Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

Reflexivity is a process in which"... the researcher recognises and glories in the endless
cycle ofinteractions and perceptions which characterise relationships with other human
beings" (Delamont 2002:8). Educational research takes place in a social context. She
argues that the researcher should not "waste time trying to eliminate investigator effects",
but should concentrate on understanding those effects. Reflexivity should penneate all
aspects ofthe research process. Each researcher should be "constantly self-conscious
about her role, her interactions and her theoretical and empirical material as it
accumulates. As long as qualitative researchers are reflexive, making all their processes
explicit, then issues ofreliability and validity are served" (Delamont 2002:9).
4.6 INTO THE FIELD
4.6.1 Initial access
Negotiating access is part ofthe data collection process and should be properly
documented. It is often fraught with break-throughs and blockages that shape the research
process (Delamont 2002). The real world ofresearch is one ofconstraint and
compromise. A researcher has to continually negotiate further access to observe
classrooms and interview teachers and students. At a deeper level, access can be seen as a
process ofbuilding relationships with people within the organization. The aim is that
teachers and students learn to trust the researcher to the point where they are prepared to
be open and honest about their perceptions and beliefs. Access is thus never total, but
might be seen as an incremental continuum, where the researcher is gradually able to
move from initial pennission to enter buildings to a series of developed and trusting
relationships with some students and teachers. Access is always provisional as pennission
can be withdrawn at any time by principals, teachers, parents, or students (Walford
2001).
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