Reaching the hinterlands? COVID-19’s unexpected challenges to conducting participatory research on Inuit Arctic politics

Abstract

The Arctic is a strange sort of hinterland. While geographically distant from most global decision-makers, its role in global economics—and therefore politics—are increasingly centered in international dialogue. Early 2020, 2 years into a 4-year project studying the political organization and strategies of Canadian and American Inuit, a policy project’s research design and methodology were thrown into upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel to the Far North became impossible, and already stressed participants became at risk of even greater burnout. These changes necessitated rapid pivoting and methodological flexibility to finish data collection in a rigorous way to allow for subsequent trustworthy thematic content analysis. Subsequent methodological choices and use of digital technologies demonstrated the importance of design flexibility and benefits of data stream merging: findings validated across multiple data sources were more trustworthy. The process also necessitated continuous researcher self-evaluation of whether data collection practices truly enhanced the project. These lessons learned may inform future projects involving Indigenous communities or other populations at risk of disproportionate participant burnout and support the accessibility of projects involving remote populations. Further, they encourage centering research design choices around respect for participants.