A Reflexive Method for Validating the Results of Qualitative Analysis

Ranjan Vaidya

doi:10.11648/j.ss.20180705.14

Abstract

One of the central arguments of Pierre Bourdieu is that social science researchers should reflect not only on the research object but also on the subject. How to achieve this? This question also relates to the calls for the operationalisation of reflexivity. This study addresses this research question. The aim of this study is to present a method for operationalising reflexivity. The study is an empirical study of an agricultural marketing board in India. The board controls over two hundred market yards of the state. These yards are specialized wholesale commodity markets where the agricultural commodities are traded. The major stakeholders in the trade are farmers, government officers, traders, and private vendors. The board implemented an agricultural marketing information system project that intended to interconnect the yards by modern day information technology. The data for the study are collected in form of semi-structured interviews with these stakeholder groups. The study uses a qualitative methodology based on the constant comparison method. Using this method a set of constructs is identified. These constructs are scrutinised through the lenses of reflexivity. Finally, a framework is presented that can guide the operationalisation of reflexivity. The five step framework compares the empirical data from the field with the data about the researcher. The framework helps in establishing the validity of research results as the same research methods are applied to both the research phenomenon as well as the researcher. The paper contributes to the discussion on the operationalisation of reflexivity.

Highlights

Critical research paradigm is one of the three fundamental research paradigms in information systems research [1]. It is the only approach amongst interpretive, critical and positivist approaches that stresses on emancipation, empowerment and transformation of research subjects as well as the researcher [2, 3]. Such transformation is brought through the use of reflexivity - an essential ingredient of critical research [2]
Reflexivity is useful in information systems research, and the approaches based on critical approach are identified to be most suited to its nature [4]
A central argument in his work on reflexivity is that social science researchers should objectify the research phenomenon and their own persona

Summary

Introduction

Critical research paradigm is one of the three fundamental research paradigms in information systems research [1] It is the only approach amongst interpretive, critical and positivist approaches that stresses on emancipation, empowerment and transformation of research subjects as well as the researcher [2, 3]. Reflexivity is useful in information systems research, and the approaches based on critical approach (such as critical realism) are identified to be most suited to its nature [4]. This approach has remained an under represented paradigm in information systems research.

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