CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 471Qualitative Research Methods and EthicsQualitative Research Methods and ApplicationsQualitative research in health

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

On the Inside Looking In: Methodological Insights and Challenges in Conducting Qualitative Insider Research

Open access
Greene, Melanie·2014·The Qualitative Report
DOI 10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1106
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

As qualitative researchers, what stories we are told, how they are relayed to us, and the narratives that we form and share with others are inevitably influenced by our position and experiences as a researcher in relation to our participants. This is particularly true for insider research, which is concerned with the study of one’s own social group or society. This paper explores some of the possible methodological insights and challenges that may arise from insider research, and suggests several techniques and tools that may be utilized to aid in, rather than hinder, the process of the telling and sharing of participants’ stories. Such strategies may also be used to minimize ethical implications, avoid potential bias and increase the trustworthiness of the data gathered. This analysis draws on the author’s own experiences as an insider researcher and principal investigator on a research project that employed qualitative methodologies.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1106

Cites

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Qualitative researchers have traditionally described a researcher's social location or positionality as either inside or outside, with an insider defined as someone who holds prior knowledge and understandings of the group they wish to study and is also a member of that group.

    “traditionally, qualitative researchers have described a researcher's social location or positionality as being either inside or outside, with the insider researcher defined as someone who can say “I hold prior knowledge and understandings of the group I wish to study, and am also a member of that group” (Greene, 2014, p. 2).”

    From Adults researching with children (2023) · cites this paper as Greene, 2014

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 25

  1. Aguiler, J. L. (1981). Insider research: An ethnography of a debate. In D. A. Messerschmidt (Ed.), Anthropologists at home in North America (pp. 15-26). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Banks, J. A. (1998). The lives and values of researchers: Implications for educating citizens in a multicultural society. Educational Researcher, 27(7), 4-17.
  3. Bell, J. (2005). Doing your research project (4 th ed.). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
  4. Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. C. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
  5. Breen, L. J. (2007). The researcher 'in the middle': Negotiating the insider/outsider dichotomy. The Australian Community Psychologist, 19(1), 163-174.
  6. Chavez, C. (2008). Conceptualizing from the inside: Advantages, complications, and demands on insider positionality. The Qualitative Report, 13(3), 474-494. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-3/chavez.pdf
  7. Couture, A. L., Zaidi, A. U., & Maticka-Tyndale, E. (2012). Reflexive accounts: An intersectional approach to exploring the fluidity of insider/outsider status and the researcher's impact on culturally-sensitive post-positivist qualitative research. Qualitative Sociology Review, 8(11), 86-105.
  8. DeLyser, D. (2001). 'Do you really live here?' Thoughts on insider research. Geographical Review, 91(1/2), 441-453.
  9. Doucet, A. (2008). 'From her side of the gossamer wall(s)': Reflexivity and relational knowing. Qualitative Sociology, 31(1), 73-87.
  10. Drake, P. (2010). Grasping at methodological understanding: A cautionary tale from insider research. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 33(1), 85-99.
  11. Dwyer, C. S., & Buckle, J. L. (2009). The space between: On being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 54-63.
  12. Guba, E. G. (1981). Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 29, 75-92.
  13. Hellawell, D. (2006). Inside-out: Analysis of the insider-outsider concept as a heuristic device to develop reflexivity in students doing qualitative research. Teaching in Higher Education, 11(4), 483-494.
  14. Loxley, A., & Seery, A. (2008). Some philosophical and other related issues in insider research. In P. Sikes & A. Potts, Researching education from the inside: investigations from within (pp.15-32). London: Routledge.
  15. Mauthner, N. S., & Doucet, A. (2003). Reflexive accounts and accounts of reflexivity in qualitative data analysis. Sociology, 37(3), 413-431.
  16. Merriam, S. A., Johnson-Bailey, J., Lee, M.-Y., Kee, Y., Ntseane, G., & Muhamad, M. (2001). Power and positionality: Negotiating insider/outsider status within and across cultures. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(5), 405-416.
  17. Merton, R. K. (1972). Insiders and outsiders: A chapter in the sociology of knowledge. American Journal of Sociology, 78(1), 9-47.
  18. Naples, N. A. (1996). The outsider phenomenon. In C. D. Smith & W. Kornblum (Eds.), In the field: Readings on the field research experience (2 nd ed., pp. 139-149).Westport, CT: Praeger.
  19. Naples, N. A. (2003). Feminism and method: Ethnography, discourse analysis, and activist research. New York, NY: Routledge.
  20. Sikes, P., & Potts, A. (2008). (Eds.) Researching education from the inside: Investigations from within. London, UK: Routledge.
  21. Taylor, J. (2011). The intimate insider: Negotiating the ethics of friendship when doing insider research. Qualitative Research, 11(1), 3-22.
  22. Van den Hoonaard, W. C. (2002). Walking the tightrope: Ethical issues for qualitative researchers. Toronto; Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press.
  23. Van Heugten, K. (2004). Managing insider research: Learning from experience. Qualitative Social Work, 3(2), 203-219.
  24. Workman, B. (2007). 'Casing the joint' Explorations by the insider-researcher preparing for work-based projects. Journal of Workplace Learning, 19(3), 146-160.
  25. Melanie J. Greene is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her research interests include the sociology of higher education, graduate student socialization and professional development processes, and the role of support services in post-secondary student retention and success. She can be contacted at Melanie Greene, Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL Canada A1B 3X8; Phone: 709-864-7623; Email: melaniejg@mun.ca; Web: http://mun.academia.edu/MelanieGreene

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Metadata

Authors
Greene, M.
Affiliations
Memorial University of Newfoundland (CA)
Corresponding author
Greene, Melanie
Venue
The Qualitative Report
Publisher
Nova Southeastern University
Published
2014-10-30
ISSN
  • 1052-0147 (ISSN-L)
  • 2160-3715
DOI
10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1106
OpenAlex
W860933141
Cited by
471
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2
FWCI
65.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-sa
Locations
  • The Qualitative Report (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative research in health
Keywords
insider research, researcher-participant relationship, reflexivity, research ethics, researcher bias, trustworthiness, participant narratives, self-directed learning

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review