Reflections on Qualitative Research with Muslim Families
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i1.48Keywords:
children, family, Islam, Muslims, religious nurtureAbstract
Detailed accounts of fieldwork relationships can be helpful reading for those embarking on research with a similar population. In this spirit, the article presents reflections on the process of conducting qualitative research with 60 Muslim families. The main research aim was to describe and explain how children (aged 12 and under) are brought up to be Muslims. Fairly detailed reflections are presented about four main aspects of the research process: research team members’ identities and the implications of these, the recruitment of families to take part in the research, the conduct of fieldwork (interviews and observation) and the use of child-friendly techniques, such as interviews with young children, oral diaries and photo elicitation.
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References
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Spalek, B. 2005. “A Critical Reflection on Researching Black Muslim Women’s Lives PostSeptember 11th,” International Journal Social Research Methodology, 8.5, 405–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000232862
Thomas, N., and C. O’Kane. 1999. “Children’s Participation in Reviews and Planning Meetings when They are ‘Looked After’ in Middle Childhood,” Child and Family Social Work, 4.3, 221–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2206.1999.00112.x
Yee, W. C., and J. Andrews. 2006. “Professional Researcher or ‘Good Guest’? Ethical Dilemmas Involved in Researching Children and Families in the Home Setting,” Education Review, 58.4, 397–413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131910600971859
Becher, H. 2008. Family Practices in South Asian Muslim Families: Parenting in a Multi-faith Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230583399
Bolognani, M. 2007. “Islam, Ethnography and Politics: Methodological Issues in Researching amongst West Yorkshire Pakistanis in 2005,” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 10.4, 279–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645570701546570
Breen, D. 2009. “Reflections on the Positionality of the White, Male Non-Muslim Researcher in Muslim Primary Schools: The Realities of Researching Muslim Women.” Presentation at the “Researching Muslims in Britain” conference, Cardiff, 15 April.
Clark, A. 2004. “The Mosaic Approach and Research with Young Children,” in V. Lewis, M. Kellett, C. Robinson et al., eds. The Reality of Research with Children and Young People. London: Sage, 142–56.
Coffey, A. 1999. The Ethnographic Self. London: Sage.
Geaves, R. 2005. “Negotiating British Citizenship and Muslim Identity,” in T. Abbas, ed. Muslim Britain: Communities under Pressure. London: Zed Books, 66–77.
Gilliat-Ray, S. 2005. “Closed Worlds: (Not) Accessing Deobandi dar ul-uloom in Britain,” Fieldwork in Religion, 1.1, 7–33.
—2010. “Body-works and Fieldwork: Research with British Muslim Chaplains,” Culture and Religion, 11.4, 413–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2010.527615
—2011. “Being There: The Experience of Shadowing a British Muslim Hospital Chaplain,” Qualitative Research, 11.5, 469–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794111413223
Hall, R. 2004. “Inside out: Some Notes on Carrying out Feminist Research in Cross-Cultural Interviews with South Asian Women Immigration Applicants,” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7.2, 127–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645570210149796
Hill, M. 1997. “Research Review: Participatory Research with Children,” Child and Family Social Work, 2, 171–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2206.1997.00056.x
Holland, S., and S. O’Neill. 2006. “‘We had to be there to make sure it was what we wanted’: Enabling Children’s Participation in Family Decision-making through the Family Group Conference.” Childhood, 13.1, 91–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0907568206059975
Hopkins, P. 2007. “‘Blue Squares’, ‘Proper Muslims’ and Transnational Networks: Narratives of National and Religious Identities amongst Young Muslim Men Living in Scotland,” Ethnicities, 7, 61–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468796807073917
McLoughlin, S. 2000. “Researching Muslim Minorities: Some Reflections on Fieldwork in Britain,” Journal of Semitic Studies Supplements, 12, 175–94.
Nesbitt, E. 1999. “Researching 8 to 13 Year-old Perspectives on their Experience of Religion,” in A. Lewis and G. Lindsay, eds. Researching Children’s Perspectives. Buckingham, Open University Press, 135–49.
Nesbitt, E., and E. Arweck. 2010. “Issues Arising from an Ethnographic Investigation of the Religious Identity Formation of Young People in Mixed-faith Families.” Fieldwork in Religion, 5.1, 8–31.
Oakley, A. 1981. “Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms,” in H. Roberts, ed. Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 30–61.
O’Brien, M., M. Rustin, D. Jones and D. Sloan. 2000. “Children’s Independent Spatial Mobility in the Urban Public Realm,” Childhood, 7.3, 257–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 0907568200007003002
Omar, A. 2009. “Fiqh of Charity in the UK: Methodological Issues in Researching amongst Muslims in Wiltshire.” Presentation at the “Researching Muslims in Britain” Conference, Cardiff, 15 April.
Ostberg, S. 2006. “Islamic Nurture and Identity Management: The Life World of Muslim Children and Young People in Norway,” in R. Jackson and A. McGrady, eds. The International Handbook of the Religious. Netherlands: Springer, Vol. 1, Part 2, 501–12.
Phillips, D. 2009. “Creating Home Spaces: Young British Muslim Women’s Identity and Conceptualisations of Home,” in P. Hopkins and R. Gale, eds. Muslims in Britain: Race, Place and Identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 23–36.
Phillipson, C., N. Ahmed and J. Latimer. 2003. Women in Transition: A Study of the Experiences of Bangladeshi Women Living in Tower Hamlets. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Roehlkepartain, E., P. Ebstyne King, L. Wagener and P. L. Benson, eds. 2006. The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. London: Sage.
Sanghera, G., and S. Thapar-Bjorkert. 2008. “Methodological Dilemmas: Gatekeepers and Positionality in Bradford,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31.3, 543–62. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/01419870701491952
Scourfield, J., B. Dicks, M. Drakeford and A. Davies. 2006. Children, Place and Identity: Nation and Locality in Middle Childhood. London: Routledge.
Scourfield, J., C. Taylor, G. Moore and S. Gilliat-Ray. 2012. “The Inter-generational Transmission of Islam: Evidence from the Citizenship Survey,” Sociology (forthcoming). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038511419189
Seddon, M. S. 2010. “Constructing Identities of ‘Difference’ and ‘Resistance’: The Politics of being Muslim and British,” Social Semiotics, 20.5, 557–71. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/10350330.2010.513190
Spalek, B. 2005. “A Critical Reflection on Researching Black Muslim Women’s Lives PostSeptember 11th,” International Journal Social Research Methodology, 8.5, 405–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000232862
Thomas, N., and C. O’Kane. 1999. “Children’s Participation in Reviews and Planning Meetings when They are ‘Looked After’ in Middle Childhood,” Child and Family Social Work, 4.3, 221–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2206.1999.00112.x
Yee, W. C., and J. Andrews. 2006. “Professional Researcher or ‘Good Guest’? Ethical Dilemmas Involved in Researching Children and Families in the Home Setting,” Education Review, 58.4, 397–413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131910600971859
Published
2012-12-14
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Scourfield, J., Khan, A., Gilliat-Ray, S., & Oh, S. (2012). Reflections on Qualitative Research with Muslim Families. Fieldwork in Religion, 7(1), 48-69. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i1.48
