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COVID-19 ushered in public health guidelines restricting face-to-face contact and movement, and encouraging social distancing, all of which had implications for conducting field-based research during the pandemic. For qualitative researchers, this meant adapting conventional face-to-face methods and resorting to virtual variations of the same in adherence to stipulated COVID-19 health protocols. Virtual qualitative research introduced new concerns and logistical challenges. This paper presents critical reflections on experiences of conducting qualitative research during the pandemic, from the perspectives of a cohort of postgraduate fellows. A critical reflection framework was utilised to explore fellows experiences and meanings ascribed to their experiences. The research findings illustrate three overarching processes which, in turn, shaped ways of thinking, doing and being. First, explicating tacit assumptions about their anticipated research journeys and interrogating these. Second, shifts in power differentials demonstrated by role reversal between researchers and participants, and between fellows and supervisors as they re-negotiated their positionalities in virtual research spaces. Third, context specific sense-making, in which - narrative accounts support the notion of knowledge as a social construct. Our findings have important implications for qualitative research practice. Our study documents methodological nuances and social implications of conducting qualitative research during COVID-19 and in a-South African context. In addition, our study exemplifies the use of critical reflection in qualitative research practice in the specific context of postgraduate academic research. Further, our study illustrates how the use of technology shapes qualitative research protocol development, data collection and analysis phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaining access to participants in rural, politically unstable settings demands authority and consent not only from the participants and immediate line managers, but also from other players with interests in the research sites. This paper discusses data gathering experiences and challenges encountered during fieldwork for a PhD amidst a politically volatile situation in Zimbabwe in mid-2008. The article highlights the challenges encountered, how the researcher overcame some of them, and was stymied by others. Specifically, political challenges related to gaining access to schools and participants, which created time constraints and frustrations, fears and anxieties for the researcher. Issues of poor topography and interview space also emerged as other challenges. The paper proposes that the snags and surprises, the feelings of frustration, fear and anger that go with researching participants in politically unstable settings should not stall the research process but instead, handled with flexibility and patience, and used as motivation to continue. The experiences not only enhance the researcher's own reflexivity and reflectivity but also provide insights into the human conditions and actions as viewed from multiple perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research paradigm represents how a researcher views the nature of reality and guides how they engage in research to generate knowledge from that reality. Power is a construct that impacts on the individual actions of the researcher and the participants, and their interactions with each other, across a range of perspectives of reality. Qualitative researchers select different paradigmatic stances to represent how they consider and work with the influences of power on these human relations. This influences their decisions about which research design and methodology they select. Drawing on my doctoral study, which explored the process by which a group of occupational therapists designed an intervention for caregivers of children on anti-retroviral treatment living in low-income conditions in South Africa, I describe my process of selecting a poststructuralist paradigm, an instrumental case study design, and a co-operative inquiry methodology to illuminate the operation of power in the research process. An overview of the potential offerings and limitations of different paradigms, research designs and methods, as applied to this research example, are presented to support my assertions. In conclusion, I argue for the more consistent consideration and description of the interplay between paradigms, research design and methodology, to ensure the selection of the best suited combination to explore and describe the influences of power in the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the researcher's position during the research process is important to enhance the representation of research participants and the local context where knowledge is produced. This article aims to reflect the experiences of a local researchers' insider–outsider position during a qualitative study drawing on ethnographic methods. Familiarity with the research community can be advantageous for an insider researcher position while an outsider researcher position may be enable more observance of aspects of daily life to which insiders may be blinded during the inquiry, interpretation, and data analysis. Researchers who often strive for a balance between the two positions can find it challenging yet rewarding. In this study, research participants played a critical role in shaping the local researcher's dual identity as the outsider position remained at the forefront of interactions with the research process despite familiarity with the local language, culture, and research setting. This view, however, shifted after the local researcher seemed to have "earned" the insider position. Local researchers need to invest in extensive self-reflexivity, acknowledge the vulnerabilities of dual positionality, and capitalize on the shared qualities and differences with research participants to enhance the representation of research participants in the process of knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a conceptual framework for exploring sustainable diets, using a case study example of ongoing research in the Vaalharts region, a rural setting in South Africa. A qualitative research approach is followed with an integrated transdisciplinary mixed methods research design with multiple concurrent components employed during two sequential phases. A successful application of the framework is achieved through a collaborative team effort of researchers with qualitative and quantitative research expertise transcending different disciplines, as well as participation of community members throughout the research process. We demonstrate that transdisciplinary mixed methods research designs are essential to gain a better understanding of the complex concept of sustainable diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]