Reflexivity in the field

So far, our examination of reflexivity has stayed largely theoretical and structural. In focusing on Bourdieu, the feminist contribution to method, and various other examples, the previous chapters have sought to provide the reader with a concrete rationale for doing reflexivity, to highlight how it is a potentially political process within research, and to introduce some of the myriad ways it can emerge as a research issue. This chapter, however, moves on to more empirical material. It draws on recent in-depth social science research to demonstrate how reflexive issues can arise in social research and how different researchers negotiate these issues. As proposed in Hammersley’s (2013) and Dixon and Singleton’s (2013) recent explanatory work, one of the best ways to communicate methodological issues and approaches is to use well-rounded and fully fleshed out examples to show how problems and opportunities arise in the research process and are dealt with. Therefore this chapter presents four recent social science research projects and discusses how, in each case, the author struggled with and tackled the issues raised by being reflexive, while managing potential biases and subjectivities. The four pieces of research, two by British academics and two by American academics, are: Mitchell Duneier, Sidewalk Hannah Jones, Negotiating Cohesion, Inequality and Change Lisa Mckenzie, Getting By Shamus Rahman Khan, Privilege Just as in Homo Academicus, where Bourdieu’s inherent cognizance of the universe under study was both a research asset and an obstacle (Wacquant, 1989), in each of these books the author grapples with negotiating their personal position, and their knowledges and absences, while carrying out excellent academic research.

Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Pure mathematics · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Management and Organizational Studies · Mathematics · Philosophy