Actividades inherentes al desarrollo de la propuesta

According to Bryman (2008), reflexivity has several meanings in the social sciences. Firstly, social researchers should be reflective about the implications of their methods, knowledge, values and biases in understanding their own social world. Secondly, reflexivity entails sensitivity to the researcher’s cultural, political, and social context. As such, ‘knowledge’ from a reflexive position is always a reflection of a researcher’s location in time and social space. Researchers are in the world and of the world (Cohen, et al., 2000). They should acknowledge and disclose their own selves in research. McCormick and James (1988; cited in Cohenet al., 2000) argue that combating reactivity through reflexivity requires researchers to monitor closely and continually their own interactions with participants, their own reactions, roles and any other matters that might bias the research.

dialogue and constant (and intensive) scrutiny of “What I know” and “how I know it” in the development of knowledge claim. The key issue here is to see oneself as ‘interlinked with others and undergoing processes of change’ (Grbich, 2004: 60).

Grbich (ibid) argued that the researcher cannot be separated from his/her background, life experiences and memories. Therefore, it is important to recognize that the ‘self is not a clean slate waiting to be written on’ (p.60). The role of the researcher was partly discussed under the comparative consideration (refer to§4.3).

With eight years’ working experience in Chinese secondary schools, the researcher knew the Chinese educational system well and also understood the daily life of Chinese students and their relationships with teachers. The motivation for the researcher to conduct this research was the idea that the teacher-pupil relationship in Chinese schools was in need of change. I was seeking the answer – how?

How can Chinese schools develop a positive teacher-pupil relationship during the reform? As an international student in the UK, I experienced culture shock and thereby understood western culture from an outsider’s viewpoint. This view of UK education might differ from UK native researchers’, however it refreshed my pedagogy and rebooted my understanding of how to develop positive teacher-pupil relationships. I wondered what I could learn and what I could do.

As a researcher, I participated in a UK school, to observe pupils, teachers and their activities during Circle Time. Their opinions have been gained via observation, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. During the experience of participating in Circle Time in English schools and talking with English pupils, I enhanced my Circle Time

knowledge from a theoretical to a practical level and therefore expanded it. During this process, I kept reflecting on my role from outsider to insider. As Merton (1972) suggested, “all of us are both insiders and outsiders in various social situations”. In the first phase, when I went to an English school, ‘I’ was a foreigner from outside the organization, the school, trying to understand its activities. ‘I’ participated with students and teachers to experience Circle Time as an outsider. In the second phase, when I went to the Chinese school, the role of researcher can be considered more as an insider- outsider continuum, and in both directions (Hellawell, 2006). I am an insider of Chinese culture with teaching experience in Chinese schools, so I have the advantage of understanding Chinese culture and the school culture (Hockey, 1993). By adapting western pedagogy into Chinese culture – outside-in, ‘I’ also bear some outsider positions; especially, for the Chinese school, I am an outsider. Reflexivity is seen as the conscious revelation of the role of the beliefs and values held by researchers.

I reflected on questions all the time, challenging my old acquired thought, replacing it with new comprehensive ideas, and gaining confidence in doing research and building up theoretical and practical knowledge.

At the second phase, I introduced Circle Time into a Chinese secondary school, to examine its functions and the effect of using it in developing pupils’ personal and interpersonal skills and self-esteem; and to investigate the pupils’ experience and opinions of it. Adapting western pedagogy, and western research policy to apply in a Chinese school setting, I would not be able to predict the result, even with plenty of working experience in a Chinese secondary school. However, my personal experience

would help me to understand deeply when unexpected things happened in the field, as I was familiar with the Chinese educational setting.

In these circumstances, pedagogies were compared, and therefore the elements deriving from pedagogy. Different cultures create different education systems and different pedagogy; a development and change in education can also have an influence on the culture. It was a sequence of looking, thinking, questioning, understanding and reflecting. During this process, the researcher’s awareness of self, the impact of one’s own intellectual baggage and life experiences, the relationship between the ‘self’ and the study were critical (R. Lee, 2002).

One views oneself and others from different perspectives; the understanding of self and the others’ view of self are also unalike. Reflexivity can help the researcher to understand self and the study. The researcher’s cultural, social and educational background influences the view of the world and knowledge (Moghaddam, et al., 2003), the way of gaining knowledge, the strategies in conducting research and even the procedures in manipulating methods in data collection. However, considering the reflexivity of the researcher, meticulous preparation in this mixed design can minimise potential issues and enhance the validity and reliability of this research.

Creswell (2003) suggests that bias from researchers should be clarified. There is typically a close relationship between the researcher and the setting, and between the researcher and respondents (Robson, 2002). Robson (2002; p.172) argues that ‘researcher bias refers to what the researcher brings to the situation in terms of assumptions and preconceptions, which may in some way affect the way in which they behave in the research setting,

perhaps in terms of the persons selected for observation or interview, the kinds of questions asked, or the selection of data from reporting and analysis’.

This research was conducted by the researcher with the support of a supervisor. The question of the role of researcher and the kind of behaviour a researcher should follow were discussed during the process. By means of ensuring a technique to adopt research methods and instrumentation appropriately and to emphasise ethical and cultural issues, the journey of this study was also a process for the researcher of reducing bias internally and externally.

As a PhD student, the journey of conducting this study was also a process of learning, developing and changing the researcher’s view of approaching and interpreting knowledge. The researcher needed to reflect and adjust her role and her stance to facilitate the research during the procedure.

In the next section, the discussion about ethical issues will also bring some reflexivity towards the role of the researcher in order to achieve the validity and reliability which the research required.