Activity two

Potential advantages for workers as researchers
Insider knowledge of
• Problem/question to be researched
• Sources of information
• The organisation
• Key people

Can improve understanding / working practice


Potential disadvantages for workers as researchers
• Too close to the problem
• Influenced by own expectations/values
• Influenced by others
• Duality of roles


After looking at the above advantages and disadvantages, I have been considering my worker-researcher position very carefully.

In my opinion, I see my role as an advantage, in particular with the topic choice I have in mind. Being a worker researcher means I am closer to the subject I am trying to research and would make the ethnographic style of research easier for me, if that was the research approach I were to pick. Judith Bell (1999) states ‘participant observation takes time…The research has to be accepted by the individuals or groups being studied’. The fact that I have been working with the group’s I would be studying, for some time, makes it easier for me as I am already accepted by them, and I believe this would speed up the ethnographic research process for me.
I will also have wider access to the relevant sources needed to undertake my research project. As I am thinking of researching strategies to help young boys integrate into dance, I believe knowing a lot of the children personally will help me. If I decide to use narrative inquiry, it will help me a great deal as I have already built up a rapport and trust with them, making it easier for the child to open up to me, if need be. I will already know about my subject area as it is something I work in daily and am passionate about so this will fill me with more confidence to fulfil my role as worker-researcher. Finally I will be able to speak with key people involved in my research area directly, without having to spend time finding them or corresponding through email or phone.

Although I am confident with the advantages, I do also have to recognise potential disadvantages of being a worker researcher and consider the points displayed at the top of the page. I have also found another disadvantage which is not mentioned in the list above which is that if I were to choose to carry out a survey or some qualities research, I would have to think very carefully about my sample. If I was to present the survey to my pupils, for example, this would not be a sound representative of a good cross-section of people and may leave my results inaccurate of the population as a whole. This is because they would all be pupils of mine and so may have formed similar views on certain issues because of something I have done or not done. This is something I am going to have to be careful of throughout my research project, and also ties into the way in which I carry my research out; whilst I have the benefit of being able to observe those I teach, it may also be worth looking at children in different parts of the country altogether.

After reflecting on what I have written, I believe I will be able to carry out my worker-researcher role effectively but am well aware that I may come across some disadvantages, which I will need to tackle and overcome in order to carry out an effective and worthwhile project.