Anthropological method · IDS teaching guide
Positionality & Reflexivity
Examine how a researcher's social position, assumptions, access, and relationships affect knowledge.
Examine how a researcher's social position, assumptions, access, and relationships affect knowledge.
Star Wars teaching example
What this method helps us notice
Boba Fett learns different things about the Tuskens as his position shifts from captive to participant and ally. That fictional change illustrates why access and relationship affect what an observer can know.
How a researcher would use it
Move from a question to evidence
A researcher begins with a focused question, identifies what evidence the method can provide, records context rather than isolated details, and compares observations with other sources. The method becomes useful when it helps distinguish what is known, what participants say, what the researcher interprets, and what remains uncertain.
Important limit
Do not confuse the analogy with real fieldwork
Reflexivity is not simply writing about oneself. It evaluates how research conditions influence evidence, interpretation, and representation.
Use it with IDS