Introduction

Ethnography is a qualitative research method that relies foremost upon participant observation and immersion within a certain setting or community to gather in-depth data about the phenomena you are studying. Ethnography requires that the researcher partake in the day-today activities of the participants, spending an extended amount of time, usually a minimum of six months, within people’s lives, engaging in the same rituals and activities, eating the same foods, and fully immersing in the community being researched. Reflexivity is also is an important aspect of ethnography. Reflexivity is when the researcher/author’s own position and identity is acknowledged, specifically with the aim of examining how the author’s position/identity impacted the interactions they had and the way they experienced things. Researchers are human, and as such often enter into situations with subjectivities, preconceived notions and biases. These subjectivities and biases can limit what the researcher discovers, thus it is important to make specific biases explicit. This helps control biases which will allow the researcher to go in with focus and an open mind.

Why Reflexivity?

There are many benefits and reasons to practice reflexivity in Ethnography.[1]

4. Reflexivity enhances trustworthiness between the researcher, the participants, and the audience reading the results. It aids in building a high level of credibility and rigor in the work.
5. Researcher reflexivity helps understand the interpretive lens used when analyzing the data as well as helping the researcher decipher the role their social position, identity, etc., within the ethnographic process.
6. Positional Reflexivity helps understand how researcher positions in the social and research hierarchy impact the data collected.
7. Reflexivity helps undermine claim-making and clarifies the subjective nature of qualitative data collection. Ethnographic data is highly dependent on the researcher, and every researcher would gather somewhat different data researching the same community. This is because of researcher subjectivities which are pointed out in the process of reflexivity.

Reflexivity in ethnography also illuminates spaces where the researcher encounters cultural differences and convergences that are essential in understanding the nuances and intricacies of the community being studied. These insights are critical in ethnographic data collection.

Reflection vs. Reflexivity

Reflection and reflexivity, while similar are not to be confused as the same within qualitative research. Reflection is the act of learning and considering a belief or knowledge within a specific context. Reflection is often goal oriented and is aimed to question, re-evaluate, or re-think a certain practice. While reflexivity is informed by reflection, it occurs continuously with the goal of consistently recognizing and considering how our identities and socialization are reflected within our understandings of culture, position, and social reality.

Conclusion

Reflexivity is a critical part of ethnographic research. Ethnography requires researchers to spend an extended amount of time engaging in the same rituals and activities, eating the same foods, and fully immersing in the community being researched. Consistently acknowledging how the researcher’s perceptions of social reality, position, and biases impact the way that they experience the activities and culture of the community they are studying and the way that the community might react to them and influence the data collected is critical in building credibility, rigor, and ensuring that the reader understands the lens from which the data were interpreted. 

Take Away

Qualitative research, in general, and ethnography, specifically, require researchers to engage in reflexivity.  “Reflexivity is a continual process of engaging with and articulating the place of the researcher and the context of the research.” Providing a recognition of researcher reflexivity strengthens qualitative research, enhancing trust and building credibility.

[1] Barrett, A., Kajamaa, A., & Johnston, J. (2020). How to… be reflexive when conducting qualitative research. The clinical teacher, 17(1), 9-12.