Re........ search.

Key theme of Linda Tuhiwai Smith's Decolonizing Knowledge chapter & podcast is to trouble how we came to know "what is".

"Until lions have their own historian, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunters."
- unknown

A key goal of Community Based & Participatory Action Research is to elevate experiences from "the community".

But what if the hunters are defined as part of your community?

If we want to stop the hunt, should we include the hunters in our community based research?

If we don't include the hunters with the lions, who are we DISMISSING and why? If we don't include the hunters in our community research, are we reinforcing power structures or dismantling them? Are we producing research that simply adds to division and otherness?

How do we define WHAT IS a community? Who defines community? Who is included and who is excluded? WEB DuBois & the NAACP were members of the eugenics community…

"A community audience is the best accountability you can have. ... So it's not a fanciful story, it's a layered story of shared knowledge" (Tuhiwai Smith [of Decolonizing Knowledge], 2014, p. 209).

Last week's reading from Joan LaFrance taught us to let "culture write the script" when responding to a question of "what is" in program evaluation research.

She offers the context compass or "Indigenous Evaluation Framework (IEF)" as a way to for the researcher to prepare themselves for what and who is defining the research.

What and who are guiding your response to "what is" in your research?

Many of the authors in the Jolivette book argue for "community based research" and using systems thinking to see the whole of problems and solutions so we can answer the question "what is".

Systems thinking can reduce our blindspots (know our unknowns) and help us make fully informed decisions without simply accepting dominant norms of "what is".

But who is defining "the system"?

Whose input are we seeking to inform what the system is?

Based on our own positionality and biases, what are we looking for (AND what are we ready to receive) when we ask people about a system?

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPW0j2Bo_eY

What should research be based on? What should research seek?

Should our research seek to reinforce or build one universal understanding of the world (Babbie: stuff everybody knows) or multiple understandings of the world from various individuals (Gooden: valid knowledge holders)?

Big "T" truths (singular) are absolute universals that can be applied to all things. One set of "answers" must be accepted as the “T”ruth…the final word… the absolute reality….

Little "t" truths (plural) are realities that “depend” on the context and therefore the “truth” is not fixed or finite. It is subjective and is as infinite as the people who experienced the truth or are open to seeing truths different from their own. Link between seeing & knowing= subjectivity.

In public service, the main reason "why" we do research is to inform decisions. Inform decision makers. Inform leaders. Inform community. Inform organizations. Inform policies. Inform programs. Inform finance and budgets.

Re - Search so that, we see what needs to be seen and do what needs to be done.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/111765367

Researcher is expert?

Think back to last year.

Ideally, who would you talk to make a logic model about a policy or budget?

CBR:
Community-based research is a "collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. Begins with a research topic of importance to the community, has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change..." (WK Kellogg Foundation Community Health Scholars Program).

Involves: (1) co-learning and reciprocal transfer of expertise, by all research partners [not one directional from the researcher to subjects]; (2) shared decision-making power; and (3) mutual ownership of the processes and products of the research enterprise.

The research agenda “bubbles up” from individuals or communities, or is being pursued by others, often professional researchers on behalf of government agencies and nonprofit, but with extensive community involvement and participation.

Requires: Systems Thinking. what is going on in a policy? Who is “responsible”? Where do resources come from? Who is harmed by current policies…and are they aware of what’s going on? Who will be threatened by efforts to change this system?

The goal: system change, not simply data collection for academic purposes

PAR:
Participatory Action Research focuses on researchers increasing understanding about a social problem in order to promote the participants making change.

Four Steps: planning, executing, reconnaissance, & evaluation

Participants bring about change themselves by actualizing the research results.

Researchers are in a privileged position as they facilitate client learning.

Design the research project "for" the community (not necessarily "with") and then gift final results of research to the community.

What determines the research design? How do you pick the methodology and method of research?

It depends.

What and who are you putting in your research bucket?

What is the right design for your research?

The design can embody the power of naming. Who you include/exclude in your research, how you collect the data and the words you choose to use in the questions you ask have the power of naming reality= world making.

As researchers you are knowledge producers; you are making world views about what knowledge is accepted/rejected= epistemologies.

But ... regardless of whether you are an insider or outsider, participant or non-participant… You do not have a right to know everything… some knowing is sacred. People might not answer you and there are very good reasons for that.

Social Science Re - Search

Whose hands is it in?

Really?

Seminar time!

Use these guiding questions to help you discuss the assigned readings.