From Fearing Harm to Inviting Transformative Learning: Rethinking the Role of Emotion in Participatory Research with...

Grounded in positivist approaches to the ethical conduct of scientific inquiry, emotions in research have traditionally been treated as something to be avoided due to potential risks both to participants and to scientific objectivity. In contrast, current approaches to qualitative participatory research have encouraged attention to emotion as beneficial to knowledge production, while still requiring sensitivity to the safety of all actors in the research process. In this paper, we turn to a research project with youth born of conflict-related sexual violence in Rwanda to unpack the complex role of emotion in participatory qualitative research. In doing so, we critically explore notions that emotion should be avoided in research as a means of protecting young participants and researchers. Drawing from a case example, we consider ways in which emotion may contribute to knowledge production and be useful to participants and researchers. The article begins with an introduction to the research project and then moves to a critical literature review of emotion in qualitative participatory research. We then explore how to respect expectations to "do no harm" while simultaneously carving out critical space for emotional expression throughout the research process. We contend that sustained attentiveness to the risks, uncertainties, and potential harms commonly associated with emotion in research can and should coexist with recognition of emotion as integral to transformative research endeavours that develop shared understandings, enrich professional training and practice, and inspire social action.