UNIVERSITATEA „AUREL VLAICU” DIN ARAD
FACULTATEA DE ȘTIINȚE UMANISTE ȘI SOCIALE
PROGRAMUL DE MASTER „FAITH AND LIFE”
REFLEXIVITY IN RESEARCH
Leucuta Vlad Valerian
year 1, semester 1
Paper presented to
Prof. univ. dr. habil. Corneliu C. Simuț, PhD, ThD, DD
in fulfillment of the requirements for the course
Academic Ethics and Integrity
One of the values that contribute to a qualitative research is reflexivity, the ability
of someone being able to examine his or her own feelings, reactions, and motives, and how
these influence what he or she does or thinks in a situation. It is important because the
context in wich the researcher got his education and in wich the research it’s conducted
tend to bring an bias to the researches results. In fact, it is often said „The researcher is the
research instrument“.In qualitative research, it is assumed that who the researcher is makes
a difference in the findings of their study; objectivity is not present.1
ALWAYS ASK WHY
Reflexivity has been established as one of the ways qualitative researchers should
ensure rigor and quality in their work. “Reflexive practice can be some of the most
challenging and important work in qualitative research” 2 If a researcher clearly describes
the context of the intersecting relationships (ex: race, socio-economic status, age, cultural
background) between the participants and themselves, it not only increases the creditability
of the findings3 but also deepens our understanding of the work.
LEARNING REFLEXIVITY
Learning to be reflexive takes time and one gets better at it with each successive
encounter. This is a process of expanding ones consciousness to make what has been tacit
explicit. “Thus we construe reflexivity as an interactional process that creates changes over
time, through repeated awareness, reflection and action in relation to our similarities and
differences.”4
Reflexivity helps identify and explicate potential or actual effect of personal,
contextual, and circumstantial aspects on the process and findings of the study and
maintain the researcher’s awareness of themselves as part of the world they study.5
1
Joan E. Dodgson, Reflexivity in research, Journal of Human Lactation, 2019
2
Mitchell, J., Boettcher-Sheard, N., Duque, C., & Lashewicz, B. (2018). Who do we think we are?
Disrupting notions of quality in qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 28(4)673–680.
doi:10.1177/104973231774889
3
Berger, R. (2015). Now I see it, now I don’t: Researcher’s position and reflexivity in qualitative research.
Qualitative Research, 15(2) 219–234. doi: 10.1177/1468794112468475
4
Teh, Y. Y., & Lek, E. (2018). Culture and reflexivity: Systemic journeys with a British Chinese family.
Journal of Family Therapy, 40, 520–536 doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12205
5
Berger, R. (2015). Now I see it, now I don’t: Researcher’s position and reflexivity in qualitative research.
Qualitative Research, 15(2) p.221. doi: 10.1177/1468794112468475
2
EXTREMES OF REFLEXIVITY
As always, taking things to the extremes affects the outcome of the enterprise, and
also happens with reflexivity in research. Being too reflexive in doing research could result
in indecision and deviation from the purpose of the research, and altering the results of.
On the other side the lack, or the use of little reflexivity may lead to dogmatism, as
William I. Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas, stated in their book “The Child in
America”: "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"6
CONCLUSION
In other words reflexivity is a big virtue in research as it counters the biases the
researcher brings to her research. For the researcher it is important to have the ability to
stand back and look at his thinking and realize: “hey, maybe my view of reality is tainted
by my desires.” There is also a danger that reflexivity could be used to privilege a
theoretical or methodological standpoint by contrasting it to an unreflexive counterpart.
Learning the use of reflexivity is a process that takes time, and the quality of the research
performed increases with the better mastery of this virtue.
6
Thomas, W.I. (1938) [1928]. The Child in America: Behavior Problems and Programs. Knopf. p. 572.
