Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Ontologically reflexive research is to be approached as research in which dissensus,<br />
orientati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> local and emergent processes are points of departure through which<br />
c<strong>on</strong>flicts, lost or marginalized voices, ambivalence and diversity are made visible or<br />
audible (Deetz, 1996). This research represents a style of thought which is focussed <strong>on</strong><br />
becoming instead of being, <strong>on</strong> relating instead of positi<strong>on</strong>ing and <strong>on</strong> organizing instead<br />
of organizati<strong>on</strong> (Chia, 1995).<br />
In this reflexive process themes emerge and are scrutinized, leading to making sense<br />
of experiences which can be of interest for the researcher and others. This sense-making<br />
may result in a powerful example (Flyvbjerg, 2001), through which a nuanced<br />
view <strong>on</strong> occurrences within a practice becomes visible. It is the move towards exemplary<br />
knowledge of abducti<strong>on</strong> or phr<strong>on</strong>esis through which understanding a problem in<br />
its c<strong>on</strong>text becomes possible (Thomas, 2010).<br />
In this reflexivity the researcher takes resp<strong>on</strong>sibility for the many interpretati<strong>on</strong>s and<br />
choices he made, through which interpretati<strong>on</strong>s of what could have been and can be<br />
become possible. Explicitly describing the reflecti<strong>on</strong>s during the research process<br />
makes it possible to keep up with the learning process of the researcher and to make<br />
transparent how changes in understandings evolves in research practices over time<br />
(Flyvbjerg, 2001). In general qualitative researchers acknowledge that their texts<br />
cannot be separated from the author, from how it is received by readers and what<br />
impact they have <strong>on</strong> the involved of the research (Creswell, 2007).<br />
To c<strong>on</strong>clude: reflexivity as point of departure has radical c<strong>on</strong>sequences for the positi<strong>on</strong><br />
of the researcher. From a radically dynamical and process-oriented approach of organizati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
reality, an outside positi<strong>on</strong> of the researcher is disclaimed. Within a radical<br />
approach <strong>on</strong>ly an insider’s positi<strong>on</strong> is possible, a positi<strong>on</strong> in which the researcher<br />
participates and observes, and which enables him to reflect up<strong>on</strong> his experiences and<br />
in the end to share them. And it is adamant for a researcher to be as much as possible<br />
explicit about his values and beliefs, and to describe the analyses and reflecti<strong>on</strong>s made<br />
during the research-process.<br />
A radically reflexive complex resp<strong>on</strong>sive process-approach<br />
It sounds almost superfluous to state that researchers which profess a complex resp<strong>on</strong>sive<br />
process-approach for their research subscribe to a radically reflexive approach.<br />
If research is d<strong>on</strong>e while participating in the living present of organizati<strong>on</strong>al life, it<br />
appears to be inevitable to take a reflexive stance. For Shaw (2002) reflexivity indeed<br />
is an enhanced attenti<strong>on</strong> for what we are doing in our research and how this is intertwined<br />
with our interpretati<strong>on</strong>s, decisi<strong>on</strong>s and acti<strong>on</strong>s we take. Reflexivity is about<br />
opening up the way reality is represented by you as the researcher and then to relate it<br />
critically to traditi<strong>on</strong>s of thought in society (Stacey, 2010). In line with what was stated<br />
about reflexivity Stacey (2010) argues that reflexivity should c<strong>on</strong>nect you to the history<br />
of your behaviour and destabilize and disrupt the self-evident sufficiency of your<br />
taken for granted interpretati<strong>on</strong>s (Stacey, 2012b). Know thyself! Or at least reflexively<br />
38