Towards a political economy of the use of research assistants: reflections from fieldwork in Tanzania and Mozambique

Deane, K. D. and Stevano, S. (2016) Towards a political economy of the use of research assistants: reflections from fieldwork in Tanzania and Mozambique. Qualitative Research. 16(2), pp. 213-228. 1468-7941.

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Item Type:	Article
Abstract:	Research assistants play a vital role in the research process, often acting as more than just translators or interpreters. However, their contributions to and impacts on the research process and outcomes often remain unacknowledged or unaccounted for. We build on previous work that looks at the subjective relations between the researcher, research assistant and research participant to explore this issue. In particular, drawing on a political economy approach, we look at how research assistants, through their objective position, mediate relations between researcher and participants, and also how power relations and different configurations of roles influence the research process and outcomes. Our analysis concludes that ignoring the role of research assistants in empirical research will lead to flawed processes, biased data and possibly misleading results.
Additional Information:	A pre-publication version of this article was made available electronically by the publisher on 24 March 2015
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Fieldwork, methods, power relations, research assistants, subjectivity
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) > H62 Study and teaching. Research
Creators:	Deane, Kevin D and Stevano, Sara
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:	University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Business & Law
Date:	April 2016
Date Type:	Publication
Page Range:	pp. 213-228
Journal or Publication Title:	Qualitative Research
Volume:	16
Number:	2
Language:	English
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794115578776
ISSN:	1468-7941
Status:	Published / Disseminated
Refereed:	Yes
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7561

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