On the Value of Various Correspondences in the Research Process

Abstract

This article, which is informed by a study of secondhand clothing retail, aims to reflect
methodologically on various correspondences surrounding sources and correspondences
between sources and a researcher. The article discusses the influence such correspondences
might have on interpreting, perceiving, and explaining the researched phenomenon of secondhand
clothing retail. It reviews what authors of various sources focused upon while photographing,
writing, or talking about mostly Slovene and Slovak commission shops. It also
exposes a part of the author’s research process, discusses public media’s agenda, and questions
what affected either researcher or media contributors to address the selected parts of
the researched topic. The author claims that care and the possibility of changing perceptions
result primarily from the emotional, moral, or political correspondence between, for example,
the researcher’s values or interests and those of various sources. Therefore, an individual’s
auto-reflectivity and sincerity are a crucial part of the research as well as a process
of interpretation.