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I've been thinking a lot about this today as we've all been working through this. So I thought I’d put a thread together: how I conduct community-based research ethically, help my community, raise awareness, & still be rigorous in my science. +
I’m hoping this can illuminate how some academics (namely me) go about their research and create some transparency in the research process. I apologize in advance that it’s long, I didn’t want to leave anything important out. +
To be clear, this is absolutely not a comment on anyone else’s research. This is what I have done in my own work, how I advise my students, & how I hope to explain to my communities how I do my work. If something is unclear here, I very much want that feedback. +
Also, twt is obviously not the ideal place to explain this but I know it’s where it will be seen by the people I care about, so I will do the best I can given the medium. +
I do community-based ethnographic research, which means I don’t collect large datasets, run statistics on anything, or conduct experiments. This means I cannot make big generalizations about my findings, but I can give nuanced reflections about small parts of the community. +
I work in communities I care about. I’ve written about this in other threads, but this work takes a lot of time/energy and very careful planning. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t deeply care about this community. +
As a disabled, neurodivergent scholar, I am very very aware of what it means to be othered and marginalized. With that experience, I try to bring compassion & understanding to everything that I do. +
Whether or not I have to get ethics approval from my university (which depends on what kind of data I am collecting), I proceed with my research in the same way. I have much higher standards than my ethics board will have anyway. +
My work is conducted with great care. I have a process for gaining consent and permission to do so. If I am interviewing someone, this process also includes gaining consent. Anyone can change their mind at any time; including withdrawing later. +
Knowing the community is important to my work, including the culture and the norms. As a community member, I know what is meant to stay INSIDE the group and what is meant for public consumption. +
If you aren’t a part of the community, you must add extra time to your research to know this first before even collecting data. I argue this should be true for any research. If you do not know, really know, the community you’re working with, then get to know them first. +
If it’s a cultural norm not to screenshot and publicly share outside the community, then I do not do that. I might take notes and quotes, anything that becomes public via presentation or paper is anonymized or I have consent. +
It is my job to be aware of what is appropriate and what is not for sharing and how to share. If people are feeling violated or misrepresented or skewed in how they appear in my work, then I have not done my job correctly. And it’s on me to fix it. +
I have had to push back against academic expectations. If a reviewer asked me to be more critical of my community, for example, I have pushed back. There is a time & place to be critical. I would rather not publish something than violate the trust I have with my community. +
While the research is important, the community always comes first. If this means taking longer to publish something or holding off on research or choosing not to do specific research in order to not harm the community, then that is the road to take. +
Concerning bias in research - everyone is biased. Humans are biased. What takes practice is recognizing it & knowing your limits & knowing how to leverage your experiences to make the research stronger, more compelling, & authentic. +
There is absolutely ways to do community research, even in your own community, well. I am always learning new ways to do this and constantly trying to improve myself as a community member and as an academic. Keep asking questions!! +
I'm sure I've missed some things, but this is already long. Let me know if there is more you want to know about or have questions about! I hope this thread was helpful or at least illuminating.
