Reflexivity- seeing things the way they see them

As I am doing my research in Mexico it is imperative that I see things the way they see things. If I allow my own characteristics to see and interpret the situation the research gathered will not be accurate. We learned about this in class, reflexivity means that in some part my own characteristic can affect what I see and how I interpret my observations. In truth it would be impossible not to have this affect my research a little. Even if I try hard not to let it, to some extent it will impact my observations, but my goal is to try to keep that affect to a minimum. I really must see things from their cultural views.

It is not fair to take my cultural rules and apply them to their situation. I must come from their cultural views to see the situation. I have wondered a lot about this. At work I have talked with a couple of coworkers about my plans in Mexico. Many of them have tried to tell me how I must do this or that to better the situation and help them learn how to work with children who have disabilities. This is not my purpose in going, nor would it be correct to do, if it were my intention. I am a guest in their culture. To go there and tell them what they are doing or not doing according to our cultural rules here would be completely unethical. However, at the same time I realize that because of my educational background and understanding it will be very difficult for me to not look at them and the situations from my perspective. I am afraid I will judge them, and judge them inappropriately because I will be trying to apply my cultural understanding to their cultural situation. I know that they are not where we are in how we view children who has special needs. If I look at it from our cultural views and understanding I might easily feel and judge what they are doing to be wrong. But, if I look at it from their cultural views and understanding it is very likely that I will have a different feeling toward them.

I am afraid that I will see children in hard situations there. At those times I might feel they are being neglected or mistreated because of lack of understanding in that culture of that child’s capabilities. I have a hard time seeing these tough situations. It makes me almost physically sick when I think about it. It will be difficult for me to see children in these situations and not want to share my input or understanding of how to help them learn and grow. Yet, that is not my purpose there. I wonder where the balance lies. Part of me says, "Shouldn't I help to better the situation for these children?" The other part says, "To try to better the situation would be applying my cultural beliefs to their cultural situation and that would be unethical." Tough stuff! When I find myself in these situations I will need to remember to look at that situation from their cultural views, not mine. I want to keep as much of my own characteristics and interpretations out as possible when gathering and presenting the research I will gather.