Humanizing Methodologies in Educational Research: Centering Non-Dominant Communities

This guide is for educational researchers interested in conducting ethically sound qualitative studies with diverse populations, including refugees, documented and undocumented immigrants, and people with disabilities. Through a description of a case study with refugee families, their children, school personnel, and liaisons, the authors highlight humanizing methods—a multidirectional and dynamic ethical compass with relationships at the center. Topics in the book include working within the limitations of Institutional Review Board (IRB) standards, using cultural and linguistic liaisons to communicate with research participants, and creating reciprocity with research participants and their families and communities. Through accessible real-world examples, the text covers the full arc of a project, from conceptualization of design, to navigating human subjects committees, to the complex task of representing ideas to academic and community-based audiences.Book Features: Engages readers in the complex and sometimes uncertain terrain of working across diverse constituencies in school–community partnership research. Centers practical and ethical tensions in fieldwork as sites from which to learn more about research participants and researcher values. Includes reflections by contributing authors on how to work with non-dominant students, ensuring full equity and inclusion for all learners. Models an approach of metacritical reflexivity and researcher positionality.

Table of Contents:
Foreword  Introduction Interrogating the Term "Refugee" Who We Are: Self-Location Stories Introducing the Student Researchers Families, School Personnel, and Home School Liaisons Centering Connection Purpose: Examining Relationships between Refugee Families and Educators An Iterative and Humanizing Process for Re-Hearing Stories Overview of the Book A Note about Reflection and Writing 1. Listening With Heads and Hearts: Tensions of Self-Location and Locating Others The Significance of Carrom Prior Ways of Knowing Conceptual and Theoretical Situatedness Conclusion 2. Interrogating the Term "Vulnerable Participant": Addressing Limitations of and Implications From the Ethics Board in Studies With Families With Refugee Backgrounds Considerations for Negotiating the IRB The Purpose of the Follow-Up Interview Further Recommendations for a Qualitative Research Protocol Conclusion 3. Extending the Circle of Relationship-Building With Student Researchers Benefits and Tensions of Working with Students Strategies for Working with Student Researchers Conclusion 4. Navigating, Negotiating, and Reciprocating: Working With Interpreters with Hemant Ghising Roles of Interpreters Types of Interpreters Benefits and Tensions of Working with Interpreters Strategies to Ensure Transparency in Interpretation Conclusion 5. Reciprocity: Tensions of Learning With Participants with Alexandra Reed & Grace L. Francis, and Sarah Childs Researcher Learning: Problematizing Reciprocity Participant Learning: Ways of Self-Reflecting from Participation in the Study Incommensurability and Negotiating Reciprocity With Participants Conclusion 6. Considerations for Expanding Work With Other "Vulnerable" Communities Considerations for Engaging in Research With Individuals with Disabilities Research Cycle Creating Space for the Me and Us in Research With Undocumented Students Research with a Vulnerable Population: Undocumented Students Humanizing Connections with my Participants Conclusion 7. Toward a Humanizing Approach: An Open Ending Essential Learning Humanizing Engagements and Moving Forward References Index About the Authors

About the Author :
Cynthia C. Reyes, Shana J. Haines, and Kelly Clark/Keefe are all associate professors at the University of Vermont.

Review :
" Humanizing Methodologies in Educational Research provides an in-depth account of the ethical, political, affective, and personal landscape of conducting educational research. The authors provide both a framework for and illustrations of conducting research responsibly in the context of power dynamics that cannot be avoided and should not be ignored." --Teachers College Record