Reflexivity. The Bioscope evaluates its own pedagogical activities and its functioning to get closer to the principles set out in its Charter of Values. Source: xxxxx://xxxxxxxxxx.xxxxx.xx/bioscope/bioscope-2/presentation/ [Xxxxx: facilitator in community health citizen science project] She carries out participatory actions where it is the population who detects and identifies the needs they have and they propose and organise actions and solutions. In this case, the role of facilitator is to accompany and facilitate with the resources available to those solutions that the community wishes to carry out. Her purpose is to maximize the strengths that the community has. Interestingly research suggest that the most participatory communities (both in decision-making and in action) are the healthiest. She thinks a good practice is to design projects that put the focus and emphasise the individual and collective capabilities to allow connections among others. [Xxxxx: facilitator of biodesign activities in The Netherlands] A project can start in a very different ways. Xxxx is a middle crowd organisation. They look into impact of technology of society. “Can we empower citizens?” By giving access to new technology they can give citizens voice to talk to local governments or by helping them to get data. In the case of DNA or IA, there is a lot of attention in the media, but it is complicated, and it is super important that citizens engage in these discussions with knowledge so they decide to focus on that and develop projects in that area. Xxxx looks for social controversial things and issues in society and society problems and they create the program or decide the project to do. They are a project-based organisation, so as soon as they detect there is a topic that is important for society they start developing a project around it. One thing that is important for a long-term engagement with the groups is “expectation management”: what they can expect for you. She says that you have to be very clear and honest about it: even if you have a lot, your expertise is always limited so you can never guarantee that you will succeed. In citizen science projects, you need some mentality in the people that we engage, because outcome is not certain so people need to understand it since it is a collective research. Results of WP2 interviews
Reflexivity. What seems to be a core element in establishing the much needed validity in ethnographic research is applying reflexivity, which is commonly used as a methodological tool in qualitative research in order to legitimize, validate and question research practices and representations. Qualitative researchers use reflexivity as means of addressing the politics or representation related to the research, represent difference better (Wasserfall, 1997) and establish ―ethnographic authority‖ (Xxxxxxxx, 1995, p. 229). Pillow (2003, p. 175) calls for a shift from ―comfortable‖ uses of reflexivity and towards what she terms uncomfortable reflexive practices‖. This notion of uncomfortable reflexivity is about ―whether we can be accountable to people‘s struggles for self-representation and self-determination‖ (Xxxxxxxxxxx, 1994, p.32) and is viewed as beneficial to the research itself. As Pillow (2003, p.193) stresses: ―the qualitative research arena would benefit from more ‗messy‘ examples, examples that may not always be successful, examples that do not seek a comfortable, transcendent endpoint but leave us in the uncomfortable realities of going engaged qualitative research‖. Consequently, reflexivity draws upon researcher subjectivity in the research process: how does who I am, who I have been, who I think I am, how I feel, affect data collection gathered, presented and interpreted, or, in other words, how knowledge is acquired, organized and interpreted is relevant to what the claims are (Xxxxxxxx & Xxxxxxx, 1998). Naturally, to be reflexive ―demands both an ‗other‘ and some self-conscious awareness of the process of self-scrutiny‖ (Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxxxx, 1996, p. 130). As Lather (1993, p.685) states, there are ―few guidelines for how one goes about the doing of it, especially in a way that is both reflexive and yet notes the limits of self reflexivity‖. Definitions of reflexivity are varied: Xxxxxx (1999) defines it as engaging in an ongoing conversation about a subject or experience while simultaneously living it in every moment. Other researchers like Freshwater and Xxxxx (2001) inherit a more post-modernist approach according to which reflexivity implies that scientific research is not an accurate window on external reality; it is but one ―truth‖ among many (being loyal to the postmodernist school declaration that there is no ―objective truth‖ out there). In this case, the function of research is not to present an analysed theory about the world, but is more of an opp...
Reflexivity. Being of black ethnicity (though from a different background as an African migrant) and being a health professional, I had to apply a lot of reflexivity to allow data speak to me rather than rely on my previous knowledge or similar experiences to draw conclusions for the participants. I had to apply a lot of reflexivity to separate my own beliefs, expectations and interpretations from the information the participants were giving, to accurately report what was being demonstrated in the data by participants and not my own deductions and assumptions
