Reflexivity and Ethical Considerations

Within the interpretive tradition, reflexive practices are both the topics of, and the resources for qualitative inquiry (Guba & Lincoln, 2005). I reflected on my behaviour, thoughts, and actions throughout the research process and remained conscious that my subjective biases, values, beliefs, and experiences shaped how I conducted and reported my study (Watt, 2007; Davies, 2012). I strived to “recognize the situated nature of knowledge and the interactional sites where issues of race, gender and class are enacted” (Guba & Lincoln, 2005, p. 23). Reflexivity on how I position myself as a researcher and represent my participants, conduct member checks, triangulate multiple data sources are all important to establish trustworthiness and transferability of my study findings. Case studies deal with issues of public interest (Patton, 2002). I was reflexive and conducted myself to high ethical standards. I sought informed consents to protect the participants and to agree on issues of observation, and reporting, as well as limit to access (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). I adhered to the UWO guidelines on research ethics on integrity and credibility of myself the researcher and the University. I sought informed consent from

all the participants that is, students, teachers and parents of students less than 18 years of age. Gaining trust of the research participants was critical to the success of the research process. I provided my participants with a letter of information and explained the study and time commitment, and informed them about the voluntary nature of participation before they consented to be part of the study. I also maintained respect for the students and teachers throughout the research process. Additionally, I was careful not to breach confidentiality of all my participants.

The sociocultural framework acknowledges co-construction of knowledge during interaction with others. Credibility of research is based on the ethical relationship between the researcher and the participants and needs to be reciprocal not hierarchical (Guba & Lincoln, 2005). My role as a researcher was one of a collaborative learner. That is, the students and their teachers were collaborative partners not subjects in research. I consulted with the students, teachers and on strategies to support the youth in areas of literacy-learning, and acquisition of life skills such as use of a diary to manage day to day activities. I allowed the students’ ideas to shine by privileging their knowledge,

experiences, reflections and voice in italics. I brought meaning to their voice by transcribing their responses directly/verbatim.

3.4.1 Representation

Understanding and representing experiences of others may lead to misrepresentation (Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 1999; Spivak, 1999). I was critical and reflexive in the choice of methods, ethics and epistemologies, what to report and how to report it (Daniel, 2005; Fine, 1998; Finlay, 2002). I strove to understand and contribute to a better world, to improve, not to marginalise others. My study highlighted African youth’s funds of knowledge, school expectations and supports, what the youth perceived as challenges to learning, and exposed inequalities in literacy education. I checked with the study

participants after transcribing the interviews and analyzing the multiple data sources for clarifications, corrections or additions to the data during follow up interviews to enhance reliability of collected data (Creswell, 2007). Doing member checks helped me to better

understand and acquire new and reflective thoughts from participants. To gain insights into the experiences, realities, values and beliefs of my study participants, I employed ethnographic tools to produce information in its “complete and lived essence” (Compton- Lilly, 2003, p.42) to understand literacy practices, and identity (re)construction of

African immigrant students who are learning in new environments. I was respectful of these realities throughout my learning process and reflected on my own beliefs about the education of minoritized students.

Cross-cultural analysis and reflexivity

Although I share the participants’ background as an African immigrant to Canada, I recognized the diversity of the African youth’s sociocultural and socio-political contexts. I was aware of some of the challenges faced by immigrant youth who are minoritized by being learners of a new language, and negotiating a sense of belonging in a new school and country. At the same time, however, I am an insider to the broader African

community yet an outsider to the experiences of the youth in literacy learning and identity constructions. As an African woman who may be privileged by my experiences, yet positioned by race, gender, and colour, I had an ethical responsibility to encourage the youth in their aspirations for the future in Canada. My personal experience as an

immigrant woman informed my commitment to advance access, equity, and social justice for groups and individuals marginalised by dominant societal structures. I believe that research should be trustworthy, educative, transformative, reliable, practical, and relevant to address issues of knowledge (Lincoln & Guba, 2005).

To increase reliability of my research outcomes, I utilized multiple data sources (Yin, 2003) that captured the youth’s multiple representation of their experiences.

Triangulation (Lather, 1991) of multiple sources of data allowed for cross-examination. For example, data from artefacts, interview responses, and mapping activities worked together to enrich the researcher’s own understanding of the concept of identity.

Observation provided depth in understanding data from interviews. For example, three of the participants expressed concerns that L1 majority in the classroom was problematic

and isolating to those outside that language group. I observed this reality in one of the classrooms and corroborated it with the interview data. Additionally, data from document analysis allowed for a comparison against what I observed and heard from my

participants. For example, the Ontario Ministry of Education policy guidelines recommended drawing on diverse students’ cultural knowledge. However, there was limited reference to ELLs’ funds of knowledge in the classroom.The disconnect between policy and practice pointed to the constraints of adhering to a prescriptive literacy

curriculum with implications for African immigrant youth learning and identity in Ontario. To address transferability of my research findings, I have presented rich thick descriptions about my participants and the study settings to allow my readers to make decisions if they can use this information because of its shared characteristics (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1998). Thus to establish trustworthiness in my research, I made “an attempt to assess the accuracy of findings, as best described by the researcher and the participants (Creswell, 2007 p.206).