{"id":322,"date":"2024-03-04T17:29:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/welspgr\/?p=322"},"modified":"2024-03-04T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:30:46","slug":"self-reflecting-on-approaches-to-self-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/welspgr\/index.php\/2024\/03\/04\/self-reflecting-on-approaches-to-self-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-reflecting on approaches to self-reflection."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Jon Tyson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As an experienced social worker and lecturer in social work education, I am very comfortable with the requirement of both self-reflection (asking thoughtful questions about self) and reflexivity (asking thoughtful questions about self and others) (Finlay in Kalu 2019:97). Indeed, to some degree the process of considering my practice and how it impacts others feels like a skill that is built-in to who I am \u2013 I am a deep thinker who considers what something might mean for me or someone else.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Problem: the risk of a tick-box approach to self-reflection using known theories<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to the familiarity of self-reflection, I was blas\u00e9 about what it would mean for myself as a researcher. The requirement didn\u2019t faze me; it all seemed routine because I have practised and taught it many times! <\/span>Donald Sch\u00f6n<\/span><\/a> talks about reflection \u2018in-action\u2019 and \u2018on-action\u2019, and reflection \u2018for-action\u2019 has been added more recently. I was happy to engage in this reflective process – before, during and after my research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kolb\u2019s model provides a helpful reflective cycle which moves from <\/span>concrete experience, reflective observation and abstract conceptualisation to active experimentation <\/span>(Kolb 1984).<\/span><\/a> Yet, often, students inaccurately apply this model to their practice; they aren\u2019t specific enough with the experience and then spill off in different directions, possibly because they have more to say than the confinements of this logical model. Neither practice nor research is neatly cyclical, and a more honest illustration of self-reflection might be a page of colourful scribble or a tangled ball of wool.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My preference is to use Gibbs\u2019 reflective model <\/span>(1998).<\/span><\/a> Although still cyclical, it points explicitly to considering personal feelings as a discreet element, and it is accessible and straightforward: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. However, these approaches didn\u2019t inspire me. Therefore, in my methodology section, I felt I was simply responding to a requirement to cover these topic areas rather than investing in the process. That is until I found Peshkin\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Solution: an alternative approach to self-reflection<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Peshkin\u2019s <\/span>article<\/span><\/a> is worth a read <\/span>(Peshkin 1988)<\/span>. He explains how he, as a researcher, could <\/span>personally<\/span><\/i> impact the research process and outcomes in different ways and moments. He documents his <\/span>\u2018subjectivity audit\u2019<\/span><\/i> and coins the term <\/span>\u2018Subjective-I\u2019<\/span><\/i> to describe how different elements of his \u2018self\u2019 impacted his research <\/span>(Simons 2009: 81).<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I allowed my self-reflection to be guided by Peshkin: to look for the <\/span>\u2018warm and cool spots, the emergence of positive and negative feelings\u2019 <\/span><\/i>(Peshkin 1988: 18) and to honestly connect with my personal qualities which may have the capacity to \u2018<\/span>filter, skew, shape, block, transform, construe and misconstrue what transpires from the outset of a research project to its culmination in a written statement\u2019 (Peshkin 1988: 17). <\/span><\/i>This approach seemed simple and honest:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n