ABSTRACT

This article reflects on the tensions I encountered as an insider researcher during a qualitative study exploring academics’ integration of educational technology in a South African higher education institution. While critical qualitative approaches acknowledge research participants’ vulnerability to the researcher’s interpretation and presentation of their experiences, this article reflects on researcher vulnerability engendered by my insider status. Through a critical ethnographic lens, I reflexively interrogate the shifting nuances of power, positionality and being in educational technology research with regard to: (1) the struggle to adopt a colonialist methodology in a context still reeling from colonial legacies; (2) sensitively negotiating conflicting role requirements as a researcher, an employee and a PhD student in the same institution; (3) reflecting on the ‘politics of the gaze’ and how my insider status influenced what data I collected and how I perceived it; and (4) grappling with the tensions inherent in attempting to represent the experiences of the Other through my own.

摘要

本文反映了我在定性研究中探索内部学者时所遇到的压力，该研究探索了南非高等教育机构中学者对教育技术的整合。尽管批判性的定性方法承认研究参与者容易受到研究人员的解释和经验介绍的影响，但本文还是反映了我的内部人员身份所造成的研究人员的脆弱性。通过批判性的人种志学视角，我反思性地质疑了权力，地位和教育技术研究方面的细微差别：（1）在仍然受到殖民遗产影响的背景下，采取殖民主义方法的斗争；（2）敏感地协商作为同一机构中的研究员，雇员和博士学位学生的角色要求冲突；（3）反思“凝视的政治”以及内部人的身份如何影响我收集的数据以及我的看法；（4）克服试图通过我自己来代表他人经验的内在张力。