In this paper, I argue that researcher reflexivity, a common qualitative practice, is a specific tool that institutional research professionals endeavoring to conduct qualitative research studies involving Students of Color can use to unpack issues of power and privilege that exist between the researcher and the researched. This may be particularly useful among institutional researchers working within community colleges that serve a disproportionate number of racially minoritized populations and other vulnerable student groups. I offer a reflexive account of various experiences related to race, gender, and social class that I encountered in a qualitative research study of Black and Latino males I conducted as an institutional researcher. The purpose of this reflexive account from the field is to support the argument for more qualitative approaches to institutional research, while also advancing the argument that critical qualitative research be leveraged with the explicit purpose of advancing racial equity from the context of IR not traditionally associated with equity, advocacy, and qualitative inquiry involving race.