Learning From Lived Experience: Similarities and Differences in Qualitative Analysis by Researchers With and Without Experiences of Parental Incarceration

There is growing recognition across disciplines that partnering with people with lived experience (PWLE) in research about conditions that affect their lives can strengthen research quality and impact. Participatory approaches (community-based participatory research, participatory action research) emphasize partnering with PWLE of inequities across all research stages with the aim of producing actionable recommendations towards social transformation of oppressive structures. There is, however, little research examining how lived experience shapes the qualitative analysis process when the researcher has lived experience of the inequity under study. Qualitative research has focused mostly on the benefits and challenges of being an insider in research, especially as it relates to the data collection process. To expand the participatory knowledge base on lived experience and its impact on qualitative data analysis, this study was guided by the research question: How do college student research teams with and without lived experience of parental incarceration differ and converge in their qualitative analysis and interpretation of the support needs of college students who experienced parental incarceration? Using a comparative case study design, we compared how college student research teams with and without lived experience of parental incarceration approached, analyzed, and interpreted data about the support needs of incarcerated parents from five focus groups (N=24) conducted with college students with lived experience of parental incarceration. The two research teams independently conducted thematic analysis of the same focus group data. Similarities and differences in codebook generation, analytic decision-making, and qualitative themes emerged. The PWLE team’s themes were actionable and systems focused, and highlighted the heterogeneity in young people’s experiences with parental incarceration. These findings have implications for health justice by demonstrating how involving PWLE in qualitative analysis can produce themes with direct implications for actions that can promote health equity.