Constructing Interpretations with Participants Through Epistemic Network Analysis: Towards Participatory Approaches in Quantitative Ethnography

As societal changes have brought forward issues of equity and social justice that challenge powered dynamics, participatory research approaches have gained traction. In quantitative ethnography (QE), recent calls have highlighted the potential of this approach to expand existing methods and imagine new tools for more collaborative ends. To address this new direction in QE, the purpose of this study was to describe how we used epistemic network analysis (ENA) discourse networks in interviews with pre-service teachers to build interpretations of qualitative data with them. We argue that ENA is a promising methodological tool for researchers and participants to co-construct deep data interpretations. Our findings suggest that discussions of ENA discourse networks provide a space for researcher-participant collaboration to co-construct interpretations of data by modifying codes, adding connections, and reacting to codes. Based on our findings, we contend that a participatory quantitative ethnography (PQE) approach that includes participants in data analysis requires a reconceptualization of QE tools specifically designed for co-interpretation.