ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we claim that common perspectives of the reflective process tend to represent such processes as procedures of discovering or re-discovering some "pre-existing" reality. Such processes are procedures of defining, delineating and constructing insights and understandings by participants and researchers. While most literature on the subject has mainly focused on the reflective processes of researchers, we emphasize that reflection and reflexivity also occur when participants are asked to narrate their stories, reminisce about experiences, or express opinions. Any similar interpersonal communication that occurs in qualitative (as well as quantitative) interviews are based on the participant taking a reflexive stance, pondering his or her perceptions (maps) of what is or was, and deciding how to relate those to the interviewer. In other words, interviewees construct their maps of reality through intra-personal as well as inter-personal interactions, communicative acts, and self-reflection. They may decide on the emotional and reflective distance they take from their memories of experiences; they may decide on the formula that they use to relate their experiences, behaviors, emotions, and thoughts, through various linguistic modalities, such as different levels of abstraction, using stories, using metaphors, etc.
