title: Researcher Linguistic Vulnerability: A Note on Methodological Implications.
abstract: We reflect on the experiences of a researcher conducting a pilot exercise project with marginalized research participants within the substance use disorder treatment field, in a language that was nonnative to her. While the project collected and analyzed quantitative data, the researcher was motivated by qualitative inquiry's commitment to reducing participant-researcher distance and power differences. Despite multiple sources of power imbalances favoring the researcher, the ability of participants to speak their native language to a nonnative researcher, and the researcher's active recognition of her linguistic vulnerability, appeared to afford them an unexpected source of power within the context of the project. We discuss the researcher's observations of these power dynamics and their implications for cross-cultural research and when working with marginalized research participants.
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway ashley.muller@medisin.uio.no.
authors.forename: Ashley Elizabeth
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gubrium
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007803:Language Arts; D008037:Linguistics; D009664:Norway; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D035844:Researcher-Subject Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D014481:United States
keywords: Europe; Europeans; North America; North Americans; Scandinavia; United States of America; addiction; clinical research; communication; complementary methods; cross-cultural; cultural competence; culture; doctor–patient; empowerment; exercise; group interaction; marginalized or vulnerable populations; nurse–patient; power; qualitative; reflexivity; research design