What's the difference between reflective and reflexive thinking and practice? A PhD student guide!

Reflective and reflexive: Are they the same  thing? In short, no; however, they are related. I'm Dr Elizabeth Yardley, and for the last two  decades, I've been supporting postgraduate and PhD students.

Now, in that time, the words  "reflection," "reflective," and "reflexive" have started to become a lot more prominent  in universities, even in some places that were considered traditionally positivist, quite  science-oriented, and objective in their approach to research. Even those places have started  talking about these kinds of things and getting their students to write reflective essays and  keep reflexive diaries. But students are like, "What on Earth does this mean, and how do I even  begin to make sense of this?

Help me! " This video is my attempt to explain these terms and get  you thinking about the ways in which they might relate to the research that you're doing. So, I'm  going to explain what they mean, the difference between them, and we're going to have a look at  some examples so you can see how reflexive and reflective might look with regards to different  types of research projects.

Let's dive in. First up, what do they actually mean? Well,  let's begin with reflective.

Being reflective is like looking in the rearview mirror, thinking  about your past experiences, your past decisions, your past actions. Reflective thinking can  be really valuable because it helps you learn from your past. It helps you identify areas  that you can improve on, and it can feed into better-informed decisions moving forward.

So when  you start something new, your approach to that is informed by the lessons that you've learned by  reflecting on the things you've done before. And while this kind of self-examination can be really  valuable, it typically stops at introspection. However, being reflexive takes this a  step further.

Being reflexive isn't just about looking back; it's about looking  inward and looking forward at the same time. Reflexivity is about checking  in with yourself in real time while you are right in the middle of something and  being prepared to pivot or change on the fly. So you actively change and adjust the action  that you're taking now rather than saving it for something you'll change next time—you  change what you're doing in the moment.

Now you know a bit more about reflective and  reflexive and the difference between them, we need to think about how they can apply to  research. So let's have a look at some examples. Our first example is a sociology  PhD student studying the impact of immigration policy on community dynamics. 

Our second example is a criminology research project analyzing the effectiveness  of a crime prevention program. Lastly, we've got a public health PhD student  investigating the prevalence of a disease. So let's identify what reflective  and reflexive might look like in each of them.

First up, our sociology PhD studying the impact  of immigration policy on community dynamics. Reflective thinking involves looking back at  the data you've collected and the methods that you've used. In this instance, you might  realize that the data collection process was biased to an extent because a specific  subgroup of people were overrepresented among your participants, and that, in turn, will  have affected your results.

So reflecting, you can acknowledge this in your methods  chapter and consider the extent to which it's impacted your findings. Then,  in the future, you can plan a more neutral approach to data collection and  recommend that other people do the same. Reflexive thinking in this study might involve  realizing that your own background and your own personal experiences are affecting how you're  interpreting the data.

By being reflexive, you can actively consider your own biases  as you are in the process of doing the data analysis. You can seek alternative  perspectives to ensure that your analysis remains subjective. So you might sit down  and have a chat with your supervisor about how you are interpreting particular items  of data.

Your supervisor might make some recommendations or suggestions on how you  can change the way you're looking at the data you're analyzing and how you can be more  aware of any bias that you're bringing into it. Next up, our criminology research project  analyzing the effectiveness of a crime prevention program. Reflective thinking in this example  might entail reviewing your research design and realizing that your sample size was actually  too small to do a particular type of statistical analysis.

So you might reflect on that, consider  the impact that might have on your findings, and then incorporate that into your discussion  of the results. You might also recommend that future research uses larger sample sizes to  carry out that specific statistical analysis. Reflexive thinking, on the other hand, might lead  you to discover that you have personal biases related to certain crime prevention strategies. 

By being reflexive, you acknowledge that those biases are there, and you might actively seek  input from colleagues or your supervisor with different viewpoints on what your data collection  instruments look like, the kind of questions they include, and later, what the results are saying.  It's about being aware, having self-awareness that there are particular crime prevention strategies  that you feel particularly strongly about and ensuring that that strength of feeling doesn't imp  too heavily on the research that you're doing. We can't completely remove any of our personal  biases, but by being aware of them, we can minimize their impact, and that's what reflexive  thinking is useful for in this particular example.

Our last example is the public health PhD  student investigating the prevalence of a disease. Reflection could lead you to recognize  that some of the questions in the survey you've designed were unclear, and that might have led to  some incomplete responses. What you might then do is choose to discard the responses to those  questions from your data set, or if you do use them, you're reflecting on the impact that  lack of clarity had and making recommendations relating to future research and the importance  of clarity regarding specific topics or themes.

Being reflexive in this study might involve  recognizing that your cultural background influences your interpretation of certain  health behaviors. You might realize that you're being judgmental about people's behaviors  and attributing them to stereotypical views of the people you're studying. As a result, you  might consult with your supervisor or other experts in your discipline from various  cultural backgrounds to ensure that your research remains culturally sensitive and  inclusive.

Again, it's about awareness, having self-awareness, and noticing your  behavior while you are in the process of doing something. It's about regularly checking  in with yourself and asking questions like, "Why am I thinking this? Why am I thinking  that?

What is all of this stemming from? " In summary, being reflective and being reflexive  are both incredibly valuable things when it comes to your research. While being reflective helps  you learn for the future and make recommendations to other researchers in your field, being  reflexive actually helps you to adapt, shift, and change while you are doing the research. 

Ultimately, both being reflective and being reflexive enhance the quality of your work.  So please make sure that you take the time to incorporate them into your study. I hope you  found this helpful, and be sure to tune in for my next video in which I'm going to be giving more  tips and advice on navigating the messy and the magical, the foggy and the clear, the ups and  the downs of PhD life.

So, I will see you then!