Overview of reflective tools and their benefits

1. Reflective Tools for Researchers
Prof Susi Geiger
UCD Dublin Business School
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201
www.chessitn.eu

2. Why are you doing a PhD?
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

3. Reflective Practice
•
• Reflective Practice is "the capacity to
reflect on action so as to engage in a
process of continuous learning“
(Schoen 1983)
• No-one can develop as a researcher
without engaging in reflective practice,
but…
• “I try to observe my own experience
And discover that the more I look the
more I see
But I do not know how to learn from
what I see”
(Joanna Field 1952)

4. Exercise
• In pairs: Taking the position
of an outside ‘analyst’
• Please take 5 minutes each
and think of an issue that is
of importance in your research
at the moment or that creates
particular difficulty for you.
• Describe this issue in broad terms to
your partner and then discuss, in
turn:
– My stance toward the issue
– Alternative perspectives to the problem
at hand
– Potential action plans arising.
• Some pointers…

5. Some Qs that may help you
1. What is my concern?
2. Why am I concerned?
3. How do I see the situation as it is
and as it develops as I take action?
4. What can I do? What will I do?
5. What is the evidence for my conclusions?
What are the alternative explanations?
6. How do I check that any conclusions
I come to are reasonably fair and accurate?
7. How do I modify my ideas and practices in light of my
evaluation?
(Whitehead and McNiff 2006)

6. The Purpose of a Reflective Diary
Why keep a diary?
• To keep a detailed history of your research
process as it unfolds;
• To track the development of your research
skills and understanding;
• To provide a context for reflecting on your
research and the problems it throws up;
• To have a track record of key decisions
and why they were made;
• To provide a reference point for what happened
when in the process.
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

7. What’s the use?
It will help you to:
• facilitate learning from experience and
develop critical analysis skills
• transfer learnings from one research context
to the next
• To help the development of a questioning
attitude
• To enhance data analysis
• To facilitate your methods write-up
• To start a life-long reflective practice as a
researcher (and beyond)
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

8. Types of reflective diaries
• Project diary—record your goals, assumptions and key decisions in your research
process. Update it regularly and include links to the significant research themes
and data sources.
• Fieldwork diary —summarize the learnings and impressions
of a period of fieldwork and personal reflections.
Make note of contradictions, surprises or early hunches.
Include ideas about the themes you need to pursue.
Include photos or descriptive information about the
fieldwork setting, but also more personal elements/feelings
Be reflective of your own person in the situation.
• Event diary – very useful for a conference, workshop of summer school. Catch
learning ‘on the fly’. What did I hear today, how is this new, how does it fit with
what I know, how does this challenge me as a researcher.
• Analysis diary –reflect on how you work with your data, why you think a theme is
significant, and how your understanding evolves. Add to the diary as your thinking
evolves and include links to the related literature.
• “End of period” diaries – monthly or quarterly summaries, next steps
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201
www.chessitn.eu

9. Key Elements of a Reflective Diary
Description:
What you learned,;
when; why; where;
how; people or
media involved.
Reflection:
Your aims; feelings;
behaviour; personal
observations
Application:
(How) can you
relate this learning
and observations to
your research
project/questions?
“Learning to
learn”:
What else do you
need to know; how
can you build on
this knowledge?
Transforming
action:
(How) will this flow
back into your
research? How are
you changing as a
researcher?

10. What to put in your diary
• Things that you did, people you met and what they said, books or
papers that you read, lectures or conferences you went to;
• Notes from discussions or useful conversations;
• VISUALS: Pictures, drawings, doodles, clips, mindmaps ….
• Ideas that you might want to remember or follow up;
• Questions that you might want to explore, discuss or find out more
about;
• Suggestions about reading, contacts, ways forward on problems;
• Reports of observations, experiments, events;
• ‘Think pieces’ – discursive notes about ideas
or directions; brainstorming notes or diagrams;
• Personal reflections and feelings;
• Problem analysis;
• ‘To do’ lists or action plans.
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

11. Writing a RD
• Find a format that works for you: Ipad, laptop, nice
note book, mobile app…
• Try to write these as soon as possible
after the research encounter/conference/
training session  PLAN & MAKE TIME!!
• RDs don’t have to be overly ‘academic’;
write in the first person and true to your
personality. No right or wrong style.
• You can refer to academic literature and
theoretical models to support your thinking.
• Useful for all of these types: a ‘double entry
journal’ – only write on one page and leave the
other blank for further notes and meta-reflections
• Think of it as a blog where the audience is mainly
yourself!

12. Some examples
(from Nadin and Cassell 2006)
… not sure template analysis is going to be enough in
terms of doing justice to the uniqueness of each case. So,
with the two dentists' whilst on paper they are very
similar, (size of practice, number of employees, age of
practice, etc.) they couldn't be more different in how they
are managed and run – basically, Andrew is very
hands‐on and enthusiastic and Ian couldn't really care
less. Whilst the template will pick up
common themes it won't do justice to the contrasts
between them, perhaps creating an
illusion of similarity, when in fact they are very, very
different…
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

13. Some examples
(from Nadin and Cassell 2006)
Aaaaggghhh!!..... Arrogant pig. Who'd work for
him???!!! Sexist bigot. Felt really uncomfortable
… like a little girl who was being told how it was
in the world of the small business MAN!!! Liked
the sound of his own voice.
NB: Confidentiality issue
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

14. WRITING WITH NO VOICE IS DEAD, MECHANICAL,
FACELESS. IT LACKS ANY SOUND.
(ELBOW, 1981:2867)
FINDING YOUR VOICE IS ONE OF THE MOST
POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF KEEPING A REFLECTIVE
DIARY (NB: WE ALL HAVE MULTIPLE VOICES)
Exercise: Speed write for 10
minutes on the question of
‘who am I’ in my research
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201

15. Homework time!
• Write a reflective diary entry (1-2 pages – or
more!) on each day of the CHESS summer
school and send to susi.geiger@ucd.ie, cc-ing
Gemma, by June 30.
• Homework 2: Practice other opportunities to
find your voice (Twitter, blogs, diaries…)
www.chessitn.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 676201