Dead Reckoning: A Framework for Analyzing Positionality Statements in Ethnographic Research Reporting

Abstract

As essential as positionality is to qualitative research involving engagement with research participants, contemporary scholarly discussion of positionality is mainly aimed at educating emerging researchers about acknowledging their own subjectivities. In turn, there is little consensus regarding how authors should address positionality in writing for research publication. Emphasizing the importance of written positionality as a component of research transparency, this article proposes a framework for positionality in ethnographic research writing. The author collected 59 ethnographies published in peer-reviewed academic journals to study the extent to which researcher positionality is established or can be inferred through the writing of research. The analysis identifies a series of considerations for research writing such as the form of writing, sociocultural identities, relationships with research participants, and the resulting implications. The author proposes this framework as a guide for qualitative researchers who benefit from explicitly situating themselves in the research process through their writing.