Summary
Most efforts at advancing research to be more inclusive focus on methods or methodologies or participation. Though helpful, those efforts have unfortunately not been sufficient for inclusion and we continue to be constrained by stronger forces which go to the root of what research means and the definition of inclusion. To be fully unconstrained and reach true inclusion we must learn to let go. Do we have the ability to do that? Let's talk about that. Join us for a half-hour of becoming undone, joyfully.
Key Insights
-
•
Diversity in research teams does not inherently guarantee inclusivity or counter systemic oppression.
-
•
Awareness of power and identity positionality often leads to feeling stuck without clear action steps.
-
•
Our ways of being deeply shape our epistemologies and methodologies in research.
-
•
Colonial Western ways of being emphasize objectification and individualism, limiting emancipatory knowledge production.
-
•
Indigenous knowledge systems, like those of the iBio people, view knowledge as relational and emergent from relationships.
-
•
Songs and oral traditions can serve as valid research methodologies tied to indigenous ways of knowing.
-
•
Systems of value influence which knowledge is considered legitimate or beneficial, often marginalizing community knowledge.
-
•
Immigrant communities bring preserved ways of being that produce measurable health and social benefits.
-
•
Positive deviance in communities reveals untapped local wisdom that can guide effective interventions.
-
•
Radical participatory research requires researchers to relinquish control and let communities define methods based on their own ways of being.
Notable Quotes
"If diversity alone made research inclusive, then police could never be anti-black because they include black officers."
"Whiteness isn’t about color; people of all colors can reinforce white supremacy."
"Awareness leads to feeling stuck because we don’t know what to do or don’t feel empowered to act."
"Our ways of being are roots that grow into ways of knowing, doing, and methods, all nourished by systems of value."
"In Western modernity, if something is not an object, it is not real research or real knowledge."
"For the iBio people, knowledge is relational, not objectified, emerging from relationships like songs."
"Songs become methodologies—the way you identify who is at the door is through the song they sing."
"Colonial ways of being, knowing, and valuing will never produce emancipatory methodologies."
"Community-rooted wisdom like the Mexican 'guana' practice reduces postpartum depression without traditional research."
"Will you learn to let go? Better yet, will you let go?"
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The cultural context can dramatically change how long data remains relevant or when it expires."
Iulia CornigeanuQuantQual Book Club: Small Data
March 8, 2024
"A lot of the reasons why we bring agencies in is to evangelize and help us tell our story."
Melinda BelcherInsider preview of Enterprise Experience 2020
May 28, 2020
"When the ground shifts beneath us, we get to decide, do we scramble to regain our footing exactly where we stood before? Or do we take a step in a new direction, explore new terrain, and expand the boundaries of what’s possible?"
Megan BlockerTheme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
"If we don’t respect legacy habits, we risk interrupting workflows and causing users to have a bad day."
Paula BachImproving Legacy Software: How Much Better Does it Have to Be?
March 11, 2022
"The most common age for women to be diagnosed with ADHD is in the late thirties to early forties."
Pippa LomasPaving the Path for Neurodiversity in Design
October 4, 2023
"Findings from marginalized groups aren’t just relevant to them but often improve the experience for many more people."
Kaitlin TaskerFast and Fearless Inclusive Research
March 27, 2023
"The video review board still exists seven years later, so producing any video at IRS requires prior approval."
Crystal PhilcoxThe Many Faces of Operations
November 6, 2017
"By bringing truth to power is how we bring excellence to our craft and define our value."
Jemma AhmedTheme 2 Intro
March 26, 2024
"The product team and the product organization are not real estate agents and we don’t speak the same language."
Sean Fitzell Sarah Han Kayla FarrellCraft of User Research: Building Out Jobs to be Done Maps
March 12, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How did Patricia Moore’s experiential research on aging change design approaches to the elderly?
In what ways can viewing research as a design material help tailor insights for better organizational adoption?
What design strategies help users understand what they can do with AI chat interfaces featuring empty text boxes?