How can universities avoid collisions between qualitative doctoral research and repressive regimes?

Introduction

Overseas students in Australian universities compensate for reductions in funding, which also prioritises timely doctoral completion. Public health students usually choose their research country and topic. Difficulties arise when emancipatory ideals collide with repressive governments.

Goals/methods

To help universities respond to compromised doctoral research we conducted staged emancipatory critical reflection (describe/ inform/ confront/reconstruct) to qualitative research in a repressive regime. Author 1, a German national, lived in Myanmar and did fieldwork for an Australian doctorate in 2006-7. She applied critical theory to examine how internal mobility affected HIV infection.    Author 2 is an experienced doctoral supervisor and, combining insider/outsider positionality, we synthesised reflections with literature and COVID learnings.

Results

Nationals interviewed because the junta restricted foreigners from direct research, causing data quality problems.  Literature supported reflections articulating ethical dilemmas and risk to researchers and participants: compromising marginalised voices.  For example, military intelligence could use data on consent forms against researchers and participants. HIV was contested and sensitive. Unintended breaches in confidentiality were dangerous. This made it difficult to present results.  Mitigation could compromise data trustworthiness and implementation. In this case, the first author used experience and supervision discussions to problem-solve and obtain useful data.

Conclusions

Pragmatically persevering with risky projects is understandable when supervisors cannot be expected to have local knowledge, and risk unfolds gradually until candidates don’t have time to start anew. During COVID-19 we rapidly transformed doctoral research so students could complete on time. As repressive and anti-science movements grow, universities must learn from this experience and the literature support students to stop risky research. Then, complete the doctorate by combining reflection and an exegesis analysing risk and methodology context and proposing alternative ethical and safe methodologies. Qualitative doctoral research need not comprise completed projects. Ethical, and emancipatory principles require nimble reflexivity over completing at all costs.