Reflexivity and reflection in an Australian mobile phone study: A methodological discussion

Abstract

This paper is a discussion about methods and reflexivity in qualitative mobile communication research. The Australian research project on which this paper draws investigates how mobile phone use contributes to the meanings constructed through interpersonal relationships with others and how mobile phone use interacts with many other communication activities. The original methods chosen for the discursive analysis highlighted the reflexivity within the project. The main methods of data collection used were a research journal, semi-structured interviews, and the collation of cultural artifacts produced in communicative culture. During researcher data collection and analysis, the significance of the methods combined emerged as vital in the interpretation of interviews. This paper contextualises the combination of these particular methods to reveal how reflexivity may be enhanced in mobile communication research.