Interviewers’ identity and reflexivity in qualitative research: lessons from a Master’s thesis

Understanding the position, perspective, beliefs and values of the researcher is an issue in all research: it’s bound to affect what they choose to investigate, how they investigate it, which findings are most important and even how conclusions are framed and communicated. This is particularly true in qualitative research where the researcher is often construed as the ‘human research instrument.’ So it’s important to have a reflexive approach to research, as this will allow us to own up to our problems and the tensions in our position.