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completed by students as their final exam. The goal of critical self-reflection was
to change students’ thinking about a subject and thus transform their behavior.
Critical self-reflection also involved reflecting on biases; examining and rethinking
perspectives; questioning whether perspectives take a broad view; considering
all aspects of an issue or problem; engaging in thought-provoking conversations
with colleagues, families, professionals, and community members; and using the
reflective questions in the critical science perspective to prompt thinking (Bart,
2011; Jacoby, 2010; Rehm, 2021). This reflective thinking helped students further
see any issues within themselves that interfered with their independence and ability
to make reasoned decisions.
The second collection of data occurred via the researcher’s reflection journal as
she was observing students interacting with each other in their policy issue teams to
clarify the perennial or emerging family problem they wanted to research within their
policy brief and as they implemented three of the critical science-focused instructional
strategies (gap analysis, family impact lens, and the practical reasoning think sheet)
through developing activities. Developing a reflection journal was for the benefit of
self-reflection on what was working and not working with the implementation of
the critical science-focused instructional strategies. Further, notes were made in the
journal based on the questions and feedback the panel of community professionals
provided after each policy issue team’s presentation so the teams would not forget
what areas needed improvement in their policy briefs.

Data Analysis
The in vivo coding system, also known as the verbatim coding system, was
used in analyzing the students’ critical self-reflection essays and the instructor’s
journal notes from 2017 to 2021. In vivo coding is a form of qualitative data analysis
that uses the participants’ own words to summarize the data and is the first stage
in grounded theory (Saldana, 2021). This coding system is commonly applied to
action, participatory, and practitioner research.
The first cycle of coding was done to identify the essence of the words and phrases
utilized by the students and the instructor and code them accordingly as they related
to the research questions. Then the second cycle of coding, known as axial coding,
was done to develop a list of codes and inventory them to discern any particular
patterns. A pattern is defined as repetitive, regular, or consistent occurrences of data
that appear more than twice (Saldana, 2021). The goal of axial coding is to draw
connections between codes, organize the codes, find relationships among the codes,
and then group them into categories, which is the second stage of grounded theory
(Saldana, 2021). Discerning the interrelationships of the grouped categories into
themes is the final stage in the grounded theory process.

Findings
Four dominant themes developed after data analysis of the students’ self-reflection
essays and the researcher’s observation notes over a 4-year span in teaching the family
policy course. They were critical thinking, practical reasoning, empowerment, and
comprehensive solutions. The Table provides a sample of comments by students for
each theme. All these themes were in alignment with the two research questions, the
purpose of this family policy course, and the knowledge, skills, and beliefs citizens
should possess to take social action effectively.

44 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators