Identities, roles and iterative processes: Methodological reflections from research on literacy among gypsies and travellers

Abstract

In this article the author reflects on some of the methodological issues of conducting research in a local marginalised community in the UK. Her research was on attitudes to literacy in the Gypsy and Traveller community in southern England. This article describes some of the challenges and how she, as an outsider and not a member of their community, overcame their experience of hostility from settled people and their suspicion of researchers. She explains that gaining access was not just an initial act, but an ongoing iterative process in which her different roles as a researcher, an elected councillor and a member of a voluntary support organisation assisted in negotiating her presence and partial acceptance. She refers to the settled community's lack of knowledge of Gypsies and Travellers and the ongoing tension between the two communities and how this impacts on the research process. Though she had reservations about researching a community which is largely reluctant to give information to outsiders, she concluded that if the community is approached carefully and its concerns and culture are understood and respected, outsider research can provide both insight and information that can benefit the communities.