positionality
What It Means
Positionality refers to how a researcher's background, experiences, and perspective influence what they look for, how they interpret data, and what conclusions they draw. It's the recognition that no research is completely objective - everyone brings their own lens to the work based on their role, culture, training, and personal experience.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
AI training data and model development are heavily influenced by the positionality of data scientists, engineers, and researchers who build these systems. Different teams will make different choices about what data to include, how to label it, and what outcomes to optimize for, directly affecting model performance and bias. Understanding positionality helps CAIOs build more diverse teams and implement processes to catch blind spots before they become costly AI failures.
Real-World Example
A facial recognition system developed primarily by a team of young, male engineers from similar backgrounds consistently performed poorly on elderly users and women, leading to customer complaints and lost business. The team's positionality meant they unconsciously optimized the system based on datasets and use cases that reflected their own demographics, missing critical performance gaps until after deployment.
Common Confusion
People often confuse positionality with simple bias or think it can be eliminated through training. However, positionality isn't something to remove but rather something to acknowledge and account for through diverse perspectives and systematic checks in the research and development process.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare research and AI development, positionality significantly impacts how clinical problems are defined, what p...
Finance: In finance, positionality significantly impacts investment decisions, risk assessments, and market analysis, as analysts...
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- 6 industry-specific applications
- Relevant regulations by sector
- Real compliance scenarios
- Implementation guidance
Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"the researcher's starting points and standpoints before and during inquiry, as well as the conditions shaping the research situation, process, and product."Source: Charmaz_Henwood
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