Of wine and whiteboards: Enacting feminist reflexivity in collaborative research

Abstract

Reflexivity is considered a hallmark of qualitative research. With the continued growth in team-based research, more attention is needed to what it means to practice reflexivity within the context of these research collaborations. In this article, we draw upon scholarship on reflexivity and our own experiences to develop what we term ‘collaborative feminist reflexivity’ (CFR). CFR represents a form of reflexivity that is distinctly collaborative in how it is enacted, grounded in feminist epistemological and ethical commitments, holistically engaged throughout the research process, and multifaceted, involving multiple formal and informal practices. In critically analyzing our own reflexive practices in the context of an interdisciplinary, multi-method study on hashtag activism related to domestic violence, we seek to identify specific practices for research teams as well as interrogate the potentials and limitations of these practices for enacting feminist reflexivity.

Feminist activism in digital space: Postfeminist contradictions in #WhyIStayed

“…After completing this first round of coding, each of us used this codebook to analyze the remainder of the tweets. To ensure the coding process was exhaustive, we continued to meet and discuss other emergent codes, review, and refine themes, explore multiple interpretations, engage in thematic mapping using whiteboards, and journal individually and collaboratively (Linabary et al, 2017). After completing our thematic coding, we then engaged in a critical feminist analysis of postfeminist discourses within the hashtag and their interplay with(in) the technological affordances of the platform to explicate the tensions and contradictions that we had observed within our initial analysis.…”

“…At all stages, we practiced “collaborative feminist reflexivity” (see Linabary et al, 2017) through individual journaling, collaborative reflexive journaling, and regular group discussions. In this we discussed our emotional responses to the data, collaboratively reflected on how power manifested in the coding process, and interrogated how to represent the voices of participants without compromising their privacy and safety.…”

Towards a feminist philosophy of engagements in health-related research

“…Feminist notions of reflexivity are intimately connected with positionality and have significantly influenced conceptualisations of reflexivity as a methodological tool more generally (see Lumsden, 2019 ). As with positionality, conceptualisations of reflexivity both within and beyond feminist theory are plural and contested ( Lumsden, 2019 ; Pillow, 2003 ; Slaney et al ., 2019 ), but reflexivity as a means of accountability has been a key distinguishing feature of feminist epistemology ( Linabary et al ., 2020 ). Feminist notions of reflexivity have especially emphasised the examination and interruption of power relations embedded in the processes and products of knowledge.…”

Enacting everyday feminist collaborations: Reflexive becoming, proactive improvisation and co‐learning partnerships

“…While reflexivity is recognized as a key value of feminist collaborations, scholars have also noted that reflexivity in and of itself does not necessarily erase uneven power relations or resolve conflicts (e.g., England, 1994;Pillow, 2003). As Linabary, Corple, and Cooky (2017) identified within their collaboration, even teams that set out to be intentional in their reflexive practices can find slippages in their commitments, issues that may not be resolvable through continued reflexive engagement, and inconsistencies in how reflexivity is practised within the team over time given different positionalities and external pressures.…”