ABSTRACT
Traditionally, both social and educational research, through imitating the “natural” sciences, have tried to present the researcher and social research as “objective” (Walford, 1991). However, in recent years, there has been a greater acknowledgement that a search for objectivity within social research is undesirable and that “no human being can step outside of her or his humanity and view the world from no position at all” (Burr, 1995, p. 160). Such a constructionist approach, adopting a particular epistemology and ontology which emphasizes the multiplicity of possible readings from any interaction, a lack of objectivity and stressing the significance of specific contexts and language use, therefore invites the researcher to acknowledge that:
we are part and parcel of the psychological processes we are studying and so [we need to] include ourselves in our analyses rather than view ourselves as neutral unbiased inquisitors. (Ahmed, 1996, p. 35)
