The Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone podcast brings author and professor Karen O’Reilly into challenging conversations with students, academics and practitioners around the world. Together, they explore how the toolkit approach - a curated collection of expert skills, knowledge, procedures, tools and information - can help navigate the complex terrain of contemporary qualitative research methods. 

My guest this week is Dr Brenda Herbert. Brenda is the recipient of the prestigious Sociological Review Fellowship for 2024/25. Her PhD research was a multimodal ethnography with children who had experienced domestic abuse and social work intervention. She is also a counsellor with over 15 years experience working with children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse. Having worked in both social work and third-sector settings, she currently works for a local authority.

Brenda speaks passionately about the creative approach in Chapter 7, Being Creative. She outlines her own approach to multimodal ethnography and explains how similar it is to the perspective on creativity presented in Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone.

We emphasise how important it is to be responsive, ethical and caring, and also discuss the value of engaging in activities that don’t feel like research. Brenda’s creative approach included online methods, chats, playing Minecraft, playing virtual hide-and-seek, walks in the park and more. These approaches led to fascinating insights that always respect the child who has suffered trauma as first and foremost a child with a whole life, not (just) a victim.

We wrap up with a brief discussion on the transformative potential of research— and ask, transformative for whom? 

Special thanks to Bahar Celik Muller, Senior Marketing Executive and Martha Gleeson, Digital Marketing Executive, for their support, advice and expertise.

Find out more about the book: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/qualitative-research-methods-for-everyone

Intro music: Good Times Are Coming by Bohdan Kuzmin from Pixabay.

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