Becoming a reflexive researcher: A personal research journey

In this chapter I draw on a decade of field notes detailing my research and evaluation work with refugees and asylum seekers . The work was funded by Aimhigher, local authority departments, charitable bodies and the Higher Education Academy, and was designed to enhance access to higher education of some of the poorest and most marginalised individuals in society. Drawing on these field-notes I chart my shift from reflective evaluator to reflexive researcher. In the first part of the chapter I describe how and why I turned to storytelling as a methodology and evidence how this has not only allowed me insights in to other people's worlds but has made me better able to make sense of their experiences. I also evidence how using storytelling has, at times, been exceptionally difficult, giving rise to a range of methodological and ethical challenges. In doing so I describe uncomfortable moments and unexpected accounts and how I have dealt with the ‘sacredness’ of stories and reflect on the usefulness of narrative approaches to widening participation researchers. In the final part of the chapter I describe my approach to data collection, analysis and presentation of my findings and how I have used narrative as part of broader evaluation frameworks.