Working our hyphens: Exploring identity relations in qualitative research

Throughthe work of Michelle Fine and others, researchers are encouraged to examine the processes of qualitative research in a manner that attends to the lived experiences of those who participate in a given research project. The authors explore identity relations in qualitative research, specifically asking how their research projects are situated within the context of their identities, how their identities have shifted throughout their research processes in relation to the identities of the participants, and, ultimately, how and why this matters to their projects in terms of connections with and access to research sites and participants. As individual researchers, the authors have been guided by their own questions and have focused on seemingly distinct research spaces. Rather than remain in isolation, they have chosen to merge their research for this exploration as a means of encouraging each other to raise questions about identity that may not have been raised otherwise.