Final answer:
The method commonly used to determine the index of a specified element in a collection is 'indexOf()'. It returns the first index where the element is found or -1 if it's absent. Other mentioned methods like 'findIndex()', 'search()', or 'position()' have different uses or may not be standard.
Step-by-step explanation:
For determining the index of a specified element in a collection, the method that can be commonly used is indexOf(). This method is often available in array structures or list-like objects in various programming languages. For instance, in JavaScript, calling indexOf() on an array will return the first index at which a given element can be found in the array, or -1 if the element is not present. In contrast, the method findIndex() is also used in JavaScript but is employed to find the index of the first element in the array that satisfies a provided testing function. The other options mentioned, such as search() and position(), are not standard methods for finding index in array structures in most programming languages.