Becoming a researcher: Stories of self

Abstract

In this introduction we situate the call for papers for this Special Edition on Becoming a researcher. We begin with a discussion on writing, research and publication; and the idea of slow scholarship and meaningful collegiality which forms the substrate of our approach. Next, we foreground the self as data in current research genres. We begin with narrative methods which emphasize the argument that people lead individual and socially storied lives. Burgeoning out from narrative, we explore arts-­based educational research which encompasses the visual, the aesthetic and often borrows literary elements. Next, we turn to the growing genre of autoethnography to see the interweaving of the self, the social and research. Finally, we introduce the unique papers in this Special Edition. These stories of becoming researchers constitute a rich contribution to this genre of writing and research.