Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon

written and to acknowledge that the researcher is part of the world which is studied
(O'Reilly, 2009).
The plurality of the researcher
Reflexivity demands reflections of the researcher about his or her values and beliefs.
Reflexivity accounts for one’s bias, instead of curtailing one’s voice (O'Reilly, 2009).
According to Creswell (2007) it is up to the researcher whether or not to actively
incorporate his beliefs and conventions in his research. However, in my view values
and beliefs are indissoluble from who you are as a person/researcher. It is impossible to
undertake any research as if there is a researcher apart from a person’s values and
beliefs. Values and beliefs are unavoidably present in the research. Denying their
presence is not indicated, rather a critical or reflexive stance regarding the impact of
their presence in the research is indicated.
Reflexivity concerns me having experiences – not exhaustive – as a parent, a friend, a
spouse, a male, a neighbour, a grown up, a colleague, a boss, a subordinate, a citizen, a
voter, a tourist, an amateur photographer, a reader, an intellectual, a student, a son, a
brother, a nephew, an uncle, a grandfather, a driver, a cyclist, a consumer, a body, being
white, of a certain age, being Dutch and European, a president of a foundation, a director,
an adviser, a brother in law, a layman musician, a television and a movie-watcher.
In reality ‘I’ am/are a multiple being which in some way is involved in my research. It is
an illusion to be able to be fully aware of how all these experiences influence my
research. Reflexivity might help. Intellectually I can acknowledge my idiosyncrasy but
not dodge it.
Reflexivity then is about trying to become aware of this plural me and about being
aware of the unavoidability of this plurality. Reflexivity is an enhanced attention for
what we are doing in our research and how this is intertwined with our interpretations,
decisions and actions we take regarding our research (Etherington, 2004). Reflexivity
enables transparency about what is known and how it is known, it is an
ongoing attempt to be explicit about your pre-understandings and de-familiarize your
situation (Brinkmann, 2012).
Reflexivity and becoming
In a general sense reflexivity should bring to mind how amongst others coincidence,
discontinuity and power bring forth social order (Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2009). In
this perspective social order is not a pre-given structure but is a temporarily situation,
a mobile situational and dialogical event among people in which social reality is formed
by emphasizing some and suppressing other subjects (Deetz, 1996), with as a
consequence that situations are never identical. To be reflexive Alvesson and Sköldberg
(2009) speak of playing off different levels of interpretation. By being reflexive the
way the empirical material is approached and interpreted and presented, becomes
allocated in an ideological context.
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