Wait, Who Are You Again?: Getting Started with Positionality Statements (for evaluators)
Originally posted on the American Evaluation Association (AEA)’s 365 blog.
As evaluators, we know that the projects we assess, the groups we work with, the beneficiaries our efforts aim to help, and the funding allocated to these projects all exist within sociopolitical contexts that inform the success and effectiveness of these initiatives. While our field continues to shift from evaluative objectivity, I do not see positionalities explicitly discussed enough, especially in a field where many of our partners are seeking to improve the social wellbeing and material conditions of those within their organizations and/or society at large.
Hot Tips
Create a personal positionality statement
If you have never created a personal positionality statement before, this will most definitely be a funky, clunky, over (and under)whelming process. Close your eyes, take a breath and throw formality out the window. Don’t worry about a word count or writing in complete sentences.
Your personal positionality statement should focus on you as an individual, specifically your social and cultural identities. Try to refrain from looking up an identity wheel. Allow your memories to guide what comes up for you. How have these experiences been shaped by both your prescribed and chosen identities? How do they uniquely influence how you show up with others and the world around you? Jot down, voice record, or sketch whatever comes up. When needed, turn to the identity wheel for mapping support.
If you’re in a particularly brave mood, ask loved ones and/or colleagues for their honest experiences of you. This may help fill in gaps in your own perspectives of how you show up in the world.
Create an evaluator positionality statement
An evaluator statement can describe how our personal and professional identities will, are, or have informed our evaluation work with clients. The better we understand our own positionality, the easier it will be to observe how our involvement in the evaluation impacts stakeholders and the evaluation itself.
This statement will be a more tailored, context-specific reflection for each project you take on. As an evaluator, how are you situated within this evaluation? How does your involvement influence each phase of the evaluation? In what ways are you connected to the issue area(s) you are evaluating? How do your values orient your evaluation process?
Additional questions to ask yourself that may not make it into your statement: What power dynamics are at play? Where do you hold significant power? Remember, positionality statements help others better understand us and serve as high-level snapshots that illustrate how our positionalities connect to the work.
Embed opportunities to discuss positionalities throughout the evaluation
A few examples:
Dedicate time during check-ins to discuss how your positionalities are influencing decision making, evaluation design, narrative framing and reporting. Bonus if you can nurture a culture where others feel comfortable reflecting on their own positionalities as well. Document these conversations to reference back to and reflect on later.
If supported by the client, consider including a short positionality statement in the final deliverable(s). Doing so can model collective responsibility among evaluators, clients and funders; increase transparency for beneficiaries and others invested in the success of the program/initiative being evaluated; and promote accountability around the client’s decision to choose you as the “best fit” evaluator.
Lessons Learned
It is imperative that our individual practices include a rigorous understanding and interrogation of our own social positionings. Committing to reflexivity is often hard, profoundly vulnerable but necessary work. I have witnessed a range of reactions to this practice. However, when we become adept at mapping our positionalities across different contexts, we become more competent at self evaluation (i.e., expanding our self awareness and individual impact), deepening trust, and strengthening relationships among those involved in the evaluation, all of which improve the quality and helpfulness of our evaluations.
Rad Resources
Just Tell Me What I Need To Know: Reflexivity and Positionality Statements
Why positioning identity matters in decolonising research and knowledge production: How to write a ‘positionality statement’ (with example)
An appendix showcasing ongoing reflection within a project (examples included)