Vital Researcher Conversations: Pivoting Past Impasses in Qualitative Research

In this article, we address the vital, yet largely ignored role conversations among researchers play in furthering qualitative research projects. We identify conversations as vital when they foster creativity and afford the researchers an opportunity for clearer focus. Through a close examination of four distinctly different qualitative research experiences, we show how these conversations open and deepen reflective relationships among the researchers and with the phenomenon being studied, both of which lead to a reformulation of the research process. Finally, we suggest that these kinds of conversations emerge out of relational contexts that honor personal meaning, care, openness, and even vulnerability among researchers.