ABSTRACT
We are, it might be said, the Stradivariuses of our own performances as qualitative researchers. How do we fashion the Self to be a responsive and trustworthy instrument? This is, to say the least, a central issue. The instrument metaphor is widely used in qualitative research texts, and we trust that you understand it as person-centered, sensitive, and exquisitely human. Some, indeed, feel the metaphor is misleading because an instrument often evokes, for them, images of blunt, non-human tools-tools that can help, to be sure, but also tools that can give bloody thumbs and dents in the wall. Nevertheless, this team is of the opinion that the researcher-as-instrument metaphor is quite wonderful because it speaks to the researcher as a powerful, central, active force in shaping and creating. In this chapter, we look at writing as it helps us shape the instrument, the Self, of our research. The ripples of our writing on others is our second major concern and focuses on the orientation of the whole enterprise. This chapter first considers people’s reflections on how research writing reaches inward to tune the Self in the research process. We then pick up themes from our data about how people perceived particular writing tasks that changed them: how writing aided their development as observers; how through writing they recognized and worked through biases and blocks; and how writing about the Self as a figure in the research story affected their self-understanding as researchers. Third, we offer some accounts of people’s growing awareness and cultivation of their writing selves that may help you consider how researchers tune themselves as instruments. Finally, we ponder the impact of qualitative research writing on others.
