Stephen Mitchell

See the purpose here:
https://stephenamitchell.wordpress.com/2020/05/04/research-journal-the-first-step/

Today I am beginning the second part of the module; led by the Professor of Social Work and Education; all based around exploring reflexivity as a theory.  To start, a quick comparison to something which I will most definitely confuse, the link and difference between reflection and reflexivity:

Reflection: thinking about something
Reflexivity: a deeper form of reflection, which allows you to assess situations continually and dynamically – stepping into a situation and being aware of your impact upon it.
The literal definition of reflexivity is ‘bending back on oneself’.  

Reflexivity is about recognising the impact you will have had on a research project and actively engaging and challenge it to validate the research process.  This impact can be thought of as ‘the ghosts of yours research’ (Smith, 2020).  By engaging with the ethical limitations you hold as a researcher, you can indeed better explore the subject area.  If this is at all possible?  This all comes from a bid to make all research ‘scientific’ – which, in my limited understanding, is not possible.

I am thinking of it as a black box (kind of!), it’s about dissecting the decision making processes used to guide your research by removing the emotional aspect of it.  It is then about challenging and confirming these as ethically correct choices.

Positionality plays a part here, and the article: Reinharz, S. (1997) ‘Who am I? the need for a variety of selves in the field’ in R. Hertz (Ed) Reflexivity and Voice, London: Sage pp. 3 – 20 gives a good starting point for exploring the possible ‘selves’ we might bring to our research which could make decision making subjective.

All in all, Reinharz introduces 20 selves both as researcher and on a personal level.  Although I have not dissected this in great detail, I will continue to do some reading around the concept of reflexivity.  I guess the starting point is about being clear what it actually is that your positionality or values would bring to research that would require some form of reflexivity? 

I’m going to explore this paper and see if it sheds a light on anything (it directly links to ProfDoc)
:https://www-tandfonline-com.libezproxy.dundee.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/14623940802431523