Systemic Contextualisation: Situating and Positioning

This chapter explores the systemic contextualisationContextualisation of research in order to situate and position the research with respect to relevant and potentially influential considerations. These contextual considerations include: where the researcher is coming from (e.g., their identity, systems they are embedded within) and what they wish to learn (problems, goals, research questionsResearch questions/propositions/ hypotheses); who/what potential data sources might be and why; what has been learned before (published and unpublished); where and under what conditions the researcher might wish to conduct their research; who relevant stakeholders might be and their expectations; who relevant gatekeepersGatekeepers might be that control access to desired data sources; as well as larger contextual influences which may be relevant to the research (e.g., legal, ethical and regulatory, resource-based, environmental, community-based, market-based, institutional/organisational, governmental, sociocultural, technological, political, economic). ContextualisationContextualisation provides colour, shape, and texture to the methodological landscape, bringing some potential choices into the foreground and allowing other potential choices to recede into the background. ContextualisationContextualisation is not just a one-off ‘upstream’ activity for the researcher, it is continually revisited throughout their research journeyResearch journey. Nothing remains static and the researcher must be actively vigilant for contextual changes that may exert pressure to influence how their journey is progressing.