ABSTRACT
Tackling fieldwork as a nascent qualitative researcher is associated with multiple challenges and rewards. Methods literature around qualitative research often attempts to universalise or minimise the issues that arise in research. This chapter focuses on the challenges that are part of the process of fieldwork, specifically with marginalised, mobile women. These challenges and the experiences of conducting research in an era of mass mobility are essential in expanding our methodological understanding of enquiry with mobile women. Drawing on my experiences with refugee and asylum-seeking mothers, I have organised the chapter into methodological tools I engaged within three phases of my qualitative research project: Access and Recruitment, Participants and Interviews and Interpreters. Based on the expectations and realities of fieldwork and incorporating a framework of reflexivity, I argue that researchers must be flexible to navigate complex circumstances and shifting situations. While these are seemingly obvious to experienced researchers, it is essential to provide detailed accounts of challenges and how they are overcome to guide nascent researchers in their fieldwork with marginalised populations.
