Beyond the Numbers: A Conversation on Integrating Positionality and Reflexivity Into Quantitative Research and Evaluation

Quantitative methods are commonly treated as value-free even though the analyst's identities and experiences influence how these methods are used (positionality). In this dialogic article, we reflect on our backgrounds as quantitative methodologists in epidemiology and education. We extend positionality beyond social identity categories, by arguing that disciplinary training and professional socialization also shape which analytic choices feel routine. Drawing on an autoethnographic orientation, we present a conceptual framework developed inductively from our conversations that traces four cyclical stages: disciplinary training and socialization, reflexive disruption, reflexive reckoning, and reconstruction toward transformed quantitative practice. We illustrate each stage through our own experiences, including encounters with racial disparity reporting and achievement gap research. We conclude by arguing that all researchers and evaluators should interrogate what their disciplinary socialization has taught them to treat as routine and whether those assumptions reflect who they want to be as quantitative methodologists.