Concept Of Reflexivity Research Articles

The words may limit our understanding: reflexive research, affect and embodied writing

Drawing on a reflexive and embodied approach, this article examines the researcher’s narrative inquiry, consisting of the conflicting feelings and messy thoughts that arose through her interviews with adults who had experienced child sexual abuse. The article highlights how embodied writing can enable access to other worlds by activating the physical senses and bringing researchers back to core bodily ways of knowing; these latter may be evoked by preconceptions, entangled discourses and social views and taboos concerning child sexual abuse. The article speaks to the emerging field of Embodied Critical Thinking and the concept of emotional reflexivity in qualitative research on sensitive, challenging and difficult topics.

Impact and effects of the patient-centered approach in diabetic patients: A neuro-educational approach adapted to the concepts of empowerment and reflexivity

This study aims to assess the impact and effects of PCA on diabetic patients within a neuro-educational framework that aligns with the concepts of empowerment and reflexivity, demonstrating its influence on patient satisfaction and the development of cognitive and behavioral skills. Conceptually, the patient-centered approach (PCA) offers the possibility of implementing a neuro-educational approach for diabetic patients (WHO). However, the key question is its practical application in general practice. A neuro-educational approach to PCA was tested on a sample of 50 diabetic patients selected by 5 general practitioners. The aim was to adopt a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach, use global listening to understand patients' points of view, offer personalized advice, establish common ground on objectives, and identify the needs and obstacles affecting their management. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to examine the processes involved in changing behavior and acquiring skills. The study revealed a significant positive response, as well as the acquisition of reflexivity and autonomy skills in the majority of diabetes patients. Some patients showed a significant improvement in their sense of self-efficacy. However, a minority expressed resistance to this new support strategy. Ultimately, the educational approach within the PCA enabled diabetic patients to adapt and modify their behaviour, thus contributing to the acquisition of valuable skills. At the end of this study, PCA, enriched by other psychotherapeutic approaches, emerged as a systemic therapeutic support process that could be accessible to all general practitioners, teachable, and the subject of further research.

Climbing the ivory tower: agency, reflexivity and the career pathways of care-experienced academics in higher education

AbstractThere has been increasing interest in understanding the higher education experiences of students who spent time ‘in care’ as children, who tend to have to overcome strong barriers to educational success. Care-experienced students often thrive in higher education, although little is currently known about those who build on this success to pursue their own academic career. This study sought to explore the educational trajectories and working lives of care-experienced academics in the UK for the first time. We used an online survey to identify potential interview participants, leading to 21 semi-structured online interviews. This article reports the findings from five of the eight themes developed through thematic analysis, focusing primarily on the diverse pathways into and through academic careers. We used Archer’s concepts of reflexivity and the ‘internal conversation’ to explore agency, enablements and constraints. Most participants highlighted the disrupted nature of their schooling, although school was a place of safety and success for some. Pathways into higher education were heterogeneous, including a group who had used their ‘expertise through experience’ to forge academic careers in disciplines like social work and psychology. Career precarity was common and particularly challenging without family ‘safety nets’. Our participants tended to show high levels of self-reliance and/or willingness to seek help, coupled with a scepticism around long-term planning. We argue that these factors are shaped by early lives and lead to specific forms of reflexivity, concluding that universities need to recognise care experience as a status deserving of additional career support.

Meaning of work as a personal emergent power[?]: developing theory based on a critical realist study of Sri Lankan workers

ABSTRACT Research on the `meaning of work', especially concerning the Global South, is scarce. This paper aims to reduce this scarcity by applying critical realist meta-theory to the work and life history interviews of workers in Sri Lanka. A key discovery is that finding meaning in life through work is a personal emergent power and that, as such, it explains the way that individuals consciously manoeuvre their life-journeys towards a desired end - a modus vivendi - in a dialectic which involves both emergent structural change (morphogenesis) and agency. This paper also reveals that Margaret Archer's theory of reflexivity, based on interviews with Western individuals, cannot be transferred rigidly to the reflexivity of Global South individuals, and therefore more work on reflexivity within this context is required. This paper therefore makes a theoretical contribution to the existing meaning of work scholarship, and it extends existing understandings of the concepts of reflexivity and emergence.

Reflections on a cross-cultural interview study

PurposeThe aim of this article is to address some aspects of a cross-cultural interview study conducted in a PhD research project. This is done by reflecting on and discussing the influence of language and culture on the research process, as experienced by the researcher.Design/methodology/approachThe experiences have been taken from an interview study with fifteen American participants in which the researchers were Norwegian. The interviews were conducted in English.FindingsBy offering insights into experiences of the research process in a cross-cultural interview study, the article connects the discussion to the concepts of positionality and reflexivity. These concepts are found to be especially relevant when managing differences between the researcher and participants in cross-cultural studies, and for improving the trustworthiness of the research.Practical implicationsThe experiences and reflections discussed in the article may be useful to other researchers in similar (cross-cultural) research contexts and situations.Originality/valueThis article has been inspired by the experience of conducting research in a second language and in a different country. By drawing on a researcher’s point of view, this article reflects on these aspects when working as a visiting researcher doing international research.

The Biranian Spiritualism of Alexis Bertrand: A Philosophy of One’s Own Body?

Abstract Focusing on the reception of Maine de Biran by Alexis Bertrand in his thesis, L’aperception du corps humain par la conscience (1880), I will demonstrate how the “corps propre” (one’s own body) becomes a key concept in order to re-orientate the French spiritualist movement. To do so, Bertrand’s neo-Biranism uses a new methodology with phenomenological issues. The image of the body, the primitive space or the engagement within the world becomes new research themes for spiritualism. His interpretation of Biran’s philosophy leads him to criticize mechanistic epistemology, and especially the concept of reflex. In this context, Bertrand proposes an animist metaphysics, aiming to reconcile his Biranism with the advances of science. As a consequence, the history of the concept of one’s own body must take into account metaphysical perspectives and not only scientific and experimental researches.

Exploring Duoethnography in ELT Research Ecosystems: Accessibility, Misuse, and Further Horizons

Duoethnography is an approach to qualitative research in which two researchers engage in dialogue to understand how a particular phenomenon has manifested differently in their lives, and in so doing, aim to come to a new understanding of that phenomenon. In this paper, two applied linguists from different research backgrounds, and with different priorities, engage in a metaduoethnography to explore what they each find of value of the method for their separate research programs. Through dialogue, they uncover what first drew each of them to duoethnography, and go on to both praise and problematize the accessibility of the method. Following this, they use the concept of the “research ecosystem” to investigate the role duoethnography plays, or may play, in their separate and evolving research programs, particularly focusing on the concepts of reflexivity and praxis. It is hoped that this exploratory dialogue may resonate with other researchers, and assist them in evaluating the benefits of duoethnography for their work.

Reflecting in/on social professions: the critical potential of rhetorical reflexivity

ABSTRACT This paper explores the critical potential of rhetorical studies to inform a concept of reflexivity for social professions. In response to an increasing turn towards technical notions of professional identity across social professions, a renewed critical emphasis on reflective practice, critical reflection, and reflexivity positions professional practice as inevitably an interpretive and discursive endeavor. Despite the growing attention to professional discourse in the current reflection-debate in the social sciences, thus far there has not been a comprehensive exploration of how rhetorical studies can deepen our understanding of reflexivity and can stimulate reflexive attitudes in social professions. Building on conceptual and empirical research in the domain of ‘new rhetorical studies’ as well as on my own research, I examine the various methodological and pedagogical tools rhetoric offers to encourage students to reflect on the interpretive and discursive dimensions of their practice and discipline in critical and productive ways. I argue that a strengthened intersection between rhetorical studies and social sciences can add to the knowledge base on critical and reflexive professional attitudes by deepening our understanding of human interaction in the social world and of how knowledge about this social world can be reflexively produced and mediated.

Reflexividade como princípio – ou por que o eu não pode ser abolido

Based on an analysis of the thought of Kant, Fichte and Hegel, the article aims to show the centrality of the concept of reflexivity as a principle of knowledge and, therefore, as a fundamental tool for thinking, against the naturalistic vision, about both the self (and subjectivity) and the sciences themselves in contemporary times. Reflexivity is revealed here as a concept specific to the classical German philosophy.

To study island China

As greater attention has been paid to island research in China, interactions between Chinese and international island scholars have increased. However, research has tended to take an ‘islands of China’ approach, which perceives China as a continental country surrounded by a large number of islands. The present paper proposes an alternative ‘island China’ perspective, informed by selected Chinese traditions of thinking about islands and the sea, that captures the role islands have played and continue to play in Chinese culture. Drawing upon Fei Xiaotong’s reflexive concept of ‘cultural self-consciousness’, we consider the cultural history of island China, including conceptual tensions between the binaries of continent/island and center/periphery, conceptions of land dwellers and water dwellers, the role of islands as hubs of cultural transmission, and the formation of maritime societies across East and Southeast Asia. We also argue that this cultural history ought to influence island governance in China today.

From qualitative reflection to reflexive quality: an intersectoral approach to quality of care

Background: All over the continent, organizations in healthcare and welfare are increasingly being challenged to be transparent about what they are doing and to provide evidence regarding the results they achieve. Some organizations choose to develop policy and practice based on a variety of indicators and strictly scientifically based criteria. In this perspective, quality of care is measured against the background of those standardized indicators. Other organizations consider care as a craft or even an art which is impossible to capture in strictly standardized norms and indicators. In such organizations, scientific knowledge is often seen as subordinate to the experiential knowledge of service users and practical knowledge of staff members. Hence, quality of care is measured by – amongst other things – proximity and involvement with service users.
 Within Emmaüs vzw, an organization that overarches a variety of facilities in the fields of healthcare and welfare in Belgium, forces were joined to develop a new framework for quality of care in which an effort is made to transcend the contradiction that is outlined above. In order to do so, the experiential knowledge of service users, the practical knowledge of staff and research based knowledge were combined and considered to be equally valuable in tackling issues regarding quality of care.
 The project: Building on participatory action research with service users, their social context, staff members, policy makers and academics, we co-constructed a value-driven and intersectoral framework for quality of care that is underpinned by rhizome theory (Guattari & Deleuze, 2014). The ecological approach to quality of care entails an effort to capture and do right by the complexity that characterizes the fields of care and welfare. Furthermore, we connected the concepts of quality and reflexivity in a meta-model that can be used to fuel quality improvement across healthcare en welfare organizations. In our project, service users and staff were involved as respondents and as co-researchers. We use the CAIMeR theory (Blom & Morèn, 2010) as an analytical framework to describe processes of change and to capture effective practice. Although the project is still ongoing, our research shows that the intersectoral framework is widely accepted across organizations in youth care, mental healthcare, elderly care and support of people with disability. Recently also a general hospital expressed their interest in our intersectoral framework and reflexive meta-model.
 Presentation: We will present the highlights of our co-constructed framework for quality of care and the reflexive meta-model that is currently piloted in different organizations.
 Learning objectives: After this session, participants will be able to:
 
 Understand how participatory action research can help further policy and practice on quality of care across healthcare and welfare organizations.
 Understand how the reflexive meta-model we developed can be used in practice.

Between Academia and School: Habitus Reflexivity as One Way of Dealing with the Theory-Practice Tension in Teacher Education

Teacher education’s primary goal is to train prospective teachers, which differs from study programmes, such as philosophy or mathematics, that do not cater to defined professions. This traditional understanding of the teaching profession becomes apparent when students ask: ‘How is this content, topic, method, task, or question relevant to school work?’ It is also reflected in the inclusion of practical school training in teacher education curricula. In Austria’s teacher training, these practical elements are accompanied by theoretical and methodological teaching foundations. However, students often question the applicability of theoretical knowledge to the teaching profession, which creates tension between the academic and pedagogical orientations. This paper discusses these very theory-practice tensions in teacher education based on findings from the project Habitus. Power.Education, which involved student teachers at an Austrian university. We argue that teacher training at universities is neither merely a place for producing a future workforce nor a self-growth space without purpose. Teacher training, rather, combines both (sometimes ambivalent) elements: education in its broadest sense and professional training. Using our empirical material, we show that the theory-praxis gap manifests in the tension between academic and pedagogical orientation. To address and mediate this tension, we propose the concept of habitus reflexivity. Promoting such a form of reflexivity among students makes it possible to bridge the gap between the different logics of university and school. Furthermore, it helps to comprehend inequality and power imbalances in the education system and develop agency, which is essential for navigating the ever-changing and complex world of modern schools.

Dark Side of Institutional Entrepreneurship in Latin America: Vistas from Reflexivity

Abstract Entrepreneurial development in Latin America is varied and complex. The concept of reflexivity can be used to investigate the complexities of the entrepreneurial system in Latin America; however, it has rarely been used in entrepreneurship, which refers to finding strategies to question our attitudes, thought processes, values, assumptions, prejudices, habitual actions, and understanding how we relate to others. To explore reflexivity and how this area can provide support to reimagine Latin American entrepreneurial dynamics, a literature review was conducted, and two theoretical models were proposed that show the complexity of the region and routes where reflexivity can foster a path for the region to change and advance its entrepreneurial efforts.

Resisting climate change vulnerability: feminist and decolonial insights

In climate politics, understanding and contesting the meaning of vulnerability has proved extremely difficult. On the one hand, it is an increasingly formalised term that means something very specific scientifically and methodologically within the climate change institutions. On the other hand, vulnerability is part of a colonial discursive framework of risk. In this article, I show how contestations into the scientific project have not sufficiently worked to address the colonial geographic imaginaries that underlie the discursive framework of vulnerability. I suggest that bringing together the work of critical adaptation studies (CAS) with critical feminist and decolonial scholarship, such as the counternarratives of the Pacific,offers a way to resist the victimising politics of disposability and also rethink vulnerability as a concept of resistance, relationality and reflexivity.

Emotional reflexivity in the time of COVID-19: working-class emotional practices

We share findings from a qualitative study on emotions in Scottish working-class households during lockdown. The results challenge existing research focused on emotional capital, which often suggests that working-class people struggle to provide emotional resources to those close to them. Using the concept of emotional reflexivity we show how these household members cared for each other’s feelings, challenging deficit views of working-class emotionality. This research offers a novel understanding of working-class participants collaboratively making space for each other to feel, many favouring acts of care rather than talking. The COVID-19 lockdown, however, tended to reinforce gendered practices of emotion work, although some participants drew on emotional support beyond the household to try to mitigate this burden. The emotionally reflexive practices seen in these households suggest that sustaining more equality in emotional wellbeing relies on navigating material circumstances, is not always about verbal sharing, is often an interactional achievement, but also means resisting unrealistic expectations of intimate relationships within households as the fountainhead of all emotional succour.

A sociologist in the field of social work: Pierre Bourdieu’s theory and its relevance for social work practice

The literature considering Bourdieu’s social theory and its relevance for social work is multifaceted and growing. An evaluation of this body of work is now pressing. This critical literature review explores 34 published works on this subject. Six themes emerged from a thematic analysis of the corpus: (1) the intersection between class and poverty; (2) power and symbolic domination; (3) neoliberalism and the state; (4) reflexivity; (5) relations between social workers and other professionals; and (6) the critique of Bourdieu’s thinking and its relevance for social work. The findings show that Bourdieu’s social theory can augment critical and radical social work, especially when the concepts of habitus, capital, field and reflexivity are embraced. Significantly, though, it was discovered that the ‘symbolic’ part of Bourdieu’s theory had been incompletely covered and required much more attention, as it is integral to the understanding of oppression in society.

Cultivating Digital Reflexivity as Resistance to Digital Dualism: Doing Digital Ethnography with U.S. Congregations During the covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract This article reflexively reviews methods for training researchers developed during a national studying of thriving congregations in the United States during the covid-19 pandemic (2020-2022) as a case study on doing digital ethnography (ethnography that uses digital methods to study and engage critically with digital culture). The article outlines the importance of digital culture (expressions of identity offline are not separate from online formation; see Campbell 2012) and digital dualism (outmoded assumptions about binaries between online/offline spaces; see Jurgenson 2011) for doing digital ethnography, and argues that as long as digital dualism lurks not only among congregations, but also within researchers and their methodologies, it undermines knowledge of congregations. Therefore, the article develops the concept of digital reflexivity (the interrogation of one’s own digital cultural experiences, identities, and power, in tension with one’s relationships), arguing for its usefulness for ethnographic studies of congregations, practices of congregational ministry, and theological education.

A Southern Feminist Approach to the Criminology of Mobility

While much of the mobility of displaced populations is within the Global South, the scholarship around the criminology of mobility is largely United States/Eurocentric. This article proposes a Southern feminist ethico-political lens from which we can view or engage with the criminology of mobility. The article first highlights the epistemological bordering processes and its implications in academic knowledge production. It then discusses the multifaceted processes of state bordering and the ways in which they produce difference and othering. The article further explores the role of transversal and situated intersectional feminist politics to undo them. It offers epistemological and methodological possibilities by engaging with concepts of reflexivity and accountability, vagueness and fuzziness, spatio‑temporality, embodiment and resistance. It argues that reconfiguring our understanding of these concepts in light of the research experiences within South Asia, a Global South context, will offer crucial ontological, epistemological and methodological insights for the criminology of mobility and lay the groundwork for a Southern feminist approach.

The influence of the Milan approach—Part 2. The legacy of Boscolo and Cecchin and their Paduan connection: A conversation with Andrea Mosconi

AbstractThe Milan approach, pioneered by Selvini‐Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, and Prata, has significantly contributed to the field of psychotherapy, particularly in the realm of systemic and family psychotherapy. While rooted in systemic principles and concepts, over time the original Milan group demonstrated differences in their clinical orientations and practices which led to their regrouping into two teams. The paper explores the divergences in their views and directions on family dynamics and the role of symptoms within the system. It delves into the influence of Boscolo and Cecchin, two of the ‘Milan Four’ on the Centro Padovano di Terapia della Famiglia. Drawing from a conversation with Andrea Mosconi, a mentee and collaborator of Boscolo and Cecchin, the paper examines the reconfiguration of the original ‘Milan Four’ team and its impact on their clinical approach. Key Milan principles and concepts such as hypothesising, circularity, and neutrality are examined with particular emphasis on the work of Boscolo and Cecchin's systemic work. These principles, intertwined and interconnected, provide a fertile ground for the construction of multiple hypotheses and circular questioning. The paper also highlights the concept of reflexivity, which originates from Bateson's work and plays a crucial role in family relations and communication while explaining the birthplace of paradox taking place when two levels of meaning are ‘confused.’ The Milan approach continues to be highly regarded, as its early concepts and ideas have evolved and left a lasting impact on the field of family therapy. By reflecting on the distinct contributions of Boscolo and Cecchin, and using examples, Mosconi offers valuable insights into the rich legacy and ongoing relevance of the Milan approach to contemporary therapeutic practice.

Complex reflexivity: practices of women full professors in neoliberalised academia

This article examines the case of women full professors in a gendered and neoliberalised context to propose the concept of complex reflexivity. This concept refers to an internal conversation and accounts for the practical way in which people may ponder their ambiguities and contradictions. This paper presents the concrete experiences and practices of some women professors in relation to the institutional structure. The research is based on fieldwork conducted between November 2018 and December 2020, which includes interviews with 24 professors, as well as an ethnographic study. Their complex reflexivity combines adapting to the precarious conditions, rebuscar (unusual ways of getting resources), perceiving envy from their peers, and, at the same time, dealing with the administration, reducing the time dedicated to academic tasks, and developing caring and careful practices. With their actions, the professors navigate the shortcomings and conflicts in the university, but they also modify these supposedly immovable conditions.