"From Scientism to Qualitative Inquiry – The Transformative Impact of a Reflexive Exercise"

Abstract

Art-based methods are increasingly finding acceptance in scientific research. This paper tells the story of how a reflexive exercise helped in paradigm shift from positivism to qualitative inquiry. The reflexive exercise took place in a professional doctorate classroom session in 2018 with the class size of about twelve students. The exercise was meant to develop the capacity of the professional doctorate students in Health and Wellbeing on reflexivity. It aimed to help them find their voice in intellectual debates and professional practice. Each of the students was required to write words that described how others perceived them and to make sense of these words. Findings from this research demonstrate the roles of reflexivity in solving the problem of scientism. It highlights the benefits of reflexive exercises and recommends engaging them in health and wellbeing practice.