Critical and Feminist Cartographies of Observation: Procedural, Personal, and Political Considerations in the Documentation and Analysis of Life Worlds

This chapter maps how procedural, personal, and political considerations of observation can assist understanding human experience as explored in educational policy research. In doing so, it situates observation as an integral research strategy within critical and feminist educational policy analyses. First, it presents generally agreed upon “procedural” considerations in using observation as a data gathering and processing tool. In this section, standard observation techniques are discussed-and, where relevant-critiqued to explicate the violent legacy of fieldwork within communities historically underserved and exploited by research. Next, I offer “personal” considerations from research conducted on state human trafficking policy and respective policy actors. In this section, I revisit my thinking about participant observation, with the aim of identifying omissions and retrospective knowledge so to push current boundaries of critical fieldwork. Finally, this chapter focuses on “political” considerations. In this section, the concept of objective observation is critiqued, the role of researcher positionality is examined, and insights are offered on the challenges inherent in conducting fieldwork where power dynamics exist. This chapter concludes with a discussion of methodological guideposts and questions for those who are new to critical educational policy scholarship and interested in utilizing observation as a research strategy.