McArdle, Rachel
(2022)
Flexible Methodologies: A Case for Approaching Research with Fluidity.
The Professional Geographer, 74 (4).
pp. 620-627.
ISSN 0033-0124
Abstract
Undertaking qualitative research requires flexibility in academics, because researching peoples’ life worlds is an inherently
messy process because the lived realities of those being researched can be convoluted and changing. Academics make structured research designs with the implicit knowledge that the research will not happen in a linear way. This knowledge takes
time and experience to achieve. In this article I propose flexible methodologies to describe researchers’ adaptability in
terms of their methods, techniques, positionalities, roles, and changes in the research plan. For my PhD research looking
at a range of urban places and spaces in Dublin, by being fluid in my research from the beginning, I was able to gain a
deeper understanding of the life worlds of my participants, and I demonstrate this with three vignettes from my own
research. Rather than adjusting my research plan as problems occurred, I instead began with a flexible approach. I argue
that beginning with flexibility can aid graduate students in understanding changes and developments in research as a
positive, necessary shift in the research plan and is helpful to beginner researchers but also their supervisors. Flexible
methodologies are a pragmatic approach for PhD students and early career researchers to achieve their research aims.
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