Examining Research Issues of Power and Privilege within a Gender-Marginalized Community

This research practice article presents the ethical dilemmas and decision-making of a White transgender researcher (Author A), who conducted a qualitative case study of resiliency among three transsexual women of Mexican origin who worked as entertainers in south and central Texas. The study, conducted within a community in which both the researcher and participants were a part and in which they had all experienced varying degrees of marginalization, presented a number of unique characteristics from the onset that became more embedded as the study developed and concluded. In the absence of a guiding body of literature from her own profession, Author A leveraged ethical guidance from a multidisciplinary body of literature. We present this article in an effort to guide best practice in conducting intragroup qualitative studies