Respond to the claim that reflexivity is the responsibility of every researcher, regardless of research approach. If you prefer, respond through video or voice. 

Conducting research can change a researcher in many ways. Through reflexivity, researchers have the opportunity to acknowledge the changes brought about in themselves due to the research process and see how these changes affected the research process. Researchers should acknowledge reflexivity is recognized as a significant part of research findings.

            In research, reflexivity pertains to the “analytic attention to the researcher’s role in qualitative research” (Gouldner, 1971, p. 16, as cited in Dowling, 2006) and is both a concept and a process. The idea entails self-awareness which means being actively involved in the research process and part of the social world being studied (Ackerly & True, 2010). The process is introspection on the role of subjectivity in the research process. It is a continuous reflection by researchers and their values while recognizing, examining, and understanding how their “social background, location, and assumptions affect their research practice” (Hesse-Biber, 2007, p. 17). Through reflexivity, the researcher becomes aware of contributing to the construction of meanings and lived experiences throughout the research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011).  Qualitative research is a rich source for experiences in reflexivity where reflexivity can enrich the research process and its outcomes.

            Let me examine four examples of reflexivity: personal, epistemological, critical, and feminist.

Personal: Reay (2007, p. 611) argues that reflexivity is “about giving as full and honest an account of the research process as possible, in particular explicating the position of the researcher in relation to the research.” Epistemological: The concept of reflexivity challenges the assumption that there can be a privileged position where the researcher can study social reality objectively, independent from the value-free inquiry. Ackerly & True (2010) posits that researchers have to take this commitment to reflexivity seriously: the use of constant reflections and review of theoretical approaches and perspectives. Critical: Critical reflexivity posits that the production of knowledge is entrenched in specific socio-political and cultural contexts. In other words, reflexivity allows the researcher to be critical about what is heard, written, and interpreted. Feminist: Reflexivity is used to look into power differentials within different stages of the research process (Hesse-Biber & Piatelli, 2007). Feminist research must consider reciprocity where researchers have to write and share how they experienced research, how they do their work, be it good or bad, and make visible the questions, complexities, and processes of doing research (Pillow & Mayo, 2007, p. 163).

            Although some may think reflexivity is the researcher’s responsibility and there is evidence to support it, perhaps others fear it would be unprofessional or intrusive to disclose personal characteristics or personal disclosure would be inconsistent with publishing demands. However, as stated by (Palaganas, Sanchez, Molintas & Caricativo, 2017), “It must become a duty of every researcher to reveal and share these reflexivity’s, not only for learning purposes but towards enhancing theory building.”

            Who knows, you may find yourself changed by the many aspects of the research process: listening well, participation, and your reflexivities.

References

Palaganas, E. C., Sanchez, M. C., Molintas, M. P., & Caricativo, R. D. (2017). Reflexivity in Qualitative Research: A Journey of Learning. The Qualitative Report, 22(2), 426-438. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2552

Ackerly, B., & True, J. (2010). Doing feminist research in political and social science. Palgrave   Macmillan.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research

            (4th ed.). Sage.

Dowling, M. (2006). Approaches to reflexivity in qualitative research. Nurse Researcher,

            13(3), 7-21

Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Piatelli, D. (2007). Holistic reflexivity. In S. N. Hesse-Biber (Ed.),

            Handbook of feminist research: Theory and praxis (pp. 493-514). Sage.

Pillow, W. S., & Mayo, C. (2007). Toward understandings of feminist ethnography. In S. N.

            Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Handbook of feminist research: Theory and praxis (pp. 155-172).

            Sage.

Reay, D. (2007). Future directions in difference research: Recognizing and responding to

            difference. In S. N. Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Handbook of feminist research: Theory and

            praxis (pp. 605-612). Sage.