Reflexivity and Its Application in Qualitative Researches: A Narrative Review

Understanding human experiences and recognizing their world are the main aims of a qualitative research. There is a concern to trust to the findings that lead to meaning-making, so several methods have been recommended for this challenge. Reflexivity is one of the most important and technical way that introduced in this field. This study aimed to clarify the concept of reflexivity, its dimensions and how to apply it in qualitative researches. A systematic review of evidences was conducted. Databases of SID, PubMed, Google Scholar, Ovid, MEDLINE, and CINAHL were searched by key words of “reflexivity”, “reflection” and “interpretative paradigm”, without any time limitation. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 16 articles and books were selected for the final analysis. The data were extracted by two researchers and reviewed by two others. From its etymological roots “reflexivity” involves looking again, turning back to yourself. It evokes interpretivist ontology, so it is a valuable material to examine the effect of researcher’s idea in meaning the situation, in qualitative research. It prepares the mind of a researcher for conducting a study and examines the validation of the findings. Reflexivity is a concept and a process, that look at the researcher and the research process by critical lens. This critique is not only external and through the readers, but also resulting in researcher interpretations of his/her life and his/her experiences in encountering the events.