The Gulu University ethics approval is waiting for me to send in two translated versions of the Informed Consent Form, a letter from my supervisor, and a letter from my university. All of these are dependent on other people responding to my requests for help.
The University of Glos ethics approval is waiting for the committee to meet and consider my application,
The Project Approval Form submission is waiting for my supervisor to write her bit and forward it to the appropriate people. Her advice is for me to wait until I have UoG ethics approval so that it is a stronger application.
But the UoG ethics approval might be dependent on the Gulu ethics approval, which is dependent on the UoG PAF, which is dependent on the UoG ethics……. Hmmmmmm or Aghhhhhhh!
So, I wait to see the outcome of the UoG ethics committee meeting, send encouraging emails to the translators, point out the potential dilemma to my supervisor, and pray!
But in the meantime, I’m struggling to retain my mojo, as it feels like everything is waiting for everything else, dependent on the speed of others, and out of my control to move it forwards. So, I need to do some writing and pull myself out of that limbo feeling. But what to write?
There are two directions that come to mind here. One is to start jotting down thoughts that relate to the background to my research – the underlying theories, the reason behind the research, the context of the participants, considerations of researcher positionality and power, the research methods being used. Another is to start jotting down thoughts relating to the next steps. What will I do once the ethics approval has been given by both Universities, and the Project Approval Form has been accepted? What are the next steps once I get that final green light and I can get on with entering the process of data gathering?
Knowing me, I’ll probably dabble with both directions for a while. I get bored doing just one thing for too long, so I expect I’ll start down both paths, and jump from one to the other along the way. Yes, I know I’ll have to focus on particular sections at certain times, but at this stage I think a bit of jumping around will be a good antidote to a lack of mojo, and a good way of fighting back against the sense of being in limbo.
So, with a foot on each path, off I go…
Route 1 – background to the research
- Underlying theories and approaches
o Postcolonial feminism, including ‘third world woman’, power of geography and history,
o Worldview of social constructionism, including symbolic interpretivism
o Methodology of constructive grounded theory
o Positionality and power of me as researcher
- Context of participants
o Potted history of ILA
o Brief overview of South Sudan recent history leading to refugee situation, generally and within Uganda
§ Include how Lamwo refugee community fits in to the larger picture of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda
o Brief overview of LRA conflict leading to displaced Acholi, and their current status in Kampala
- Other research that has been done, and relevant findings and or gaps in research
o Wellbeing
o Refugees and wellbeing
o Displaced people and wellbeing
o Wellbeing against conflict affected trauma
- Research method: issues relating to semi-structured interviews in another language and culture
o Translation
o What to do when no equivalent direct translation exists
o Cultural considerations
o Ethical aspects and considerations
Route 2 – got the green light, so what happens next
- Determining the questions to be asked
- Determining the words to use when translating the questions, so as not to bias the answers
- Pre-translation conversations with translators
o Outlining the planned interview process
§ Does it look OK
§ Any additional cultural considerations not already included
o What needs to be discussed with them to ensure consistency
o Pitfalls to avoid
§ Leading the responses, implicit bias, ensuring full translation
o Understanding cultural nuances that might have a bearing on how they respond to me, how I interpret their body language, how to ensure the most conducive environment for the interview, implications re the wider community.
And that’s just an initial ‘brain dump’! All in all quite a lot to keep me going. The moral of this musing – even in limbo-land there are things to do, words to write, places to mentally go!! Off I go to explore them.
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