Reflexive Research Research Articles

‘Clean communication’: Felt-sense methodologies and the reflexive researcher in equine-assisted personal development

Sociological interest in research with nonhuman animals is growing, but theoretical discussion of the importance of ‘multi-species ethnography’ or ‘embodied empathy’ has not, as yet, yielded many practical, qualitative methods. Taking as its case study the systematic cultivation of ‘the felt sense’ in an equine-assisted personal development site, referred to here as The Forge, this article discusses what role our bodies should play in ethnographic research with nonhuman animals if we wish to approach, in the words of Vinciane Despret, ‘what matters’ to them. In particular, it explores the potential of the ‘felt sense’, worked through somatic-emotional and attentional practices, for achieving greater researcher reflexivity in the field. Using stories, drawings and videos from the research site, I show that finding ‘clean communication’, a place from where the horse’s active voice can begin to be ‘heard’, requires an embodied, reflexive methodological labour that, following Beth Greenhough and Emma Roe, I describe as ‘experimental partnering’. This understands the horse’s behaviour as phenomenologically co-produced, rather than as an object of study, but nonetheless requires clients to cultivate a critical distance from their emotions and assumptions. I argue that the practical techniques employed have methodological relevance for human–animal relations in the field.

'Pretty cathartic actually': Reflections on the attempt to reduce re-traumatization of researchers and nurses taking part in a longitudinal interview study.

To critically evaluate the concepts of harm and re-traumatization in the research process and to explore the ethical implications of conducting research on distressing topics using our research on the experiences of nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic as an exemplar. Longitudinal qualitative interview study. Using qualitative narrative interviews, we explored the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses' psychological well-being in the UK. To reduce the potential for harm to both research participants and researchers, the members of the research team were keen to establish ways to reduce the power differential between the researcher and participants. We found that our collaborative and team-based approach, with participant autonomy and researcher reflexivity embedded into the research framework, enabled the sensitive generation of data. Reduction of potential harm for both participants and researchers in the generation of at times highly distressing data with a traumatized population was achieved through a respectful, honest and empathetic approach within a team that met frequently for reflection. The research participants were not harmed by our research, instead they expressed gratitude at being given space and time to tell their stories in a supportive environment. Our work advances nursing knowledge through accentuating the value of giving autonomy to research participants to control their stories whilst working within a supportive research team with emphasis placed on reflexivity and debriefing. Nurses working clinically during COVID-19 were involved in the development of this study. Nurse participants were given autonomy over how and when they participated in the research process.

Reflexivity and Positionality in Research: A Book Review of 'Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka

Reflexivity and Positionality in Research: A Book Review of 'Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka

Qualitative Investigation of K-6 Administrators’ Perceptions of Nature- Based Learning

Although nature-based learning (NBL) contributes to the development of students, its inclusion in elementary schools is inconsistent. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore elementary administrators’ perspectives of and experiences with NBL, its support of elementary student development, and its inclusion in elementary schools’ curricula and design. A basic qualitative design was used to capture the insights of 10 elementary administrators through semistructured interviews. Emergent themes were identified through open coding, and the findings were developed and checked for trustworthiness through member checking, rich descriptions, and researcher reflexivity. The findings revealed that NBL is supportive of child development and builds experiential learning but is not widely used.

Nine Women: Collages of Spirit-Collages of Self

Collaging invites the twists and turns of meaning-making and insight. This Reflexive Inquiry illuminates the collages of nine artist women and celebrates the potency of harnessing Creative Consciousness through meditation, collaging, and dialogue. We aim for balance between juxtaposing evocative imagery, poetic rendering, responding with creative critical social justice understanding, and humility in this undertaking to evoke feeling and insight. The metaphor of the canoe crossing the river illustrates this journey. The fiercely powerful women in this inquiry were provided a pathway to heal from internalized injustices, empower themselves to take positive action, and discover a harmonized state from within.

Research as care: Positionality and reflexivity in qualitative migration research

This article analyses the implications of qualitative research on migration in terms of reflexivity and positionality. In particular, it presents research as care, revolved around three main critical nodes of reflection: the epistemological importance of emotions, intersectional positionality and the ethics of care. Drawing upon the insights concerning a qualitative research on migration in Italian shrinking areas, the contribution underlines the importance of conceiving research as a process of negotiation. Moreover, it shows how positionality in qualitative migration research is not static but flexible, and is conditioned by different emotionalities emerging during the fieldwork. In this sense, the continuous negotiation that exists between researchers and participants can imply affectivities and kinship that valorises the relationships created during the research.

Dilemmas of the activist-researcher: Balancing militant ethnography, security culture, and reflexive ethics in Australia

Ethnographic practice in contentious and high-risk spaces raises important ethical and methodological questions. When working with grassroots activists who actively avoid forms of surveillance, the boundary between consensual observation and potentially harmful documentation becomes difficult to discern. This article aims not only to identify the gaps in qualitative research methodologies for scholars working with grassroots activists, but also to think of practical ways in which researchers should mitigate concerns both for participants and themselves. Based on fieldwork in Australia, the author explores the ethical, methodological, and emotional dilemmas of conducting research with activists as a militant ethnographer. The article argues that activist-centred project designs must consider the challenges between the researcher's mandate to collect data and their responsibility to uphold security culture both in and outside activist spaces. Reflexive research ethics, further, should be a part of ongoing research engagement to address the emotional tensions overlooked in standardized ethical protocols.

Reflexive Quality Criteria: Questions and Indicators for Purpose-Driven Special Education Qualitative Research

Qualitative research (QR) has gained visibility and acceptance in the field of special education due to early efforts to identify quality indicators focused on technical and methodological aspects of QR. Whereas these indicators focused on credibility and trustworthiness of data, this article articulates additional QR quality indicators to enhance the value and power of researcher reflexivity as a means to expand the capacity of purpose- and equity-driven special education research. First, the need for reflexivity criteria is addressed. Next, reflexivity criteria are operationalized in key questions that engage researchers in self-reflection: (a) Why do QR? (b) By whom, for whom, and with whom is QR being conducted? and (c) Who is affected by the benefits and costs of QR? These questions encourage researchers to grapple with the complexity of experiences, outcomes, and structures associated with special education and ultimately advance more equitable policy and practice.

Emancipatory approaches in couples' intervention research.

A lack of diversity exists in couples research with an overrepresentation of white, middle to upper income couples. Additionally, researchers often do not reflect the study sample, particularly when studying underrepresented minority and historically marginalized (URM-HM) populations. Emancipatory research practices focus on language, processes, and practices to ensure that researchers and the research they conduct honor and contribute to the empowerment of the URM-HM research participants. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss five critical considerations with recommendations for emancipatory research practices for including couples from URM-HM populations. The aim is to provide a framework for researchers to critically reflect on their work with URM-HM populations. The research practices include: (a) research positionality and reflexivity; (b) understanding of the population being served; (c) power and empowerment; (d) accountability, voice, and participant engagement; and (e) research that benefits URM-HM populations and challenges the systems that perpetuate inequities. Additionally, we present practical strategies to implement these five considerations based on our own experiences conducting community-effectiveness studies with low-income and diverse couples.

Learning to say ‘no’: privilege, entitlement and refusal in peace, (post)conflict and security research

In this forum, we focus on the possibility and necessity for active refusal in research, and the complexities of refusal. We offer four different perspectives, based on our shared concerns and understanding of the harms caused by some field research, and driven by our engagement with and membership in some of the communities experiencing this harmful fieldwork in peace, (post)conflict and security settings.Drawing on feminist, queer, indigenous, anti-racist and decolonial literatures and interventions, we seek to further a practice of refusal as an essential component of researcher reflexivity Our various positionalities and privileges, and the research entitlement they can bring, necessitate grappling with refusal: we must do better at saying ‘no’. We must also be careful about the ethics of refusal itself: Who gets to say ‘no’ to whom? What comes after the refusal? We hope our interventions encourage more of these conversations and (more importantly) practices.Refusals can be an important ‘full stop’ that interrupt exploitative relationships, and that challenge neoliberal and neocolonial conditions of knowledge production. But they can also be generative of different ways of sharing knowledge, leading to new partners and locations, new conversations that cross the boundaries between the imperialist categories of the researcher and the researched, and new relationships outside of research and outside of work.

Challenging perspectives: Reflexivity as a critical approach to qualitative social work research

Reflexivity is acknowledged as a crucial concept and is pivotal in the methodology of qualitative research. Various practices of reflexivity are adopted in the social science disciplines. However, the concept is difficult to pin down and the challenge for researchers is to address how to become reflexive and do reflexivity in research practice. In social work, reflexivity has further been developed and applied in practice contexts. The practice terms, critical reflection and reflection or reflectivity are interrelated in ways that aim to explain reflexivity in the profession which, in turn, can offer an enhanced understanding of reflexivity applied in research. This exploratory article promotes practising reflection – questioning, analysing and evaluating oneself in employing reflexivity in all the research stages: methodological construction, data collection and data analysis by undertaking three key self-focused activities: (1) thinking about one’s own thinking; (2) observation of emotions/thoughts, role boundaries and power dynamics in research relationships; and (3) exploration of perceptual experiences. Maintaining the reflexive stance is achieved through reflectivity. The article is largely descriptive but draws on experience in a doctoral study of cultural competence and promotes the effective use of reflexivity in qualitative social work research.

Quality of reporting for qualitative studies in pediatric urology—A scoping review

Qualitative research has gained popularity in pediatric urology due to rich data and insights about quantitative results. To date, there has been no study evaluating the comprehensiveness of the reporting of these studies based on established guidelines. The objective of this study is to perform a scoping review of the quality of reporting in recent qualitative studies in pediatric urology based on a predominant checklist, the 21-item Standards of Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) and identify areas for improvement. In accordance with the Preferred Reported Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews, we performed a systematic literature search to identify qualitative studies on pediatric urology topics published from 2015 to 2021. We used clustering technology to eliminate articles with unrelated keywords. Articles not in English and those published prior to 2015 were excluded. Two reviewers performed title/abstract screening and full text review and resolved discrepancies by consensus. We reported the median and interquartile range of total SRQR scores (maximum: 21). SRQR-reported items were summarized; overall proportion of reported items for each article was estimated. Bivariate analyses examined the association between study characteristics and SRQR tertile. Simple linear regression was performed to examine the relationship between year and SRQR score. Of the 2562 titles/abstracts screened, 26 studies were included. The most common topics were hypospadias and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (Summary Figure). The median total score was 18.0 of 21 possible items (interquartile range: 3). All studies reported an abstract, problem formulation, purpose/context of the study, data collection methods, integration with prior work, limitations, and ethics review board approval. Most (25/26; 96.2%) reported sampling strategy, data analysis, synthesis/interpretation of findings and links to empirical data. Less fulfilled items included: a title identifying the study as qualitative (11/26, 42.3%), qualitative approach & research paradigm (11/26, 42.3%) and researcher characteristics & reflexivity (9/26, 34.6%). There was no association between study characteristics and SRQR score. There was a statistically significant increase in the SRQR score during the study period (β=1.0, p<0.0001). Studies fulfilled most SRQR checklist items. There was significant improvement in quality during the study period. Limitations include possible recency bias and exclusion of articles due to inconsistent categorizations in Pub Med. The quality and trajectory of qualitative study reporting in pediatric urology is encouraging. SRQR standards should be implemented by journals to continue improving the robustness and transparency of future qualitative manuscripts in pediatric urology.

Inching forward, lunging back. A duoethnographic poetic inquiry into practitioner experiences of health and ill health

This contribution is, in essence, a collection of poems that the two authors wrote over a period of four weeks. The temporal element is interesting. It speaks to a commitment to “go on” (Wittgenstein, 1953) at a time of illness and recovery. Duoethnography, as collaborative activity, invites new meaning by layering what could be seen as separate narratives and creating a dialogue between the evolving stories. This enables new meaning to evolve and intertwine. Undertaking an inquiry through poetry was an important decision. The intention being to provoke and promote creativity, to generate feelings of wellbeing at a time of depleted energy. Writing to and with each other was both an act of generosity and an act of self-preservation. Mutual support, maybe one way to frame it, but it was also outward looking, connecting with how we practice as therapists, how we are in the world, the causes we care about, all part of the awkward dance of living with health challenges. The poems provide their own context in a way but we have wrapped prose around the main body of the paper which is written in stanza. We feel the poetry offers a window into individual, seemingly separate experiences of ill health and a developing shared narrative of “going on”. Through the writing process, it has become clear that the poetry benefitted from the scaffolding of prose, to give the reader greater insight into the structure and sense making process. The language of inquiry speaks to what we learnt/are learning about ourselves through the process, rather than describing a research project with particular anticipated outcomes. The reflections are contained within the poems and expressed through limited words but expansive feeling. Poetic inquiry aims to humanise research with an emphasis on lived experience and researcher reflexivity. In this case the researchers and their research material could be seen as one and the same thing, an “entanglement of matter and meaning” (Barad, 2007, p. 1). But they might also be seen as separated by time and space. Since writing the pieces, new space has developed between illness and life unfolding, life that includes our practices as therapists. And new space has developed between the feelings we experienced at the time, the words we chose to convey them and how we feel now, looking back. Time and space may offer differing lenses, but maybe not. The paper as a whole is an example of writing from within lived experience, written in poetic form. The form supported the authors to write their way through illness and into new territory of living with and beyond life impacting health conditions.

Merging critical disability theory with Post-Colonial hybridity theory: a widened lens and implications

This article will briefly introduce the traditional disability studies project through the social model of disability and how its inherent theoretical limitations became the impetus to perpetuate a need to adopt critical disability theory (CDT) to expand the intellectual arsenal of the discipline. Being a reflexive inquiry that resists domination that oppresses people with disabilities, CDT’s reach produced work in conversation with other areas of critical social thought and inspired this paper to explore how post-colonial work – particularly Homi Bhabha’s hybridity theory – can be incorporated into CDT’s paradigmatic views of power. This paper concludes by addressing some of the debates and cultural implications that stem from conceptually merging CDT and post-colonial hybridity theory to frame how it can reimagine the possibilities and trajectories of a global disability movement.

Decolonising dental educational research: reflections from a white researcher.

While there is an emerging scholarship on decolonising dentistry, the debate about reflexivity, positionality and white privilege in dental educational research and practice is still at a developmental stage. This article aims to contribute to this nascent debate by contemplating the question- is it appropriate, or possible, for a white researcher to undertake decolonisation work in dental education? If so, what would it entail or 'look' like? To answer this important question, the author offers a reflective account of their ethical and epistemological journey with this very question. This journey begins with how I, a white researcher, first became aware of the everyday racism experienced by my racially and ethnically minoritized students, the whiteness of dental educational spaces and how my white privilege and position as a dental educator consciously and unconsciously implicated me in these processes of exclusion and discrimination. While this revelation led to a personal commitment to do better in my practice, both as an educator and a researcher, I continue to struggle with my white ignorance and white fragility as I strive to make my work more inclusive. To illustrate this, I discuss an ethnodrama project on everyday racism that I lead on and how, despite choosing a more democratic research method, hegemonic whiteness continued to make its presence felt through my 'going it alone' method of work. This reflective account reaffirms that regular and routine self-reflection is key to ensuring that racialised inappropriate and damaging assumptions, frameworks of thinking, and ways of working are checked for. However, my praxis won't evolve through critical introspection alone. I need to be open to making mistakes, educating myself about racism and anti-racist practice, asking for help and guidance from my minoritized colleagues and more importantly, committing to working with people from minoritized communities rather than on them.

The Affordances of Videoconferencing Technology for Doing Interviews With Children Online: Methodological Explorations Based on a Critical Ethnography

In this article, we engage with the concept and theories of “affordance” in the adoption of digital tools to perform qualitative inquiry. We first raise the question of what is afforded when we use online digital tools such as Zoom to interview young children (5–10 years old) and then draw on empirical examples from our multi-sited critical ethnography with transnational Chinese children to illustrate our key methodological points. We lay out three dimensions along which the concept of affordance can be conceptualized: the relational, the embodied situational, and the social-cultural. We discuss the potential to map out a critical approach to enable qualitative researchers to practice reflexivity in technology-mediated qualitative research.

Nurse researcher identity and reflexivity in interpretive phenomenological analysis: a personal narrative.

Nurses have a significant part to play in research. However, novice nurse researchers face difficulties in transitioning into research roles. These difficulties can affect their sense of identity, their clarity of role and the research process. To highlight how reflexive processes enable novice nurse researchers to develop self-awareness, overcome tensions and navigate their dual identities as they transition into researchers. Participating in reflexive activities when conducting research provides the researcher with a biography of the experience. It also encourages the examination of thoughts and feelings that can inform and enhance the quality of the research, as well as the confidence of the researcher. Transitioning from nurse to researcher can be complex and present professional and ethical dilemmas, creating conflict when nurses adopt and adjust to the new role. Reflexivity offers opportunities to identify and examine these dilemmas and tensions, as well as support for nurses as they move into research roles. Nurses hold onto their professional identities as they transition into research, viewing the researcher identity as complementary to their initial clinical professional identity. This dual-professional identity connects healthcare and research, but also creates challenges for nurses, so should be given more attention. More research is needed to examine the path from nurse to researcher and why nurses remain committed to their professional nurse identity. As nurse researchers are becoming commonplace in healthcare, research education programmes need to include strategies to help novice nurse researchers navigate the tensions between their nurse and researcher identities.

Reflexivity in nonprofit management research: A reflection on the role of self as researcher

AbstractDrawing on three diverse case studies, the research note illustrates the use of reflexivity as an advantageous research strategy and its implications for nonprofit management and leadership research. Reflexivity is both a product and a process, that highlights a mutuality between researcher and participants in creating collaborative knowledge through intentional information exchange. For nonprofit organizations, reflexivity offers a research method that extends the sector's community‐based participatory approach. On the surface, nonprofit organizations are comfortable with diverse research methodologies. The multifaceted systems, interactions and processes that characterize nonprofit organizations require researchers to incorporate standard methodologies alongside more complex dimensions of participants' lived experiences. This paper highlights why reflexivity is a viable social constructivist research method relevant to the nonprofit management research collaborative approach.

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

This article contributes to the growing literature on researcher reflexivity by broaching the often-ignored issue of religious positionalities within political science, as well as speaking to the methodological implications of researching religion more broadly. We present and compare two autoethnographic case studies of research on politico-religious conflict in Vietnam and Lebanon, exploring how a researcher’s religiosity presents unique fieldwork challenges, opportunities and insights. We then discuss the ambivalence faced by religious researchers within the highly secularised academic environment, thus blurring the artificial dichotomy between ‘the field’ and the academy. Our reflections centre around three findings: (1) the importance of taking an intersectional approach which neither essentialises nor ignores religious aspects of positionality, whilst also being sensitive to spatial and temporal shifts in how they interact with a researcher’s gender, ethnicity, class and other identifiers; (2) the opportunities and perils of a researcher’s apparent religious common ground with participants (or lack thereof) in building rapport and negotiating a degree of insider status; and (3) the similarities and differences between suspicions of religious partialism during fieldwork and within academia.

Sharpening reflexive practice in health professional education research

This paper focuses on the methodological practice of reflexivity. It critically explores previous works within and outside the field of health professional education research that seek to guide and inform researchers about reflexivity. Using illustrative scenarios, this paper will describe what reflexivity might look like in practice and ways in which reflexivity may contribute to strengthening future work. To finish, challenges of reporting reflexivity, including achieving a balance of credibility and vulnerability with respect to researcher reflexivity will be discussed. In sum, this work seeks to provide readers who are new to reflexivity, and those with experience, with some new ways of thinking about reflexivity that they might take forward into their research.