Challenges of doing insider research to me

My research aims to explore the difficulties TESOL teachers face in ICT integration
and looks for potential solutions to these difficulties. As this research study was
carried out in the school where I was serving, I consider myself an insider researcher
though the insiderness might be "shifting back and forth along a continuum of
possibilities" with complete insiderness at one pole and complete outsiderness at the
other (Mercer, 2007, pp.1,24).
There are both advantages and disadvantages of being an insider researcher (Corbin
Dwyer & Buckle, 2009; Hockey, 1993; Mercer, 2007; Rouney, 2005; Unluer, 2012).
Mercer (2007) discusses the pros and cons of insiderness including access,
intrusiveness, familiarity and rapport, stating that "conducting insider research is like
wielding a double-edged sword" (p.12). For example, better familiarity with the
studied context allows the insiders to get "a better initial understanding of the social
setting" but makes them "more likely to take things for granted, develop myopia, and
assume their own perspective is far more widespread than it actually is" (ibid p.11).
Along a similar line, Unluer (2012) makes good use of better access and intimacy in
collecting "more detailed and more versatile, and thus more trustworthy, research
data" (p.5) but may overlook certain routine behaviours and make "taken-for-granted
assumptions" (Hockey, 1993, p.199) without seeking clarification. The clear danger is
that this attitude will not enable the insider researcher to achieve insights and effect
change but "only perpetuate the status quo" (Le Gallais, 2003).
The power difference between the insider researcher and the participants can also
influence the research, especially when the researcher belongs to the managerial rank
with whom the participants may not be willing to share possible weaknesses and
inadequacies (Le Gallais, 2003).
Another important challenge for an insider researcher is his/her multiple roles : a
researcher, a member of the studied organization, a colleague of the participants and,
maybe, a participant (Unluer, 2012). These multiple roles may result in role confusion
when, for example, the researcher responds to the participants or analyses the data
from a perspective other than that of a researcher (Asselin, 2003). On the other hand,
role confusion may also happen to the participants who may behave differently

depending on the roles being played by the researcher. In this study for example,
having built up mutual rapport and treating me as a colleague who was doing an
action research for their professional development, the participants might perform
better than they used to in order to enhance the success of the research. In addressing
this potential problem, although we all were at the same rank without any power
difference which may have negative effect on the data collection process (Smyth &
Holian, 2008), I had to stress throughout the research the importance of obtaining
their true performance on ICT learning and integration, and that they did not have to
"give me a hand". It could be better for me, an insider researcher, to assume that I
knew nothing about the phenomenon being studied when collecting the data (Asselin,
2003). I also needed to remind myself to play the appropriate roles according to the
various stages of the study : sometimes I needed to play a single role and sometimes I
needed to play multiple roles simultaneously. For example, I played the researcher
role (to collect data) during the interviews and I play both the researcher role (to
observe and collect data) and the participant role (a colleague as the trainer) during
the ICT training. More importantly, I needed to focus on the main role of a researcher
rather than a teaching staff during the data analysis and evaluation processes.
I made use of the intimacy and friendliness with and understanding of the participants
in designing and engaging them with the training programs, as well as collecting and
interpreting the data. While making the maximum use of the advantages, I, as an
insider researcher, had to overcome the disadvantages to inform and enhance my
research. This was done by some preventative measures such as those suggested by
Unluer (2012). For example, she suggests to minimize the impact of biases by
enlisting the help of an external academic advisor, or to enrich the data by using
multiple sources of data and methods of data collection (ibid p.8). In fact, I decided to
use multiple sources of data to ensure triangulation (see Section 3.6). As this is an
action research with high insiderness, I have to try my best to keep my objectivity,
acknowledging that there will always be aspects beyond my control and being
transparent about these.