Inside-Out Interviews: Cross-Cultural Research in China

The use of local facilitators in cross-cultural research in Chinese cultural contexts has been encouraged, and yet there is a paucity of research exploring the impact that this may have on data collection and knowledge creation. Addressing this gap, this paper provides a critical reflection on conducting interviews in cross-cultural research in China. The author reflects on the experience of doing research as an outsider to the culture of the participants and the consequences of later working alongside an insider in a Chinese cultural context. While insider and outsider positionalities are formed from a multitude of intersectional characteristics, both gender and nationality emerged as primary influencers in this context. This article contributes to the methodologically oriented literature by making salient the complexities of deciphering the multitude of influences originating from the researcher's own positionality in relation to research others. Reflexivity is also promoted as a tool to explore how and why knowledge is created. While reflections incorporated here are based on qualitative research, this argument extends to quantitative research and demands as researchers we incorporate a thorough reflexive account of our knowledge creation practices in order to produce more transparent and arguably honest outputs.