Positionality (research)
Positionality is the concept that an individual's understanding of the world is shaped by their unique experiences, values, and perspectives. This idea is especially relevant in research, as the personal background of a researcher can significantly influence the study's design, execution, and interpretation of findings. Factors such as a researcher’s upbringing, cultural heritage, education, and life experiences all contribute to their positionality and inform how they approach their work. As a result, the conclusions drawn from research can be affected by these inherent biases, making it crucial for researchers to reflect on their positionality before starting a project.
To address the influence of positionality, researchers can engage in reflexivity by critically examining their own experiences and how these may shape their research outcomes. Additionally, disclosing personal backgrounds or experiences relevant to the study helps provide context for the findings, enabling others to understand potential biases. For instance, a researcher with personal experiences of bullying may approach a study on school violence differently than one without such experiences. Acknowledging these influences not only enhances transparency but also contributes to the integrity of research outcomes. Overall, understanding and addressing positionality is vital for producing reliable and applicable research.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Positionality (research)
Positionality refers to the idea that a person’s understanding of the world is unavoidably influenced by the opinions, values, and experiences the person holds. This is an important consideration when conducting research because it can have a significant effect on how the person conducts the research and the conclusions that are reached. This, in turn, can affect the outcomes of subsequent projects and studies that apply the information gathered through the initial research. Positionality is nearly impossible to avoid, but its impact can be minimized if the researcher identifies and discloses any personal background that may have affected the study and its results.
Overview
Researchers, like all people, are inevitably affected by many different factors in their lives. The time and place in which they were raised, places they have lived, their heritage and ethnic origin, their place in their family, their education, financial status, spiritual practices, health and physical abilities, and numerous other factors inform how people think and act. Together, these experiences form what is known as a person’s positionality, or the unique viewpoint with which they see the world.
Researchers who are preparing to conduct a study have to consider a number of factors. These range from the topic to be studied, how research subjects will be chosen, how questions or experiments will be structured, when and where the study will be conducted, where and how the study results will be released, and other logistics. Every one of these factors can be affected by the researcher’s positionality.
Positionality can be a problem because it can affect the direction of the research, the conclusions that are reached, and how those conclusions are applied and distributed to others. Since a person can only limit the effects of positionality but cannot eliminate them completely, this can create a problem for people who are attempting to use or apply the research in subsequent studies. For example, a researcher who was bullied in grade school is likely to approach a study on school violence in a different way than someone who bullied others, and both researchers will have a different way of looking at the issue than someone who has no experience with school bullying at all.
This does not mean that all three cannot conduct a good and valid study. However, it is likely that the results will be influenced by the opinions and values of each researcher. There are two main ways to avoid this. The first is for the researcher to begin the process by reviewing their own positionality. Taking time to reflect critically on the personal experiences and viewpoints that could influence the work ahead can help the researcher identify and address issues that will obviously have a negative effect. This is called a reflexivity statement. The second way to deal with positionality is to disclose those factors that could have affected the research. For instance, a paragraph or two explaining the bullying researcher’s personal experience with school violence will help people reading and using the research to understand and apply the information in context.
Bibliography
Bourke, Brian. “Positionality: Reflecting on the Research Process.” The Qualitative Report, vol. 19, no. 33, 2014, pp. 1–9.
Coghlan, David, and Mary Brydon-Miller, editors. “Positionality.” SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research, Sage, 2014.
Derry, Min. “Writing Strategies: What’s Your Positionality?” Weingarten Blog, University of Pennsylvania, 9 Jan. 2017, weingartenlrc.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/research-writing-whats-your-positionality. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Hamby, Sherry. “Know Thyself: How to Write a Reflexivity Statement.” Psychology Today, 22 May 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-web-violence/201805/know-thyself-how-write-reflexivity-statement. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Jafar, Anisa J. N. “What Is Positionality and Should It Be Expressed in Quantitative Studies?” Emergency Medicine Journal, vol. 35, 2018, p. 578.
Klawetter, Susanne, et al. “MSW Students’ Experiences and Understanding of Social Location: The Development of a Positionality Measure.” Society for Social Work and Research, sswr.confex.com/sswr/2016/webprogram/Paper25933.html. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Muhammad, Michael, et al. “Reflections on Researcher Identity and Power: The Impact of Positionality on Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Processes and Outcomes.” Critical Sociology, vol. 41, no. 7–8, Nov. 2015, pp. 1045–63.
Sanchez, Luis. “Positionality.” Encyclopedia of Geography, edited by Barney Warf, Sage, 2010.
Yip, S. Y. "Positionality and Reflexivity: Negotiating Insider-Outsider Positions Within and Across Cultures." International Journal of Research & Method in Education, vol. 47, no. 3, 2024, pp. 222-232, doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2023.2266375. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.