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challenging task of the reflection through which I went during the research process.
(2000, p. 252)
Telles critiques his researcher subjectivities as a way to strengthen his qualitative researcher
approach. Berry discusses the disclosure of researcher as a contextualisation that “…requires
a situating and decentering on the part of the researcher” and is clear that this extends beyond
“…isolating one’s biases…but identifying what the socializing texts of the bricoleurs life are
that locates her/him in the research in a particular way…” (2006, p. 107).
Disclosing potential conflicts of interest attached to the perspective, experiences and similar
factors of the researcher, enables a more located reading of the findings so that integrity and
validity of findings is maintained. This is referred to by Gee as the “frame problem” (2004, p.
30). Gee describes this in relation to both analyses of the parts of data collected through
research and by researchers disclosing information about themselves as relevant to the
research. It is the latter context that is most applicable in this section, to demonstrate that
researcher contexts and subjectivities have been considered. A bricolage approach also
considers disclosures of the researcher as an important part of ensuring rigor is maintained,
and discusses this within a philosophical framework of researchers understanding and being
explicit about their social world, and as historian E.H. Carr (1961) describes, the
environmental factors of the researcher’s (in this context, historian’s) background, thus
assisting “…bricoleurs [to] bracket their own subjectivity as researchers…” (Kincheloe,
2004, p. 8). Building on this, van Dijk encourages researchers to reflect on their
subjectivities, particularly their socio-political subjectivities, in a critical fashion, writing
…critical discourse analysts (should) take an explicit socio-political stance: they
spell out their point of view, perspective, principles and aims, both within their
discipline and within society at large… (as cited in Wetherell, 2001, p. 383)
Taking the issue of the politics of the researcher, Verschueren explains the importance of
adequate disclosure, asserting that by not consciously considering and communicating
disclosures, researchers open themselves to legitimate criticism regarding their approach,
writing:
…the delicate balance between scientific and social values requires that, though a
pre-existent perspective, point of view or ideology cannot – and should not – be
abstracted when engaging in research activities, specific social and political
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