It’s Emotional: Dealing with emotional data, from analysis to well-being

This workshop will examine how qualitative researchers USE emotion, rather than a focus on what emotion is. Qualitative data (as sometimes with quantitative) is a social engagement that requires emotional energy to produce it, in terms of building rapport for example. Further it produces emotional energy as the research empathetically absorbs the data produced. Traditionally this is distilled to produce discursive evidence, but this sterilising of social data leaves emotion as outside of forms of data recognised as ‘credible’ (Fine, 1994). This workshop will consider the value of including emotional data, and considers ways of managing this. It considers the ‘burden’ on researchers who ‘feel’ the emotional pressure of collecting data. The workshop aims to train students in resilience and developing as emotion managers. At once this workshop explores opportunities to communicate the emotional properties of data to an academic audience (e.g. drawing on Camacho, 2016); but also, to manage the psychological impact of ’emotional data’ on the researcher (drawing on Hume, 2007). This paper draws on our work researching the lived experience of adults with a life-limiting condition (Ferrie et al, 2013) and upon experiences teaching early career researchers about managing the emotional elements of their work. It will not focus explicitly on emotions and remote working (a response to C-19) but will draw in examples of resilience where possible.