Positionality and Reflexivity Activities

The lessons provided here are designed for first-year students in STEM although they are relevant and accessible to any courses across the university that require students to conduct research. This includes both quantitative and qualitative research. Discussions arising from the lessons as well as examples provided could point to positionality and reflexivity in other scholarly and non-scholarly contexts such as conference presentations, roundtable discussions and/or the work required in the students’ future professions. 

The two lessons are intended to be given over two or more different days (depending on the length of your classes). They could be adapted in different ways such as focusing on particular concepts, streamlining, or spreading the lessons out over multiple days in the term. Instructors might also find examples and sources that are more relevant to their teaching context.

1. By the end of the lesson on Positionality, students will be able to: 
   • Apply critical thinking to accepted understandings of objectivity and neutrality 
   • Explain what social identities are and their role in positionality  
   • Explain positionality and how positionality might influence the choices we make in academic and professional contexts 
   • Recognize the importance of positionality in accepted knowledge, research, design and other areas of our professional and academic work 
   • Identify how positionality might influence their own research in this course 

2. By the end of the lesson on Subject Position and Fostering Reflexivity, students will be able to: 
   • Explain reflexivity and the purpose of reflexivity in research 
   • Identify key reflexivity practices that can be incorporated into the research process 
     • Field notes 
     • Position Statements 
   • Identify stylistic features and moves of position statements in research papers 
   • Apply reflexivity to their own research in this course

The first-year writing courses that I teach are diverse with many English as an additional language (EAL) learners, students with disabilities, students from a range of different backgrounds with different educational experiences, students with challenging schedules and/or who are juggling multiple responsibilities. First year students are also orienting themselves to the new expectations and norms of the scholarly context. For these reasons, I strive to make the purpose and the expectations of activities and assignments as clear and transparent as possible. For example, I explain how the lessons fit in relation to other course content and engage in activities that activate and call upon their previous knowledge. I also make clear what they can expect to learn through the activities.  

The lessons included here incorporate multiple ways of engaging with the learning materials such as videos and collaborate text-based analysis. The learning activities allow students to share and learn from one another as well as apply what they are learning to real situations (such as their own research). I have also tried to organize information into charts that they can refer to after the lesson.  

You might also assign some of the material ahead of time so students can prep for the discussions on social identities and positionality. I have begun to adjust my teaching so that most learning activities happen in the classroom with flexibility for those students who might miss class due to extenuating circumstances or who require additional time to complete tasks. The shift in this area of my teaching is for equity reasons, as many students are overwhelmed with homework and other responsibilities, and low stakes assignments lose their purpose if they become a burden on the students. In addition, the tracking and grading of many low-stakes preparation activities is not, in my experience, effective for assessing student learning.  

Due to the sensitive nature of conversations about social identity and positionality and the vulnerability and trust this work involves, students are required to only speak in generalities about the impacts social identities and positionalities might have in terms of their own experience and their research in the course.

In-class Activities

Lesson 1: Positionality

1. Learning Objectives: the day’s learning objectives and required materials are reviewed so that students know what to expect 
2. Warm up activity: Students are given two minutes to jot down what they know about objectivity, what it is in their fields and why it is important. The class discusses their answers for 5 minutes (or so).  
3. Introduction to key concepts: The class watches a video that briefly explains social identities and positionality while taking notes on three key questions. A class discussion follows in which we draw connections between the conversation on objectivity/neutrality and positionality. This material could be assigned to students as homework before class with a question that asks them to reflect on their own social identities. 
4. Lecture: Lecture on social identities and positionality, insider/outsider theory, feminist reasoning and Black feminist reasoning on positionality including an example of insider/outsider position being a spectrum.  
5. Analysis of real examples: The class is provided with up to three examples of why positionality is important. There is a discussion about the possible positive or negative impact of positionality.  
6. If there is time you could break the class into small groups to discuss before coming back to the large group.  
7. Application: Students are put into their assigned research groups and asked to discuss and record their ideas on how positionality might impact their research and writing choices in the course.    

Lesson 2:

1. Learning Objectives: the day’s learning objectives and required materials are reviewed so that students know what to expect 
2. Warm Up: Students are given two minutes to jot down notes that calls upon their previous knowledge of social identities. A class discussion follows on how social identities shape positionality.  
3. Quick review of the difference between positionality and bias. 
4. Analysis: The class reviews a set of research questions that have been flagged as “biased”. We identify the positionalities that lead to the bias. Before revealing revised questions, the class might pick up one or two of the biased questions and rewrite.  
   • A note on using the term bias: Although this is not a term that I typically would use to describe positionality, it is a term used in the research that I have pulled from for these lessons.
5. Lecture: Lecture introduces the concept of reflexivity and the practices that can be used to incorporate reflexivity into the research process: 
   • Field notes and research journals 
   • Position statements
6. Small Group Work: Students are broken into small groups and provided with one of four examples of position statements. They are asked to read and analyze the position statements for key content and stylistic features. 
7. Large Group Discussion: Students are then invited to share their findings and analysis with the class. Due to time constraints, not all of the groups will share, although they have taken notes on a shared document. 
8. Conclusion: Students are introduced to a new way of including themselves in the research through the use of the Reflexive I. They are then provided with a chart on how to embed reflexivity into the quantitative research process (to be provided on Canvas). 
9. Application: Students move into their research groups and are asked to discuss and take notes on how they might incorporate reflexivity in their own research process.

If the worksheet is assigned it would receive a completion grade. Students might be provided points for participation in completing the classroom activities and discussions.