voi Cesin virtue epistemology, some of it focusing on skills as well as beliefs (Brady and
pritchard 2006; greco 2006).
since all research is affected by the selves (relationships, circumstances, perspectives
and reactions) of the researcher, making these as clear as possible to the audience is
one way of exercising academic virtue and removing bias. it may not be obvious how
this is to be done. nobody can be transparent to themselves, especially with regard to
their basic assumptions and perspectives on the world. We have our being in relation
to an indeterminate number of social groups. moreover we are caught in social and
political contexts that we cannot fully understand. We are embodied which means,
as merleau- ponty (1962) pointed out, seeing the world while being unable to see
ourselves. arendt argues that it is to others that we reveal our identities when we act.
Reflective practice and reflexivity are two of the ways in which the audience
can be given a means by which to evaluate the influence of a researcher’s values
and perspectives. Roughly, ‘reflective practice’ attaches more to the relational self
embedded in time and place, and as becoming what it is not yet. ‘Reflexivity’ attaches
more to the relational, embodied self in a specific social and political context: to his or
her individual perspectives and positionality.
Reflective practice is associated with a set of research practices, including Reflective
practice, action Research, action inquiry and self- study. autoethnography may
also be a reflective practice as in the case of giddens and Jones. Reflective practice is
carried out by the self or selves who are found in the thick of it. it is a passionate inquiry
(dadds 1995) which uses a range of means of symbolizing personal and inexplicit
understandings, attitudes and reactions. For instance, Cancienne and snowber (2003)
discuss how this occurs through dance as well as through writing. doloughan (2002)
discusses how reflection on a range of multi- modal projects in art and design required
multi- modal expression. Furthermore, reflective practice is a means of tracking the
changing self as it becomes what it was not. The elements of time and space are crucial.
The specific and changing context is explored, as reflections in one place connect
with thinking in another, over time, with all the changes in the self and its practice
acknowledged.
Reflexivity is linked to the social/political, relational self becoming what it is not yet.
exercising reflexivity involves paying explicit attention to the specific perspectives of
the researcher. perspective refers to the context which influences what a person can
see and how they interpret it. it may indicate theoretical positions especially those
which indicate political value systems (e.g. feminist, socialist, marxist, anti- racist,
post- colonial and queer research), and it may indicate positionality which refers, more
narrowly, to the social and political landscape inhabited by a researcher (e.g. gender,
nationality, race, religion, sexuality, [dis]abilities, social class and social status). it also
involves making explicit those personal and professional relationships which may have
influenced the research.
Reflexivity requires an attempt by the researcher to be self conscious about his or her
own (or the research team’s, and/or the research funder’s) social, political and value
position and positionality, in relation to how these might have influenced the design,
execution and interpretation of the theory, data and conclusions (marcus 1994; griffiths
1998; greenbank 2003). such self- consciousness needs to acknowledge that the self is
not fully transparent to itself, so enough description of the researcher needs to be given