Name of the Authors: 

Joyce A. Arditti, Karen S. Joset, Jennifer Lambert-Shute, and Latanya Walker

Title of the Article:

The Role of Emotions in Fieldwork: A Self Study of Family Research in a Corrections Setting

Title of the journal, volume number, date, month and page numbers

The Qualitative Report, Volume 15, Number 6, November 2010, pages 1387-1414

The credibility of the Authors

The researchers of this study consisted of 4 personnel. Of the four personnel, Joyce A. Arditti is also the 1^st author was also the lead researcher for this project. She appeared to have a very instrumental role in all of the data collection and interpretations.  Arditti, Joest, Lambert-Shute, and Walker (2010) noted that they were all researchers who well-versed professionals whose life experiences, assisted them in understanding what they were witnessing in the correctional facility. The researchers also noted that their diverse backgrounds also helped them to interpret and process the data from the data collection (Arditt, et al., 2010).

Strengths of the Researchers

These researchers appeared to conduct an ongoing self-analysis of their emotions during and after the 10-week study. The self-analysis was an essential aspect of their research as this information included their thoughts and feelings, which may have changed as they progressed through the research. Another strength is that the lead researcher is also one of the authors of this assigned journal article (Arditti, et al., 2010).   The ultimate strength that I will highlight includes the team of four researchers instead of just one researcher. Having four researchers permitted team opportunities to share their emotions and feelings. Besides, if necessary, they could be debriefed together.  Also, a team of the researcher may be able to bring forth different perspectives of this research. As the researcher’s emotions were exemplified throughout this research, this helped to break down the myth associated with emotionless fieldwork (Arditti, et al., 2010).

Limitations of Researchers

While this article highlighted that the researchers had diverse backgrounds, the specific background experience was not discussed.  Google showed over ten articles that these researchers have worked on together, and they were similar as they appear to be addressing the stressors and emotions of families of those incarcerated. While they appear to have experience working together with this population, I would question the level of diversity with this research team.

This research team consisted of only one minority- African American female, but there were 3 Caucasian females and no males on this research team (Arditti, et al., 2010). The specific races were not provided for the inmates; however, it was a men’s correction facility and not one male on the research team.  WISELI (2010) stated that research has shown that diverse working groups are more “productive, creative, and innovative” in comparison to standardized groups. The male inmates and guards might have responded differently if the team had at least one male research instead of all females. As a feminist, I know that the females are capable of being professional and obtaining the data; however, in this setting, it may have helped their research.