Reflective Essay: Reflexivity and Bias in Research

broody quiz Reflexivity and Bias in ResearchEntry No. 1 January 26, 2015, 815 pmMy Role as a police detectiveI approach the challenge of question in the doctoral aim with some degree of apprehension as well as excite handst. I deliver been in the field of business for more or less(prenominal) than a decade now, working in customer service management, so I can appreciate the importance of doing query especially in gauging customer satisfaction and determining how to leverage this to improve the companys private-enterprise(a) advantage. Ensuring customer satisfaction entails several factors. Nowadays, much of the world is hinged on the maximizing technology in nightspot to provide information and choices for customers. Due to the saturation of the net income nowadays, users ar shifting in millions from their laptops to their smartphones. The smartphone is now the site of communication, decision-making, research, shopping, and purchasing.This has altered the guidance busi nesses do things. In a very urgent way, it pressures companies to be antiphonary to customers needs in a real-time manner. Mobile CRM is a invention way of handling customer relations. Using only their liquid devices deal smartphones or tables, employees can now retrieve customer information and customer accounts remotely. Where previously, they relied on a laptop to do their work, mobile CRM achieves the same results in an efficient and convenient manner.The question now is how I consider myself or my role as a researcher in the doctorate research I plan to pursue. First, the novelty of mobile CRM and the lack of research in this area is what motivated me to choose this as the research topic. My research is some mobile customer relationship management (CRM) and how it bewitchs customer satisfaction and competitive advantage in the context of Samsung in United Arab of Emirates. Second, I allow a wealth of experience in customer relations and engender been with Samsung for man y years.Hughest and Tight (2013) suggest that a researchers role in the orbit requires identifying personal values, deflectes, and assumptions at the very beginning. In this manner, transparency, which is a crucial piece in objectivity, is promoted. Ortlipp (2008) states that keeping a research diary is an excellent manner of upholding transparency in research since it details the research process in a way that allows the researcher to reveal the nuances attached to his or her participation.As a researcher, I rush been in customer relations for more or less a decade and I believe that my professional and personal experiences with Samsung go away increase my awareness, knowledge and sensitivity to the key issues that my research will watch to. I have experience in implementing mobile CRM and I am fairly knowledgeable with the technology associated with it. This will aid me in recognizes the thoughts, views and experiences of the participants when I interview them. My experien ces and worldview will also influence how I interpret and sympathize the entropy I collect.Entry No. 2 April 3, 2015Bias what are mine?One of the biggest problems with soft research is bias. Much has been said and explained most the extent to which a researcher can influence the outcomes of the study and whether or not some form of control is needed over the qualitative research process, in what is referred to as the interpretive crisis (Denzin Lincoln, 1994). Interpretive research in assemblage differently from positivist research because data is analyzed in an inducive manner. In this manner, the researcher proceeds from a set of facts and interprets them to develop a general theory about a particular phenomenon. This opens the researcher to dissimilar possibilities of bias.Unlike the quantitative survey which I am most long-familiar with, qualitative data hookup methods feature the researcher as facilitator. My front line occupies a prominent feature in the conduct of the data collection itself because I am the musical instrument. Therefore, how I collect the data will adjoin its fiber significantly. For this research, I am considering doing revolve around assemblage discussions in order to gather the views of users and employees on the impact of mobile CRM. I will be using a semi-structured discussion guide. The focus group is a familiar method used in business research and I am more or less knowledgeable with its general concept. However, I well-educated to be more conscious of some of the disadvantages of the focus groups. Focus group involves a group of people who are ga at that placed and asked what their attitudes are towards a product or service. It is not merely a simple gathering where answers are drawn from a set of people in focus groups, discussion is facilitated. The facilitator can steer the group participants and influence them found on what questions he/she poses. There is also interaction, so participants are free to influ ence others with their opinion. A crucial limitation of focus group is the quality of the facilitation (Krueger, 1994). Therefore, should I decide to proceed with the focus group as my primary data collection methods, reducing bias should be a priority. Moderator or facilitator bias will be expected if the facilitator is not skilled enough. He or she should be skilled and competent enough to handle participants who tend to commandeer the discussion.I am considering whether I should moderate the focus group or have someone else do it. I have to take in that my nervus facialis expressions, tone, deportment, language style, and gestures do not introduce or facilitate bias. Yet, as Le Gallais (2008) asserts, bias will be present in every researcher since we are influenced by our race, gender, age, and social status. My race for instance, would be a factor in a multi-ethnic focus group. There would be likelihood that I would identify more with Emirati participants than non-Emirati par ticipants and vice versa. cosmos male, there is also the possibility that in mixed-gender focus groups, my presence would not boost female participants to share their views. These are things that I need to be detail about when designing the focus group. In order to get quality data, whitethornbe it would be desirable to have all-female, all-male and mixed-group discussions.Another thing I should be careful about is the content of the discussion guide. A one-sided or leading question influences the participants views and does not reflect good research practice. The manner of asking the question can also be biased. Therefore, the instrument must be checked and validated by an expert to ensure that there are no biased questions.Entry No. 4 December 7, 2016ReflexivityAs I read on theories and worldviews, I realize the importance of the practice of reflexivity. Reflexivity is concerned with a researchers self-awareness and cognizance and being able to own a certain perspective. This requires one to allow questioning ones self about theoretical positions and how one looks at reality. Being reflexive is an examination of what I know and how I acquired this knowledge I have now.As a qualitative researcher, I need to allowance attention to the various socio-political, cultural, and ideological issues surrounding the issue of mobile CRM. For instance, mobile CRM operates under the presumption that the digital world is flat and that users can bother technology equally. However, this is not the case. People utilize and appreciate technology based on their social status, age, gender and race. For instance, older customers who are not tech-savvy may not appreciate the delivery of information through mobile phones. Women and men use technology differently and are more likely to have different perceptions about how technology should be used. I recognize how reflexivity is important to me as a doctoral researcher. Being the instrument, I have the power and accountabili ty to interpret the data and to present it to the whole world. I need to ask myself constantly what kind of baggage I do which will interfere with my interpretation and conduct in the research process. face-to-face concerns, ideological conflicts, and health issues are some of the factors I can take of right now which might affect my role as researcher.References Denzin, N.K. Lincoln, Y.S. (1994). substructure Entering the field of qualitative research. In NK Denzin and YS Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage..Hughes, C. Tight, M. (2013). The metaphors we study by the doctorate as a journey and/or as work. Higher Education Research teaching 32 (5), 765-775.Krueger, R.A. (1994). Focus groups. A practical guide for applied research. second ed. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications, Inc.Le Gallais, T. (2008). Wherever I go there I am reflections on reflexivity and the research stance. Reflective Practice 9 (2)145-155.Ortlipp, M. (2008). Keeping and Using Reflective Journals in the qualitative Research Process. The Qualitative Report 13(4), 695-705.