research and theories of reflection

8/17/2019 Research and Theories of Reflection

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Research and Theories of Reection

Introduction

Theories of reection seem sparser than in other elds(excluding personality tests which do not focus specically onreection itself, but rather categorise or personality), especiallyconsidering that this is dealing with the personal constructionof knowledge rather than a subject of knowledge. urely thiswarrants more in!estigation by theorists, as it may shed lighton how knowledge, deri!ed from theories and literature, isprocessed and applied. "ot only this but it is at least asimportant to understand how people react and assimilateknowledge of the world, than it is a piece of knowledge itself.

#erhaps it is the apparent large scope of this that is a barrier to!igorous theoretical de!elopment$%nderstanding the importance of this area is a !aluablereection in itself, as it is such a natural human skill that it islikely that many people are unaware of how it occurs or whatbenet it is to us. &urthermore an attempt at trying toconceptualise the process of reection as part of 'experientiallearning, may allow us to structure our reection and itsapplication both personally and for the work en!ironment, assuggested in my initial thoughts on reection.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (1942)

ther theories may also help in de!eloping this process. Topological theories like *yers+riggs Type -ndicator (riggs+*yers /01) does not specically address reection or how wecan utilise it for personal de!elopment. 2owe!er it doessuggest that we prefer and tend to process an experience (ore!ent) in di3erent ways, characterised by4 thinking, feeling,

judgement and perception. The outcome of taking the test is

our categorisation as one of 5 'types of people that approachthe world in a similar way.

6lthough this may ha!e an application in understanding ourpotential strengths and deciencies in dealing with ourexperiences, it does not pro!ide us with a structure of how toimpro!e our personal circumstances. 2owe!er it may go as faras stimulating reection based on the traits deri!ed from themodel and thus point to how we might want to de!elop inthese constructs. This model is deemed too weak for

application howe!er, as it does not stand up to statistical


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scruitany (*atthews, 1770) and categorising the human raceinto 5 types is considered o!erly simplistic to say the least.

Ko! and "ry (19#$)

*any of the reecti!e models e!aluated adopt a cyclicalapproach (8ibbs, /99: 6tkins and *urphy, //0: ;olb and &ry,/espite this ;olb and &rys(/


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6s stated abo!e the comprehension and assimilation ofknowledge will !ary greatly from person to person. 6lthoughall of the stages are undoubtedly important, it is the reecti!estage that will form our understanding of the world, as well asthe beha!iour that go!erns our actions that we apply in ourdaily li!es. The idea of stages posed here is not representati!eof how we think and despite the assertion that the experientiallearning process can start at any point in the cycle (;olb and&ry, /


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This model takes into consideration that di3erent situationsinduce (and may re?uire) di3erent approaches and furthers;olb and &rys (/


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concepts. "e!er the less this is deemed the most successfulmodel of reection that has been e!aluated and hassuccessfully built on the pre!ious model.

%ohn (2''')

Dohn (1777) is useful in helping our understanding of how toactually reect and as such may pro!ide a useful addition tothe structure of reection suggest abo!e. 6gain it is importantto note here that context is king. 6s reection is an internal(as well as potentially externally directed e.g. to a mentor) it isimpacted upon by our emotions. This may mean that we areunable to clearly structure our reection, especially if theemotion is highly charged. This is interesting considering this

was produced for nurses to reect and may be why space and'focus is re?uired specically in the model. "e!er the less thisis likely to be useful in all situations, especially a remo!al ofthe immediate situation at work, as it dedicated time and e3ortto the reecti!e process.

>espite this Dohn (1777) suggests that we need to both @IookinA and @Iook outA. Be need to try and make sense of whathappens around us in order to make use of the experience.

This suggests to me that this is additional and separate from

our own feelings and perceptions of the situation.%nfortunately due to the our processing of e!ents, obtaining asubjecti!e !iew of the situation, without being inuenced byour thoughts and feelings is diFcult. This is perhaps why amentor or independent person is re?uired to pro!ide a degreeof objecti!ity and indeed people are obser!ed to nd talkingabout their problems easier. Jet this person would ha!e to alsoexperienced the situation in ?uestion in order to pro!ide thesubjecti!ity discussed here. 6s such it is suggested that@looking outA is more diFcult than it initially seems and again,

highly personal.

This issue of subjecti!ity run throughout Dohns (1777) theory,where of course peoples !iew on empirics also may di3ergreatly. >oes this mean that we are furthering our subjecti!e!iew of the world and can this actually lead to an insightfulreection if it is subject to our own minds as gatekeepers tothe process$ ubjecti!ity is undoubtedly necessary for ourinternal understanding and despite the risk of an insularconclusion from reection Dohns (1777) model pro!ides a

useful and basic structure to begin the reecti!e process,which is summarised here4


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1 "ind a space and thin a!out ho* you are feeingand *hat you are thining a!out

2 *hat happened in the situation and ho* *ere thepeope in&o&ed feeing+

, hy did I fee the *ay I did+

4 .id I act for the !est and *hat *as the !est *ay+

$ hat no*edge or e/perience coud ha&e infor0ed0y decision and actions here+

hat coud I do !etter and ho* *oud this 0ae 0efee+

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