Writing issues in designing doctoral research: interpretation, representation, legitimation and desiring in investigating the education of Australian show people

Abstract

This paper deploys Denzin’s (1994) four 'Writing Issues' as an interrogative lens for evaluating the appropriateness and utility of the design of a recent doctoral study of the educational aspirations and opportunities of Australian mobile show people (Danaher, 2001a). The deployment of that lens highlights a number of dilemmas and tensions that the researcher encountered in writing about a community traditionally subject to exoticisation and marginalisation in ways that were as 'true' as possible to the participants and that also fulfilled the taken-for-granted assumptions about doctoral research. The paper presents the argument that Denzin's 'Writing Issues' constitute one among several potentially useful frameworks for reflecting on the planning and conduct of an educational research project, as well as for navigating the specific challenges and opportunities involved in designing doctoral educational research.