Summary
Contents
Subject index
What are the critical gaps in thinking about reflexivity and social research? How is reflexive practice shaped by the contexts and cultures in which researchers work? How might research practice respond to twin demands of excellence and relevance in the knowledge-based economy? Thinking reflexively about the inter-relationships between social research and societal practices is all the more important in the so-called knowledge economy. Developing reflexive practices in social research is not achieved through applying a method. Where and how researchers work is fundamental in shaping the capacities and capabilities to produce research as content and context lie in a dynamic interaction. This book not only provides a history of reflexive thought, but its consequences for the practice of social research and an understanding of the contexts in which it is produced. Overall, the book offers an exciting new position on reflexive research that will generate much debate through its successful achievement of two difficult feats: providing essential reading for orientations on reflexivity and social research in the twenty-first century and making a landmark contribution to thinking and practice in the field.
Introduction: Motivations for a Contribution
Introduction: Motivations for a Contribution
The writing of this book represents the latest stage in a journey where issues have arisen that are bound to preoccupy those practitioners who reflect upon the basis of their work in terms of its knowledge claims, its purpose, for whom their knowledge is produced and its overall relationship to the culture and organization of their practices.
In working through these issues, there are a series of concerns that have driven my engagement with ideas in the pursuit of clarification. Accompanying this is no expectation of resolution, but orientations in the service of engagement. For me, this is important. As soon as practices within the social sciences are assumed to achieve resolution, rather than clarification for the ...
- Loading...