Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026
Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hi, I’m Anuja Sarda, Ph.D., a research associate working for the Office of Research and Organizational Development at Clemson University, South Carolina. I identify as an educator-qualitative researcher, whose background in teacher education and qualitative methods informs a reflexive approach to evaluation.
When we step into an interview, we don’t walk in empty-handed. We bring our histories, our worldviews, our favorite coffee/tea mugs and yes, our biases. The goal isn’t to scrub those away, but to recognize them. Reflexivity is all about staying aware of how our own perspectives shape the stories we hear and the questions we ask.
Recently, I led a two-part professional development workshop called ‘Reflexive Interviewing: Exploring Bias and Perspective’. It brought together undergraduate research assistants working in different program evaluation projects to explore how interviewer/researcher positionality influences qualitative interviews, especially with culturally and linguistically diverse study participants.
We started with a deceptively simple tool: the Social Identity Map (Jacobson & Mustafa, 2019). Research assistants mapped aspects of their identities, including race, gender, culture, education, and others, to examine how these factors influence their interactions with study participants, such as individuals living with HIV/AIDS and older adults. One participant wrote, “Recognizing my positionality, I understand that I do not have the same lived experiences as the people I interview. However, recognizing this helps me to be better about actively listening and creating a space for the participants’ voices to guide the conversation.” That ‘aha’ moment was the point. Reflexivity isn’t abstract; it’s personal.
Then came the fun role-playing interviews on topics like family, education, and work-life balance. Even seasoned researchers caught themselves shaping conversations around their own experiences. One shared, “I realized that I can have hesitation interviewing straight men due to my sexuality and automatically assuming that they would have prejudice against me, which could hinder the conversation at hand.”
That’s the magic of reflexivity; when you see your own fingerprints on your data collection process and learn to use that awareness, rather than hiding it.
My post-workshop evaluations told an encouraging story. Confidence scores in conducting culturally responsive interviews increased notably, and nearly all participants rated the sessions as highly relevant and effective. Word cloud analysis of their reflections revealed recurring themes like collaboration, awareness, and empathy.
For evaluators and qualitative researchers, reflexivity isn’t just about introspection; it’s a professional stance. It helps us listen more deeply, design more equitable studies, and interpret data with humility.
I often tell fellow interviewers/researchers that reflexivity is a bit like Dumbledore’s Pensieve from Harry Potter: a way to pull thoughts from your mind, examine them swirling in the light, and notice patterns you couldn’t see before. It’s a whimsical metaphor that sticks!
If you’re designing training or facilitating interviews, start small:
Reflexivity isn’t a one-time exercise; it’s an ongoing conversation with yourself and with your data. When we practice it consistently, our interviews become not just instruments of inquiry but acts of respect.
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.