Chapter 4 Methodological issues
4.4 Research ethics and positionality
The whole research process requires researchers to be constantly reflective upon ethical issues and to be reflexive about their positionalities. These are not an “unnecessary chore” (Silverman, 2005: 159), but an indispensable step for reassuring and validating the research. This section is composed of two parts: Section 4.4.1 explains the ethical issues which arose the research; in Section 4.4.2 I discuss the various problems revolving my positionalities.
4.4.1 Main ethical issues in my research
This research was conducted in adherence with the principles of the Framework for Research Ethics (ESRC, 2012) produced by the Economic and Social Research Council. Key principles of ethical research include informed consent; protecting confidentiality; and minimizing potential risk and harm for both the researched and the researcher.
To ensure informed consent, potential research participants need to be made as aware as possible of the nature of the research. To facilitate this, an information sheet (see Appendix C) which was translated was given or read to my participants and interviewees before interviewing. After a brief introduction about my research, the information sheets clearly set forth what interview participants will be asked to do, how I will use and store data and their rights to withdraw research etc. I always gave a detailed verbal explanation of my research, because on the one hand some my participants were illiterate, on the other hand for some participants paper work made my research too formal to let me get close to them. In contrast, in other cases the existence of formal- looking paperwork (including information sheets helped to a great extent to demonstrate the legitimacy of my research and proved helpful for winning the trust of government officials and some cautious local people.
With regard to the consent of interviewees, verbal consent was considered more feasible than written consent in my case area (and this was agreed by the relevant University of Leeds research ethics committee which approved the research), because firstly the independence movement of some Tibetans has generated political tension in the Tibetan area (although the level of tension can differ considerably in different parts of Tibet); secondly many older Jiuzhaigou Tibetans are illiterate. Such conditions can make them feel insecure and highly self-conscious and protective about participating in social research. Most of them are afraid of being trapped into trouble based on things they might say, especially women. For them, a signed document represents an extremely formal agreement or contract which has unavoidable legal responsibilities and
consequences. They were afraid of paper work. This is not uncommon in places where people are poorly educated or have no/little knowledge of law, especially in developing countries. To avoid generating unnecessary suspicion and scaring them off, I chose to employ verbal consent rather than written consent. Hence, I orally described my research to them first and requested their consent to interview them.
Audio recording were accepted generally by my close acquaintances and those who are open-minded and well-educated, such as young people. For those who refused to be recorded, I sometimes took written notes or just gave up the interview if I found the participant was not very willing or hesitant to talk. But this just happened occasionally to the people I came across without appointments in advance.
All the participants were told that they were free to withdraw their consent anytime during and after fieldwork. All the data were stored by myself under locked and password- protected personal laptop. Once it reaches 5-year storage limit for further academic writing and dissemination, the data will be destroyed. No one besides me has access to them.
The confidentiality of my research subjects has been strictly protected. Before starting analysis, all the names were changed pseudonyms. In the thesis, people can only see the pseudonyms with their home place, gender and generational group. In a few cases, minor details about a respondent have been obscured to protect anonymity.
Researchers also have moral and ethical obligations to the people we have observed (Kearns, 2010: 255-6). I am still keeping in touch with many of my participants through internet and phones and keep them updated with my work progress and life experience. For me it is not only the research obligation, but also my will that makes me to maintain the ties with people I met in Jiuzhaigou.
4.4.2 My positionality
Researchers’ positionality is highly consequential to the outcomes, process and direction of the research (England, 1994). Positionality “refers to aspects of identity in terms of race, class, gender, caste, sexuality and other attributes that are markers of relational positions in society, rather than intrinsic qualities” (Chacko, 2004: 52). It concerns the complex nature of the researcher-researched interaction (Dawson, 2010). The contested and contingent nature of positionality can raise issues relating to issues such as “the disclosure of personal information and the politics of representation of the Other, unequal
relations of power and possible exploitation, and even lead to ethical problems for the researcher” (Chacko, 2004: 52).
As a Tibetan born into a Buddhist family, my positionality of course affected the data collection and thesis formation on a project about Tibetan religion (as I discussed in the section above). As for my personal religious belief, I often felt that I was in a similar position to many young people in Jiuzhaigou. I always replied to people who asked about my religion as follows: “I was born in a Buddhist family, but I don’t claim myself to be a Buddhist. The reason is I just practice religion with my parents’ guidance and have little knowledge on theories and principles of Buddhism”. I believe in Buddhism, but with some doubts, which prevents me from fully adhering to it. My feeling was echoed by Jiuzhaigou young people who have been exposed to formal school-based education since a very young age, similar to myself. Some other issues I found in the fieldwork also resonated with my feelings and experience, such as the concern of the future of Tibetan culture, their ethnic pride as Tibetans, and the questioning of current monks’ identity (see Chapter 7).
In terms of positionality, Vanderbeck (2005) has explored how experiences in the field can influence how we view ourselves as scholars. I found the fieldwork experience also shapes my understanding of ethnic identity and religious identity. I had been through struggles in positioning myself in Tibetan research cohort or in Chinese research cohort, and as a participant or as a researcher.
Based on different attitudes toward Tibet, scholars on Tibetan studies have some different interpretations on Tibetan issues from Han Chinese scholars. Chinese scholars are secretly criticised for lacking full understanding of Tibetan culture and issues. This is sometimes demonstrated through the usage of language in writing names. Using Tibetan words means being predisposed towards Tibet. Using Chinese words is often not recognised as good research by ethnic Tibetan scholars. Being a Tibetan but writing in Chinese made me feel ashamed at times. I thought I should use Tibetan words to express my ethnic identity, even though I have never formally studied Tibetan language in school, but rather learned it informally at home. Therefore in the reports I wrote at the early stage, I adopted Tibetan names, such as Ngawa Prefecture and Barkam County, instead of their Chinese names, Aba Prefecture and Maerkang County. I thought being too Chinese might diminish my legitimacy in writing about Tibet. However, I found it was not convenient as my first instinct was always Chinese. I realised it does not matter whether I use Tibetan words or use Chinese words, because this is my way of understanding and communicating with my respondents and the field, and most of the
young people in Jiuzhaigou also are very likely to use Chinese in their everyday communication.
On account of its more empathetic and flexible qualities, ethnographic methods require the emotional input of the researcher. My emotions did affect my thoughts on my thesis. In the first stage, I struggled with what I should present to the audience. My pride as a Tibetan did not want me to present Jiuzhaigou monks who were opposed to the traditionally assumed image as isolated, religious, and non-commercial. However, as I heard and saw criticism and worries about Tibetan monks’ and monastery’s changing roles in the modern society both within and outside of Tibetan group, I realised this is an issue I really want to confront as it is a current issue for Tibet. To face and to write about this issue is, for me, actually a way to address this issue. Now I am proud of my research as it reflects the current Tibet, and I am also proud of myself being a Tibetan researcher as I have the chance to write about Tibet.
My identity as a Tibetan has disadvantages. Insider positionality and knowledge sometimes result in omissions of important issues and failing to step back to get a full picture (Kitchin and Tate, 2013: 29). For myself, I sometimes took some important findings for granted. After my first fieldwork, I found this was a problem for furthering my understandings and posing questions. For example, I at first did not recognise the importance of a frequently deployed discourse of the local people. They frequently mentioned ‘hanification’ (see Chapters 3, 5 and 6 for detailed discussion about hanification) when we talked about the current situation of Tibetan religion. I soon realised this was a very important point as a part of my thesis.
The identity as an insider sometimes is challenged and doubted by the participants. Even though Sikic-Micanovic (2010) was a mother and wife, her femininity was questioned by her female informants in Croatia, as she was perceived to be not properly doing the jobs ascribed to mothers/wives, such as ironing her children/husband’s clothes and staying mostly with children. I came across the similar situation. Sometimes my ethnic identity was doubted when I asked them to tell me issues about Tibet. They replied by asking “Are you a Tibetan? You should have known these.” I would then explain that the traditions in my hometown were a little different from the ones in Jiuzhaigou and Anbei, and I was interested in knowing the differences and the situation there.
As Hopkins (2009b) noted, even though as researchers we will never exhaust our positionalities and how they influence the research (including questions, study design, attitudes of participants and data interpretation), being reflective about our positionalities could encourage researchers to realise the importance of their research and methods. In
order to decrease their biases, researchers need to be careful in choosing methods and sources of data. When I came across the problems above, I tried to be a friend with rapport and as a researcher with reflexivity for minimising my bias, and the influence of my presence on their ways of life, behaviour and talk etc. Apart from this, triangulation of data sources and methods (as listed previously) were used to increase reliability of my findings. Additionally, continuous conversation and discussion with extant literatures, scholars and my research participants helped to enhance my reflexivity and to make me more self-critical about my practices of observation and representation.
4.5 Conclusion
In this chapter, I have outlined the key methodological issues involved in conducting this research, including choosing a case study design, accessing and sampling participants, conducting participant observation and in-depth interviews, analyzing data, and ensuring good ethical practice and reflexivity about my positionality.
Later, sharing the same ethnic identity was the key for accessing and gaining trust of my informants, especially when my project is about Tibetan culture, namely our shared tradition, memory and identity. This put us in a similar position under the particular political and cultural climate of China and thus greatly decreased their cautiousness and distance to me. In other words, on the one hand, the current political climate in China construct barriers to approaching my potential participants who had strong sense of self- protection; on the other hand, it to some extent helped me to be closer with my participants once I was accepted as an ethnic insider. And this kind of rapport cannot easily be achieved by people with other ethnic backgrounds.
I argued that the fieldwork experience and the researcher’s positionalities are mutually influenced and shaped by each other, especially for the researcher who is in the similar position as the researched. My ethnic identity and the whole research process are mutually affected. My ethnic identity and my life experience have constantly affected the orientation and forms of representation of my research. The process of making this thesis also reshaped my understandings of my own ethnic identity.