KEYS FOR A REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN QUALITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH

Abstract

Reflexivity has traditionally been considered as a highly useful methodological tool in qualitative research in social sciences, especially in fieldwork. Nonetheless, we defend the relevance of transcending this perspective by positioning reflexivity as a transversal practice. Understood as such, reflexivity facilitates the grasping and appropriation of the hermeneutic situations of those who participate in the relational dynamics of an investigation. It entails critical observation and the transformation of power relationships allowing the embodiment of a situated knowledge with concrete implications as to the knowledge generation. Hence, this article will present the ontological and epistemological considerations of this approach. Alongside with the relational turns required to materialize its premises, methodological resources for its implementation will be addressed, too.