The Qualitative Open Mic

Autistic people have a whole constellation of communication needs and styles, but these are not always understood or accommodated by researchers. This month, Sohail interviews Alyssa Hillary Zisk about Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): what it is, the range of communication profiles it can help accommodate, and how qualitative inquiry into autistic experiences helped name these to increase understanding.

We are re-publishing Bee Damara's interview with the Qualitative Open Mic, which had been temporarily removed from our archive and was part of the Anti-racist Qualitative Health Research series. Bee speaks about critical race theory in modern slavery and human trafficking research, discussing her experiences working on the modern slavery outcome set project at KCL. She talks about the importance of grounding research in anti-racist theories, and how acknowledging historical and global inequalities can improve the quality and relevance of findings.

Autoethnographers use their personal experiences to explore wider issues, relationships, or situations. So what happens if you experience the world differently? Sohail speaks to Dr Elizabeth Hauke about autoethnography, inclusive education and assessment, and denormativising the university.

Has qualitative research been complacent about its ability to highlight marginalised perspectives? Sohail speaks to Dr Morénike Giwa Onaiwu about forthcoming anthology "Neurodiversity en Noir" and platforming Black neurodivergent voices.

Welcome to Series 7 of the Qualitative Open Mic! This series discusses the many ways neurodivergent perspectives can improve the quality, insights and impacts of qualitative health research, and what learnings this can provide for neurotypical and neurodivergent researchers alike. It showcases the critical role of researchers with ADHD, autism, dyspraxia and other neurodivergent experiences in shaping research and knowledge production. In this first episode we discuss how mainstream theories of autism have missed the mark by failing to qualitatively explore internal autistic worlds. Sohail speaks to legend among autistic autism researchers Dr Damian Milton about his formulation of this issue, the double empathy problem, and its broader implications for neurodivergent and neurotypical-led research in neurodiversity and beyond. Damian also discusses the importance of autistic-led spaces for surviving academia as an autistic academic, through the work of the Participatory Autism Research Collective.

Why are there limited voices from sanctuary seekers in qualitative research about migrant health? Tesfalem Yemane and Hyab Yohannes bring a vital perspective on 'refugee-led scholarship', dissecting the challenges and significance of broadening the scholarly space to include those who have first-hand experience seeking sanctuary.

Amidst the ongoing occupation and genocide in Palestine, how do qualitative health researchers navigate their work and find their voice? What kind of research is it possible or ethical to do under siege? This episode, Sohail speaks to Weeam Hammoudeh, Zeina Amro, and Layth Hanbali. They delve into the courage, resilience, and ethical considerations that researchers from this region grapple with, touching upon the broader implications for academic freedom and advocacy.

In October 2023, then-minister Michelle Donelan accused members of UK Research and Innovation's EDI committee of holding "extremist views" based on their social media comments on Palestine. She was subsequently forced to retract her statement, but the response from UKRI raised broader questions about whether and how government should be able to influence research. Peter and Sohail get into the details of this debate, covering culture wars, litigious authors, and more.

Sohail speaks to Tiarna Lee to explore the frontier of AI's role in health research.explore the frontier of AI's role in health research. While technology offers innovative ways to approach analysis, it comes with its unique set of challenges. From ethical considerations to methodological accuracy, join us as we dissect the potential and pitfalls of integrating AI in research. We ask, “can you have qualitative health research without the heart and soul?” Tiarna is a third year PhD student at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences. Her research focuses on evaluating fairness and biases in AI used for cardiac imaging. In her work, she has found that models trained with imbalanced datasets have a worse performance on underrepresented subjects, often minority ethnicities and females. She is currently aiming to find the sources of these biases so that she can then find a method to address and mitigate them.

This episode reflects on how lived experience can engender insights, support the interpretative process and enhance the trustworthiness of qualitative research. We consider the different kinds of experience that can enhance this process, the limits of individual lived experience, and what this means for researchers who don’t have personal experience of the phenomenon under study.

The use of creative and participatory methods throws up complex issues for researchers. How do we interpret creative work? What knowledge and skills do qualitative researchers need to do this ethically? Is interpretation even the right word for this context? Sohail speaks to artist and academic Alda Terracciano to explore how visual art, poetry, and theatre can open up qualitative research into sensitive or stigmatised topics.

This episode explores the role of supervisors and mentors in furnishing the interpretative processes. How can they support novice and more experienced qualitative researchers in making interpretations? What training and reading might they provide to prepare them and what does supervision look like at this stage in the analytical process? Finally, how can the wider context be shaped in a way that is conducive to making interpretations?