Power, Participants and Pandemics – steering a reciprocal path through research methods

This paper explores the need to consider reciprocity and power dynamics when working with human participants. It classifies the potential costs to participants in research and how researchers can engage in acts of reciprocity to mitigate these and leave participants with a net benefit from participating in research. Using my own PhD research involving interviews with school professionals and national policy influencers, it offers an example of how these considerations may be employed, particularly during the time of extreme pressure placed on these participants from the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this paper, I highlight questions about how researchers might consider the power dynamic within interview research and offer suggestions of how this might be considered when planning to conduct interviews honestly, ethically and in a mutually beneficial way.