Thinking about our research partnerships as part of our method

I have become increasingly interested in the social and institutional relations through which research takes place – and in thinking about those relations methodologically. By thinking methodologically, I mean thinking about how the particular relationships with partner organisations, colleagues, and research participants have really powerful influences on the data and interpretations yielded by our projects. It seems to me, that just as much as the choice of interview or focus group, narrative or discourse analysis, are constitutive of one’s data and interpretation, so too are the partnership relations through which the research is made possible.