Qualitative Research and Reflection

Reflexivity and Researcher's Voice In Qualitative Research

A key feature of qualitative research is that the entire research process involves reflection and the researcher has a primary role in the research. According to Watt (2007) and Ritchie et al. (2013), a qualitative research is done with the primary objective being to understand and get insights on human phenomena, aspects of and nature of human experiences and the dynamic nature of process-oriented elements in human live. As a result, qualitative research is interpretive and doing a qualitative research means questioning the way humans experience the world and understand better the world. Qualitative research would therefore be credited for presenting us with the plausible possibility of understanding that makes the living-experience better and improved contact with the world.

Despite the crucial role of qualitative research, this type of research doesn't involve following rules, as the case with quantitative research (Watt, 2007; Knapik, 2006). However, the absence of rules and guidelines, should not be construed for anything goes or wholesale relativity. The absence of rules and guidelines simply means researchers often have to conduct their research within guidelines that incline towards an "it depends" model (Watt, 2007). This means that, researcher using qualitative methods have to work within a model in which ambiguity has to be accommodated and at time, valued. This means in some situations, the researcher will not get definitive answers because they are not available and they cannot be expected and further discussions, debate, and disagreements are always present.

This fact that definitive answers cannot be obtained and that further discussion and debates will exist, even during the research process means the researcher has to continuously synthesis new information and determine how it affect the research. This brings in reflection, a distinguishing feature of qualitative research. Reflexivity is a process that involves examination of both the researcher as part of the research, and the relationship with the research (Lewis, 2015; Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015; Phelan & Kinsella, 2013). For the researcher searching the self means examination of the conceptual baggage, presumptions and assumptions, and how these impacts on the decisions made in the research, especially on the selection and the wording and structuring of questions used in the data collection tools. These are vital because they are the basis of researcher's bias. Reflection on the research relationship involves the researcher's relationship with the respondents, and how the dynamics of the relationship impact on the responses provided by the respondents.

Reflexivity is important because, the researcher being a human being is prone to biasness. One therefore has to be careful, open, and honest about the research experience. However, how does one really overcome bias when they have formed a pre-conception about a topic, especially when they have lived or experienced the research topic?

Reflexivity and researcher's voice in my project

In my research project, the primary objective as with any qualitative research will be to understand the meaning and the truth of the research phenomena. This means even though the truth is out there and it can be established through research, meaning and understandings are not stable and not fixed. As a result, when initiating the research process, several assumptions about the truth are vital. First, it is assumed that the truth is not sitting waiting to be discovered, even if the right questions are asked. Second, as a researcher, I do not expect the questions of the research tool to be objective and I don't expect the responses provided by the respondents to be straightforward, to have definitive meaning, and mirror a definite singular reality. The assumption is that all respondents provide answers that are culturally and interactively constructed (Ritchie et al., 2013). This is because respondents are not isolated from the society, rather, they are located in a social setting that is defined through gender, age, race, class, and other ascrptive features.

In this project, I am interested mainly with how meanings are produced and reproduced with a specific social setting. The process of collecting data, be it through an interview or through observation is simply a meaning-making interaction therefore, the data collected in a qualitative research requires reflexivity by laying bare pre-conceptions and assumptions and being conscious of situation related dynamics that as the researcher and the respondent will be involved in producing knowledge (Phelan & Kinsella, 2013; Ritchie et al., 2013). Reflection in my project will therefore be a major and useful process in limiting or possibility limiting researcher bias.

In the process of my qualitative research, I expect there to be emergent findings that will emergent not just in the last stage of the research, but in the process, especially the data collection stage. In my research project, emergent findings will be used to inform and improve on subsequent process, especially interviews and analyses (Lewis, 2015). Through reflection, I will be able to revise my questions appropriately, and reframe the research topic to reflect the emergent findings adequately. However, to ensure that emergent issues do not impact on the questions and the research topic adversely, I will use literature review and a pilot experiment as a foundation to inform on the data collection questions and the topic.