Researcher Positionality and Reflexivity Discussion

Our classroom discussion on researcher positionality and reflexivity was very useful for me.
I totally agree with the value of reflexive statements in a qualitative research. 

Since the subjective nature of the qualitative research has been accepted in the field, many people may be agree on that researcher's position, insights, biases, or experiences play significant role in design of the study, data collection and data analysis of the study. We, all, agree that researcher is a part of data in qualitative research. All of those points highlight the importance of researcher's reflexivity in qualitative research.

With this post, I want to express my thought that reflexive and position statements are not only important for qualitative research but also quantitative research. I believe that researcher's beliefs, values, experiences, biases, and etc. have a significant influence on the selection of the participants, data collection tools have been selected and the interpretation of the inferential statistics. Even though researcher's position won't change whether the study reveals a significant result based on statistical analysis, it will influence how s/he will discuss and relate those findings within the area of interest. 

For instance in my master's thesis, I studied pre-service teachers' mathematical knowledge quantitatively. I used convenient sampling method and administered the test to pre-service teachers in the university that I was doing my degree. It was not a really strong sampling method. Moreover, when I reflect on my experience, I can see that my choice of sampling method influenced and limited my study a lot. I do not mean that quantitative researchers should not use such sampling methods and should avoid all of the possible limitations (which is not possible either). What I mean is quantitative researchers should also be reflective about their decisions during the study and explain the possible consequences of each critical decisions.

I think the reflexivity of the researcher is important for all types of research, as well as our relationships in our daily lives.