Reflections on method

In this space, we intend to engage in a practice of “open science” where we will reflect upon some of the important choices we make during our research. Many important choices have to be made during the course of a research project (e.g. what to study, how to study it and how to interpret what is revealed through the study). Such choices shape how both the method and results unfold and yet, in typical practices of scientific research, such choices and the reasoning behind them often remains implicit or hidden. This prohibits all those who read or use that scientific research from being able to clearly see and understand the values, assumptions and beliefs that have moulded the creation of that knowledge. In this section of our project blog, we aim to experiment with a more open and transparent practice in which we discuss some of the important choices and challenges we have faced while carrying out our research, reflecting on the alternative pathways that were available and providing information on why we ultimately made the choice we made.  We hope that this will not only enhance our own capacity as reflective practitioners but will also encourage an enhanced openness about scientific research more generally, and particularly, the way in which values, assumptions and beliefs inevitably shape all processes of knowledge generation.