Who Am I Today? Roles Occupied While Conducting Feminist Informed Interviews With Women Who Use Drugs

There have been increased calls for researchers to be more attentive to how their ‘roles’ can influence participants and data generation processes. This remains uniquely true for those conducting research with women who use drugs and are housing insecure who experience diverse vulnerabilities. Despite these calls, there remains limited guidance for early career researchers who intend to engage these groups in research, furthering harm. Drawing on a reflexive analysis of a series of feminist-informed interviews conducted with women who use drugs and experience housing insecurity living in Ontario, Canada, I illustrate how diverse not attributed to me by participants shaped data generation. The roles I believe were attributed to me through the interviews include being a “ Service Provider, ” “Sensitive Listener,” “Relatable Person,” and a “Good Kid .” I argue that early career researchers must leverage practices such as reflexivity to consider how elements of one’s positionality influence researcher’s ability to achieve the goals of feminist-informed interviewing. This paper ends with guidance for early career researchers on how to create safe and inclusive research practices.