Reflexivity in Academic Research

perspectives, practices, debates

Why reflexivity in doctoral research?

Do you see reality as something 'out there', as a law of nature just waiting to be found?

Or do you believe that knowledge is a social reality?

How does your own presence as a researcher influence what you are trying to un/dis/cover?

Are you part of the knowledge you are seeking or are you external to it?

How does your view of what knowledge is affect the way you research?

Do you have a clear theory that predicts what you will find out in your research?

Do you aim to change the thing that you are researching (policy, attitudes, institutions etc.)?

Why be reflexive at all?

• ‘In the social sciences, the progress of knowledge

presupposes progress in our knowledge of the conditions of knowledge.’

Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice (1990)

• ‘Reflexivity means interpreting one’s own interpretations, looking at one’s own perspectives from other perspectives, and turning a self-critical eye onto one’s own authority as an interpreter and author’

Alvesson and Skoldberg, Reflexive Methodology (2000)

Reflexive ‘turnings’

• Critiques of positivism (19th century)• Marxist theories of knowledge and power• Feminist theories of situated knowledges• Constructionist theories of scientific knowledge• Post-structuralist critiques of universalisms• Post-colonial theory of racial, imperial science• ‘Writing the world’ – anthropological critique• Action research, militant research, radical science

[1] Do people speak about problems of reflexivity in your discipline/area of research? In what contexts does reflexivity become a problematic?

[2] What are the prevailing attitudes towards theories of

reflexivity and reflexive knowledge production in your field?

[3] Do you consider yourself to be a ‘reflexive researcher’? Why or why not?

[4] Do you need to be reflexive? At what level – epistemological, methodological, methodical…political?

Reflexivity: key words

Reflection 1: the return of light or sound waves from a surface 2: the production of an image by or as if by a mirror 3: the action of bending or folding back 4: a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a

result of meditation

Reflexivity: key wordsReflective thinking is thinking about the process and parts of our research systematically, in depth, seeking multiple and alternative perspectives

Reflexivity is a state of thinking and being in which we strive to understand ‘the ways in which one’s own presence and perspective influence the knowledge and actions which are created’ (Fook in Bolton 2009: 14).

Critical reflexivity has a sociological and political edge; it is concerned with the social conditions of truth itself, and with problems of power in academic research.

Forms of reflexivity

• Introspective reflexivity / co-constructed

• Epistemic reflexivity

• Methodological reflexivity

• Sociological reflexivity

• Meta-reflection (deconstructive)

Embodiment and power

• ‘I am arguing for the view from a body, always a complex, contradictory, structuring and structured body, versus the view from above, from nowhere, from simplicity. Only the god trick is forbidden.’ (Haraway 1988: 414 in Delanty and Strydom)

• Seeking ‘an attention to ‘power inequalities that cannot necessarily be overcome, undone or even predicted, but that must be thought about and acted upon’ (Bondi 2009)

Practising

• Introduce your research topic, question, purpose and proposed methodological approach.

• Consider how different types of critical reflection could be applied – stretch your imagination!

• Where are there are agreements and insights? Where there are tensions, contradictions, disagreements or resistances?

• What elements of knowledge seem ‘off limits’ or outside reflection? What if they weren’t?

Texts

• What practices of reflexivity are being used in this piece?

• What ‘work’ do they do – in other words, do they allow us to understand anything differently, more deeply; do they raise new questions?

• How does this relate to debates in your own field/research? To your own (personal?) ontological and epistemological beliefs?

Reflexive practice (practice)

• Introduce your research topic, question, purpose and proposed methodological approach

• Consider how different types/degrees of critical reflection could be applied to problematise the research – stretch your imagination, help each other!

• Where are there agreements, where do practices resonate? Where are there tensions, disagreements, blockages? Why?

Contributors Scientists expressing deference

attracting NA WE IA EE EA RA LA

Deference

North America (79%) 40 60 33 53 37 49

Western Europe 18 (54) 15 24 25 28 33

Israel,Australia,NZ 1 3 (19) 1 3 4 2

Eastern Europe 0 2 2 (38) 3 2 4

Eastern Asia 1 1 2 4 (17) 4 2

Rest of Asia 0 1 2 0 0 (24) 0

Latin America 1 0 0 0 1 0 (11)

Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Contributors(3599) 677 760 47 496 114 629 876

Deference from scientists toward contributors

Thomas Schott (1998) "Ties between Center and Periphery in the Scientific World-System: Accumulation of Rewards, Dominance and Self-Reliance in the Center." Journal of World-Systems Research 4: 112 - 144.

X

Scientific Method Feminist methodology

HypothesisLocate the origins of

problematics – where do our research problems

and questions come from?

Materials & methodsUncover the purposes of inquiry (and further the

broader effects in a wider context)

ResultsInterpret hypothesis &

evidence

DiscussionEstablish relationship between inquirer and

his/her subject of inquiry

‘[A] feminist model of inquiry can change how we conduct molecular biology research in the reproductive sciences’.

[A] feminist theory ‘can influence the production of scientific knowledge at the level of epistemology and methodology.’

Roy (2004)

Get in touch

Dr. Sarah Amsler (CERD)samsler@lincoln.ac.uk

Bridge House 3019

Office hours to be confirmed in January