Can a failed research become the object of research? I am working on a paper on social conditions during the pandemic, and have been using mixed methods. Unfortunately, the qualitative data collection process has been a disaster as I was unable to conduct any interviews. The reasons given for declining interviews were mostly due to pandemic disruptions. As such, I am now wondering if it's possible to do a reflective analysis instead, by arguing that the failure to collect qualitative data is in fact an indication of the real-time state of affairs?
I haven't quite been able to find relevant precedence and am unsure if there's an established methodology for this sort of &quot;reflective analysis&quot;? If anyone could point me in the right direction, that would be greatly appreciated!
Meta-science/meta-research is the discipline that deals with studies that use the research methods to study research itself. Its currently quite en vogue, I don't know if you could make your study fit into this category.
Personally my two most successful papers are about what would have been quite mundane studies but anomalies in the analysis lead me to identify problems with the way data was commonly analysed across the whole field.