Insider/Outsider Status

The term insider researcher is used to describe a situation where the researcher is a part of the topic being investigated. For instance, an Aboriginal person who is examining the representation of local Aboriginal art may be defined as an insider researcher, whereas a researcher from overseas studying the same topic might be considered an outsider researcher.

Many academic disciplines encourage researchers to be reflective about their relationships with research participants, but emphasis on whether a researcher identifies as an insider or an outsider has been a particular focus of qualitative research in the areas of anthropology, feminism, and disability studies. The insider or outsider status of a researcher may have a considerable effect on the research process. For instance, being an insider or outsider may affect the way in which the researcher enters the field, the obligations that the researcher has to research participants, the ongoing nature of contact with research participants, and the level of trust demonstrated by research participants.

When a researcher already has established relationships with the research participants (as some insider researchers do), the nature of the investigation is quite different from that when the researcher must enter the field without previous connections. Some insiders report that when they conduct fieldwork, it is relatively easy to gain access to people and resources. Likewise, these insider researchers frequently report that research participants tend to indicate that they trust them far more than they might trust researchers who are perceived as outsiders. However, this shared identity may create tensions for a researcher because he or she can become aware of sensitive material that other community members do not want to disclose publicly. Such material requires careful attention to ethics, and a constant awareness of the need to establish clear boundaries, so as to avoid harm to the researcher and/or research participants.

Unlike outsiders, who tend to have exact dates when their research will begin and end, insiders are usually expected to have an ongoing connection with the research participants. Some research participants, therefore, may expect insiders to be more accountable for their research and responsive to community concerns than are outsiders. They also usually expect insiders to be more aware of community sensibilities, and to use more appropriate language, compared with outsiders who might not be aware of established cultural practices.

Insider researchers need to be aware of both the similarities they share with research participants and the differences between them and research participants. For instance, a researcher who shares the same ethnicity as research participants may need to be reflective about the influence of differences such as gender, age, education, sexuality, and other factors that may affect the nature of the data collected. Even in the midst of such differences, however, insider researchers need to be reflective about the ways in which their insider status affected the rapport and trust they developed with research participants. By being reflective about the impact of being identified as an insider, and highlighting the effects that this identity had on the nature of the data collected, such connections with the field can be regarded as a strength of a particular form of immersed qualitative research.

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