How researchers across career stages experience researcher independence: A visual collaborative autoethnography

Abstract

This study examines how researcher independence (RI) is perceived and experienced across career stages in educational research. Recognising limitations in prior research which often frames RI solely as a doctoral milestone, this study employs collaborative autoethnography and visually guided interviews (the ‘river of experience’ method) with six researchers at different stages: doctoral, early-career and mid-career. This visual collaborative method allows us to map and discuss critical moments in our researcher trajectories. Three major themes emerged: RI as a bumpy developmental process, RI as an agentive process and RI as a process of self-validation. Findings demonstrate that RI evolves through both internal self-awareness and external recognition, influenced by supervision, peer relationships and structural constraints such as career insecurity. The study advances conceptual understanding by revealing how RI is continuously negotiated beyond the doctoral phase.