Researcher Positionality
The stance or positioning of the researcher in relation to the social and political context of the study—the community, the organization or the participant group.
What is Researcher Positionality?
Researcher positionality refers to the complex interplay of a researcher's identity (gender, race, class, educational background) and their relationship to the subject matter and participants they are studying. It explicitly acknowledges that researchers are not objective observers but active participants who shape the research process through their personal and professional experiences.
Why Researcher Positionality Matters
Acknowledging positionality is essential for reflexivity in qualitative research, as it helps readers understand how the researcher's biases, assumptions, and power dynamics might have influenced data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Example
A wealthy, male, European researcher studying the coping mechanisms of low-income single mothers in Southeast Asia would document his positionality to reflect on how his distinct socioeconomic and gender status might affect how participants respond to his interview questions.
Common Mistakes
- Treating positionality merely as a confessional paragraph without explaining how it actually impacted the study's methodological choices.
- Assuming positionality is only relevant for qualitative research and ignoring how identity shapes quantitative research design and variable selection.