Unraveling the proverbial patchwork quilt*: Identifying and analyzing the challenges of an international, multi-site research partnership

Abstract

Working on the Tikkun Youth Project for its entire duration, I was able to fully immerse myself in this multi-site, international, collaborative project. While it has been a very fruitful experience, working on such an expansive project comes with its challenges. Through this paper, I employ an autoethnography approach where I hone in on my experiences as the author and research assistant on this project, while exploring my own process and positionality in the project to identify the challenges that exist with this type of endeavour. I utilize three categories for this autoethnographic exploration: cultural, structural, and interpersonal/professional, as identified and outlined by Martin, Craft, and Tillema (2002). This paper aims to provide commentary about valuable lessons that were learned from this reflective process that could potentially provide perspective and recommendations to other individuals who may be working on or thinking about working on an international collaborative project in the future.