The Power and Possibilities of Positionality Statements: A Review of the American Educational Research Journal 2010–2018

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Quantitative Studies on Intersectionalities and Difference

Abstract

Given the current climate where “identity politics” are scrutinized by some as divisive tools for separation and embraced by others as recognizing impacts of structural forces based on social identities, educational research must complicate and grapple with its own debate about positionality. The authors of this paper assert that education research is best served when investigations of educational issues include the explicit recognition of the researchers’ positionality. Acknowledging the role of one’s positionality when conducting research- qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches all benefit from viewing the researcher as an instrument. This paper outlines results of a content analysis describing how researchers published in the American Education Research Journal (AERJ) situate their position, or not, throughout their educational inquiries.

Authors

• Neil Garrett Jacobson, University of Southern California

• Liane I. Hypolite, California Polytechnic State University