Researcher and facilitator RTI International, Transformative Research Unit for Equity, Washington, United States
This session of the panel will introduce positionality and its role in shaping narratives used in public health evaluations. Positionality involves recognizing how one’s ethnicity, racial, gender, class, able-bodied or other identities, experiences, and privileges influence research approaches (Finley, 2002). Positionality influences epistemology, axiology, ontology and so forth and impacts mechanisms of research/evaluation from planning to execution including methodology, participant selection, and strategies for data analysis and knowledge generation among others (Secules et al., 2021). Positionality can only be understood from the perspective of cultural and individual identity. Our identities as Latinx evaluators, and our work with Latinx communities involves intersectional stories of trauma, exposure to racism, and continued resilience among other things. This session will discuss how Latinx evaluators leverage their understanding of their own stories to learn from others in an effort to advance health equity with community-centered approaches.
