Diffraction or Reflection? Sketching the Contours of Two Metaphors in Educational Research Methodology

• In Event: Roundtable Session 50
  In Roundtable Session: Methodological Innovations and New Perspectives in Qualitative Research

Abstract

Diffractive methodologies have been largely developed from the work of feminist natural scientists Haraway and Barad and taken forward for application by feminist educational and social science scholars. While work on ‘reflexivity’ and ‘critical reflection’ has over the years become predominant in educational and social science research methodology literature, our reading indicates that there is still important conceptual work to be done comparing how these two practices--reflection and diffraction--differ from each other and/or intersect and what consequences such understandings might have for research methodology in education. Important questions about how the concepts of diffraction and reflection are defined and understood and discusses the methodological implications for education are raised.

Authors

• Vivienne Grace Bozalek, University of the Western Cape

• Michalinos Zembylas, The Open University of Cyprus