’s experiences and consumption practices than is typically used when studying ethnic minority consumers (i.e. consumer acculturation). The thesis offers criticality by encouraging the reader to put aside their prior assumptions of mothers as experiencing consumption-induced liminality (Voice Group 2010a), or of South Asian women as either ‘docile’ and destined to become housewives (Bagguley and Hussain 2016), or ‘turning their backs’ on their cultural
133 and religious heritage (Bhopal 1997). Indeed, the notion of purposefully laying one’s assumptions aside fits closely with the existential-phenomenological tenets which underpin the research methodology and complement the exploratory nature of the study.
Overall, this section (3.6.3) has outlined how the thesis presents a carefully developed ‘theorised storyline’ (Maclaran and Hogg 2008:130) from participants’ accounts of their experiences. The section has discussed how the criteria of authenticity, plausibility and criticality have shaped the emergence of these interpretations. In doing so, the section has endeavoured to establish the quality of this research.
3.7 Concluding remarks to this chapter
This chapter has presented and justified the methodology that has guided this research. Section 3.2 and 3.3 covered the research paradigm and research methods. Section 3.4 offered an account of the research journey from data collection to data analysis, in order to provide transparency (Moisander and Valtonen 2006; Yin 2015). Section 3.5 provided a profile of the research participants, presenting relevant information which is discussed further in the findings chapters, while section 3.6 discussed methodological reflections and evaluations of the study.
The findings of this study are presented in the following two chapters (4 and 5). Chapter 4 focuses on participants’ journeys to motherhood. Participants were reflecting on their upbringing (especially their gender socialisation), and negotiations surrounding higher education and marriage to make sense of becoming a mother. The aim of this chapter is to understand participants’ trajectories (Erel 2010) to motherhood. On their journeys to motherhood, participants were negotiating their gender identities to become independent women, whilst situated within South Asian family hierarchies.
134 The second findings chapter (Chapter 5) then examines how participants negotiate new gender identities as they become mothers. The themes in Chapter 5 demonstrate how participants were reflecting on their journey to motherhood to make sense of their experiences. Throughout Chapter 5, consumption is presented as a key site in which participants negotiate new gender identities as both good mothers and independent women.
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