Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
This paper aims to answer the research questions of ‘How did COVID-19 aggravate the uncertainties in geographical fieldwork, and how could the researchers cope with the challenges?’ Referring to the case study method in scrutinising a fieldwork case that has been conducted by the researchers on Chin...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2024-10-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241296986 |
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| _version_ | 1850191698133516288 |
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| author | Hongsheng Zhao Wenwei Bao |
| author_facet | Hongsheng Zhao Wenwei Bao |
| author_sort | Hongsheng Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims to answer the research questions of ‘How did COVID-19 aggravate the uncertainties in geographical fieldwork, and how could the researchers cope with the challenges?’ Referring to the case study method in scrutinising a fieldwork case that has been conducted by the researchers on Chinese rural-urban migrants in 2020–2021, this research explores the multi-layers of increased uncertainties amid COVID-19. It reveals that that recent COVID-19 pandemic and its knocking-on effects have profound impacts on fieldwork in Chinese context: not only aggravating the scale of uncertainties, but also extending the uncertainties through several dimensions, including harder access to the field, more severe surveillance, which lead to fragile trust between informants and field researcher. The article further posits the significance of researcher’s resilience and reflectivity in fieldwork to address the emerging challenges, proposing adjusted positionality for researchers under the similar context of doing fieldwork in China amid COVID-19 pandemic. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-78d6a567ce2e4ae8984d21fe6a5abfa6 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1609-4069 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| spelling | doaj-art-78d6a567ce2e4ae8984d21fe6a5abfa62025-08-20T02:14:50ZengSAGE PublishingInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods1609-40692024-10-012310.1177/16094069241296986Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 PandemicHongsheng ZhaoWenwei BaoThis paper aims to answer the research questions of ‘How did COVID-19 aggravate the uncertainties in geographical fieldwork, and how could the researchers cope with the challenges?’ Referring to the case study method in scrutinising a fieldwork case that has been conducted by the researchers on Chinese rural-urban migrants in 2020–2021, this research explores the multi-layers of increased uncertainties amid COVID-19. It reveals that that recent COVID-19 pandemic and its knocking-on effects have profound impacts on fieldwork in Chinese context: not only aggravating the scale of uncertainties, but also extending the uncertainties through several dimensions, including harder access to the field, more severe surveillance, which lead to fragile trust between informants and field researcher. The article further posits the significance of researcher’s resilience and reflectivity in fieldwork to address the emerging challenges, proposing adjusted positionality for researchers under the similar context of doing fieldwork in China amid COVID-19 pandemic.https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241296986 |
| spellingShingle | Hongsheng Zhao Wenwei Bao Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| title | Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | aggravated uncertainties researcher resilience and ambiguous positionality doing fieldwork in china amid covid 19 pandemic |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241296986 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hongshengzhao aggravateduncertaintiesresearcherresilienceandambiguouspositionalitydoingfieldworkinchinaamidcovid19pandemic AT wenweibao aggravateduncertaintiesresearcherresilienceandambiguouspositionalitydoingfieldworkinchinaamidcovid19pandemic |