C. Stevenson et I. Beech, PLAYING THE POWER GAME FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCHERS - THE POSSIBILITY OF A POSTMODERN APPROACH, Journal of advanced nursing, 27(4), 1998, pp. 790-797
The later work of Wittgenstein (1953) takes language and meaning as ar
ising in use. A local 'grammar' is created. Ethical/research awarding
committees have developed, and clashing, meanings about what constitut
es 'good' research. The fixed rule language game of the committee is i
mplicitly powerful because it is part of well-rehearsed societal narra
tives which equate science and knowledge. This creates a force on the
qualitative researcher to conform to the authoritative grammar which i
t is difficult to counter. In these circumstances, qualitative researc
hers may choose to inhabit two, parallel research universes by 'storyi
ng' their research proposal according to the audience. But a question
arises as to whether ethical approval has been gained when a 'Trojan h
orse' approach is used. Moving between worlds involves the researcher
living with a dual identity. The postmodernist movement away from stru
cture, form and singular truth is seen as setting a context for a new
archaeology of knowledge which transcends good/bad dichotomies in rela
tion to research. The qualitative researcher is encouraged to enter in
to dialogical communication with committees with the hope that a share
d grammar may emerge.