Researcher positionality in cross-cultural and sensitive research

The status of the insider and outsider is an important concept for cross-cultural and sensitive research. In recent years, the concept of placement of the researcher has received much attention. Until a few generations ago, researchers who shared the same cultural, social, and linguistic background with those of the research participants mainly conducted research. However, over the last two decades, we have started to witness researchers who have different characteristics to that of the research participants conduct research in health and social sciences. In current times, this has led to the debates of insider versus outsider status of the researchers, as the way research participants “place” the researchers, and vice versa, is vital for the success of any research. In this chapter, we shall introduce the concept of researcher positionality. We will look at the debates on researcher positionality in cross-cultural and sensitive research and discuss “placing” issues such as gender, age, culture and ethnicity, social class, and shared experiences