What is Culturally Responsive Research?
Conducting culturally responsive research is crucial when working with vulnerable populations in order to support and respect the participants’ experiences. In this post, we will give a variety of definitions for culturally responsive research and provide six examples of how researchers are using culturally responsive research methods with links to their presentations as part of the NVivo and SAGE Publishing Culturally Responsive webinar series.
Defining Culturally Responsive Research
There are multiple definitions and thoughts around what culturally responsive research is to the researchers themselves and to the participants and communities involved with the research. Beloware couple quotes from the NVivo and SAGE Publishing Culturally Responsive Webinar Series.
Culturally Responsive Research (CRR) recognizes “culture as central to the research process” and uses “the cultural standpoints of both the researcher and the researched as a framework for research design, data collection and data interpretation” (Obamehinti, 2010).
“When we are culturally responsive, we must first be aware of the cultures in which we are personally embedded and then attempt to understand others’ cultures. Culture is the intersection of the varieties of culture in which individuals are nested. This may include but is not limited to race, ethnicity, citizenship, gender [identity], class, sexual orientation, ability, and age” (Lahman et al., 2011, p. 1401).
Culturally responsive research requires a commitment of the researcher to support and advocate for voices not always clearly heard. The research methods used need to move beyond basic and traditional research methods.
Why is Culturally Responsive Research Important?
When designing and conducting research, it's important to consider research methods that are culturally responsive to your participants and the community they live in. This is especially important when working with vulnerable populations and when there could be a perceived imbalance of power between the researcher and participants.
Researchers conducting culturally responsive research should consider the following ten items where the researchers (Hall, 2020).
- View culturally responsive as a stance
- Position themselves as a life-long learner
- Engage with reflexivity
- Recognizes self as interconnected
- Advances strength-based approaches
- Perceives self as a change agent
- Allows others to describe who they are
- Works with others to co-construct knowledge
- Operates with a sociocultural consciousness
- Employs culturally responsive theories and methodological techniques
6 Examples of Culturally Responsive Research Method
Critical Advocacy Inquiry
Critical advocacy research moves beyond mere documentation of oppression and hegemonic power and requires a commitment of the researcher to support and advocate for voices not always clearly heard, according to Penny A. Pasque, a professor in Educational Studies and Director of Qualitative Methods and QualLab for the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University.
It’s important to consider critical advocacy in key parts of the research design, theoretical framework, design, data collection, data analysis and findings.
“Critical advocacy inquiry is a multi-faceted, research paradigm comprising a diverse collection of critical ontologies (being), epistemologies (knowing), methodologies (research design), axiologies (ethics), and praxiologies (doing) which share a commitment to documenting, describing, and overturning injustice” (Pasque & Carducci, 2015, p.275).
Dr. Pasque’s presentation is a brief exploration of critical advocacy approaches and congruent methods that employ rigor as they hold promise to transform.
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) involves intergenerational and collective process of critical investigation that addresses the social conditions that affect youth (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Checkoway & Richards-Schuster, 2004). YPAR shifts power over to power with, allowing youth to address social factors that oppress them.
The methodology of YPAR comes from multiple critical theories and transformative pedagogies. Its epistemology centers around localized knowledge of young people. The conception of participants allows youth to be experts and change agents. The core aim of YPAR is to leverage youth participation for change.
The presentation of Adriana Aldana, MSW, PhD, an assistant professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills Department of Social Work and Katie Richards-Schuster, AM, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, discusses the conceptualization of YPAR as an antiracism approach to social science scholarship and reviews research “commitments” that enable inter-generational research partnerships with young people to advance racial justice, case examples of YPAR projects with diverse youth, and lessons learned and guiding questions for future work in this field.
Participatory-Based Research
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) involves intergenerational and collective process of critical investigation that addresses the social conditions that affect youth (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Checkoway & Richards-Schuster, 2004). YPAR shifts power over to power with, allowing youth to address social factors that oppress them.
The methodology of YPAR comes from multiple critical theories and transformative pedagogies. It’s epistemology centers around localized knowledge of young people. The conception of participants allows youth to be experts and change agents. The core aim of YPAR is to leverage youth participation for change.
The presentation of Adriana Aldana, MSW, PhD, an assistant professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills Department of Social Work and Katie Richards-Schuster, AM, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, discusses the conceptualization of YPAR as an antiracism approach to social science scholarship and reviews research “commitments” that enable inter-generational research partnerships with young people to advance racial justice, case examples of YPAR projects with diverse youth and lessons learned and guiding questions for future work in this field.
Watch the On-Demand Webinar – Youth-Led Antiracism Research
Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)
The Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to research provides a new framework to engage and work collaboratively with various communities such as those impacted by a particular health disparity to research, analyze, and intervene in complex social phenomena (e.g. the migration experience). CBPR is furthermore concerned with addressing power inequities between researchers and community members and ensuring that research topics, methodologies and outcomes are beneficial to communities as they are rooted in the needs and knowledge of communities.
A research team at the University of New Mexico used an innovative collaborative CBPR approach that developed and incorporated a research partnership with Latinx/@ immigrant community members and organizations, with a specific focus on the typically neglected phases of data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination in CBPR. Learn more about their approach by listening in English to the NVivo Podcast Episode 23: Innovative Participatory Bilingual Research with Latinx/@ Immigrants.
or watching the team present their research in Spanish in this presentation Análisis de Datos Bilingüe Participativo Innovador con Inmigrantes Latinx/@: Lenguaje, Poder y Transformación.
Community based research Involves a collaborative approach with community members that respects community partners and often uses qualitative methods to understand the communities better. Below are two examples of community-based research.
Hard to Reach or Hardly Reached Communities
For Liesl Nydegger, Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, community-based research needs to have the following ingredients: non-judgmental language, formative research with a pilot. To understand the community your researching, it’s important to receive their input by forming a Community Advisory Board (CAB). As the research evolves structural interventions can occur if this helps the vulnerable population.
Dr Nydegger’s presentation on Hard-to-Reach Vulnerable Populations, Black and Latinx Women with HIV, speaks to how traditional research defines “hard-to-reach” populations as difficult for researchers to access and recruit for studies. This puts the onus on the communities rather than the researchers. Researchers must be more engaged with the communities of interest rather than just dismissing them as “hard-to-reach.” Additionally, language regarding sexual health often implies, sometimes implicitly, victim blaming. Sexual health and HIV prevention frequently point to protecting oneself from unfaithful partners or promoting condom use in monogamous relationships. These strategies are often unsuccessful. Researchers need to reframe how they approach conducting research among “hard-to-reach” populations and consider the underlying issues of sexual health.
Respecting and Responding to the needs of Communities of Color in the Research Space
Dr. Rasheeta Chandler, from the Nell Hodgson School of Nursing, Emory University describes ways to gain trust when working with minority communities and the importance of an action plan before starting the research.
When conducting community-based research, Dr. Chandler describes the importance for leaders to use the six L’s to gain trust in the community:
Listen to the community
Linger at community events or volunteer
Labor by participating in the work
Lionize through encouragement and gratitude
Lending their time, talent, and resources
Logical by using diverse perspectives and self-reflection.
Respecting and Responding to the needs of Communities of Color in the Research Space
Dr. Rasheeta Chandler, from the Nell Hodgson School of Nursing, Emory University describes ways to gain trust when working with minority communities and the importance of an action plan before starting the research.
When conducting community-based research Dr. Chandler describes the importance for leaders to use the six L’s to gain trust in the community:
- Listen to the community
- Linger at community events or volunteer
- Labor by participating in the work.
- Lionize through encouragement and gratitude
- Lending
- Logical by using diverse perspectives and self-reflection.
Create an action plan for community-based research by considering the societal issues that are unique to each community. Acknowledge as the researcher you will be a partner both giving to and taking from the community. Assure the community that what you take will be used to help improve issues in the community (e.g. health/wellness, structural inequities) and not simply be for professional advancement. Transform your findings into a tangible product for the community, which fosters sustained relationships (Chandler, 2021).
In the presentation Respecting and Responding to the needs of Communities of Color in the Research Space, Dr. Chandler describes systemic issues that haunt communities of color, reviews how to assess the community and their needs, and recommends ways to approach and lead studies in communities of color.
Culturally Responsive Focus Groups
Dr. Jori, Associate Professor in the Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methodologies program at the University of Georgia, describes focus groups and how they can be culturally responsive. Focus groups are a research method that are designed to generate information about a specific topic through a group discussion. Culturally responsive focus groups consider the participants’ culture and context when designing and conducting the focus groups. An important part of being culturally responsive is to think about the group from a strength-based perspective. That means that their culture is considered an asset and not a deficit. To be culturally responsive, a researcher needs to continuously question their own assumptions and actions throughout the inquiry process.
The presentation by Dr. Hall, Culturally Responsive Focus Groups, emphasizes how focus groups can be tailored to meet the needs of specific minoritized groups (e.g., Black women). The implications of conducting culturally responsive focus groups online will also be explored.
Closing
The six expert presentations highlighted will expand your understanding of culturally responsive research and provide helpful considerations to make before conducting research with vulnerable populations. To better support participants and communities in research, it is critical to become familiar with the culturally responsive approach.
References
Hall, Jori N. (2020). Focus Groups: Culturally Responsive Approaches for Qualitative Inquiry and Program Evaluation. https://myersedpress.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781975501938/Focus-Groups
Jones, K., & Okun, T. (2001). White supremacy culture. Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change. https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html
Lahman, M. K. E., Rodriguez, K. L., DeRoche, K. K. (2011) Culturally Responsive Relational Reflexive Ethics in Research: The Three Rs. Qual Quant, 45 (pp. 1397-1414).
Obamehinti (2010). Reveal. Culturally Responsive Research Framework. https://www.informalscience.org/sites/default/files/CRR_Framework_REVEAL.pdf
Pasque, P. A. & Carducci, R. (2015). Critical advocacy perspectives on organization in higher education. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. 29(30). (pp. 275-333). New York, NY: Springer.
Richards-Schuster, K., & Timmermans, R. (2017). Conceptualizing the role of adults within youth-adult partnerships: An example from practice. Children and Youth Services Revie 81, (pp. 284-292).
Wang, C. C. (1999). Photovoice: A participatory action research strategy applied to women's health. Journal of Women’s Health, 8(2), (pp. 185-192).