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The Crack Up: How What Happened to Data and Me Transformed My Research

Sarah Healy (Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia)

The Affective Researcher

ISBN: 978-1-80262-336-9, eISBN: 978-1-80262-333-8

Publication date: 27 July 2022

Abstract

In this chapter I present a pedagogic encounter with an intense affective scene that occurred at a critical time in my PhD research. The encounter, which I call ‘what happened to data and me’, acts as an illustrative example of what may come from seeking out ways to account for contingency, complexity and contiguity by focussing on affect as a researchable phenomenon and affect as a productive force in a (post)qualitative inquiry. At the heart of ‘what happened to data and me’ is an unravelling of self, prompted by the realization of an onto-epistemological conflict between what my research was trying to do and how I, the researcher, was trying to go about the research. I invite the reader to return with me to ‘the snap’ and together witness how a snap experienced as a pedagogic encounter can create the conditions for transformative learning to occur – a learning that transforms an individual's relations with the world rendering them more capable. In conveying how ‘what happened to data and me’ rendered us (data, me, my supervisors, and more) more capable, I discuss how entering into artful relations with data can reconfigure the researcher–researched–research in affirming ways. I propose artful inquiry to do data in a way that accentuates the art of data, creating the conditions for data to transgress into da(r)ta. I conclude with six insights that researchers interested in ‘the post’ may like to consider. The intention is that hindsight will become foresight, not only highlighting what transgressive data can do but also drawing attention to the potential of critically and creatively engaging with the (post)qualitative inquiry.

Keywords

Citation

Healy, S. (2022), "The Crack Up: How What Happened to Data and Me Transformed My Research", Gibson, A.G. (Ed.) The Affective Researcher (Great Debates in Higher Education), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 95-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-333-820221004

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022 Sarah Healy. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited