Reflexivity in Qualitative Research

Abstract

This chapter seeks to extend current knowledge relating to the role of reflexivity as an innovative research method. The authors consider the significance and importance of reflexivity within market research and aim to emphasise the advantages and contexts in which it should be applied. The intention of reflexivity within market research is to extract and accumulate richer, authentic, and more emotive data from research participants. The authors outline the significance of considering researcher reflexivity within qualitative research but then extend the concept by suggesting that we should in fact evoke informant self-reflexivity as a means to accumulating a richer description (Geertz, 1973) and interpretation of the phenomena under investigation. The authors then discuss the importance of co-researcher reflexivity where the researcher and the study participants co-create knowledge, as they collectively and actively engage in the research process with an equal interest. The findings offer significant insights into the significance of researcher, informant, and co-researcher reflexivity and argue that the use of researcher and informant self-reflexivity contributes to producing multiple voices, as well as data triangulation within market research.