Reflexivity
The researchers are a group of student-teachers who are a
3rd Year Students taking Bachelor of Special Needs Education in
Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology. The researchers
are aware that this study is conducted because it influenced
their personal lives and their future careers. The researcher’s
study is related to their future careers with the title
Challenges and Adaptations of Special Education Teachers in
Talavera Central School: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study.
With diverse backgrounds, but a common commitment towards
inclusive education, the researchers were automatically
influenced to relate to the experiences of the SPED teachers that
are interviewed. What the researchers knew in terms of their own
experience within the educational environment, including field
study and practicum, influenced how they interpreted their
narratives.
Although this helped the researchers appreciate their own
lives, it might also have affected their construction of
questions and interpretation of results—on occasion interpreting
things from a student-teacher perspective rather than an external
one.
To be loyal to the spirit of transcendental phenomenology,
they took a couple of measures to reduce personal bias. Before
carrying out interviews, they took some time individually and
collectively to reflect on their own assumptions and beliefs.
They made sure that the questions employed during the interview
were open-ended and unbiased and that the subjects were free to
state what they wanted. The researchers also worked closely
together in analysis, cross verifying each other's interpretation
to avoid personal judgment and overgeneralization. Their
adviser's feedback was also highly useful in reminding them to
remain realistic and objective in the process.
However, the researchers are aware that certain limitations
exist. As students who have not taught for long, there could be
certain aspects of the participants' narratives that they were
unable to fully understand based on their position. Furthermore,
as they also belong to the same field, certain participants could
have kept quiet or altered responses, being aware that the
researchers too are future SPED teachers themselves. In general,
the researchers understand that research cannot be detached from
the individuals conducting it.
Acknowledging that the influences by conducting this study such
as the researcher's background, values, future, they also aimed
to have credibility and openness to their study and pay respect
most importantly to the responses of the respondents which were
the special education teachers at Talavera Central School.