Reflexive introspection: Methodological insights from four ethnographic studies

Abstract

This article contributes to scholarly knowledge relating to the methodological significance of reflexivity within consumer research by bringing fresh insights relating to the interplay between researcher and informant self-reflexivity. Findings from four ethnographic studies help us to extend our understanding of reflexivity within the data collection phase of interpretive research by explaining how the researcher and the researched can contribute to, and therefore impact the research environment significantly through a variation of reflexive practices. Reflections on our previously conducted ethnographic data sets reveal four reflexivity positions located at the intersection of the researcher and the informant: (1) co-researcher reflexivity, (2) informant controlled reflexivity, (3) researcher controlled reflexivity, and (4) liminal reflexivity. Within this context, we reveal how knowledge is co-created or co-produced by both the researchers and the informants. We then make some suggestions for addressing challenges faced by researchers within these reflexivity positions and the associated practices.