One of the messages that resonates mostly strongly with me was Carisa Showden’s reminder that the assumptions one brings to the research process need to be treated delicately. It is far to easy to let ill-founded assumptions taint your research process in a way that disservices the community involved. When one is culturally separated from the community concerned, this barrier, as all the guests suggested, can be partially overcome by engagement, but this will never be entirely sufficient. Personally, we need to take care when presenting research questions, whether quantitative or qualitative, to present those questions in a way that allows participants ample opportunity to colour their own narratives. Research is indeed a collaborative process, and issues of trust and vulnerability are inextricably interlinked. It is important to uphold personal beliefs in a field which is compromised by hierarchy and held up by conservative pillars, however, it is just as important to allow your research to be moulded by contradictory opinions and discoveries that arise in the research process, as research is about accuracy, not idealism. Prejudices of outsidership are a permanent threat to the willingness of research participants and the ability of researches to deliver a truth that brings justice to both parties, and I endevour to keep this in mind when I embark on my own research.
