Rosenverse
Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion

Gold
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Share the love for this talk
Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion
Speakers: Victor Udoewa
Link:

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?"

Ask the Rosenbot
Russ Unger
Getting Out from Under Everyone: How to Escape the Paralysis of Getting Started
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Nidhi Singh Rathore
Embracing participation to unlock deeper truths in commercial research
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Steve Chaparro
Bringing Into Alignment Brand, Culture and Space
2020 • DesignOps Community
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Feleesha Sterling
Building a Rapid Research Program
2023 • Enterprise Community
Rich Mironov
How Can Product Managers and UXers Help Each Other (and Why are Product Folks so Annoying Sometimes)?
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Dan Willis
Theme 3: Intro
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Brian T. O’Neill
Does Designing and Researching Data Products Powered by ML/AI and Analytics Call for New UX Methods?
2022 • QuantQual Interest Group
Francesca Barrientos, PhD
You Need Your Own Definition of Design Maturity
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Sam Proulx
Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Kevin Bethune
Gatekeepers and Servant Leadership
2020 • DesignOps Community
Josh Clark
Sentient Design, AI, and the Radically Adaptive Experience (1st of 3 seminars)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Craig Brookes
"Just Make it Look Good" and Other Ways We're Misunderstood
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Randolph Duke II
War Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Kim Fellman Cohen
Measuring the Designer Experience
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Samuel Proulx
Inclusive Research: Debunking Myths and Getting Started
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold

More Videos

Kristen Guth, Ph.D.

"Slowing down with research can help us move faster overall."

Kristen Guth, Ph.D.

Out of the FOG: A Non-traditional Research Approach to Alignment

March 28, 2023

Miles Orkin

"Only the pavement can teach you how to skate. You can’t just explain authenticity; people have to feel it."

Miles Orkin

Creativity and Culture

November 8, 2018

Toby Haug

"We wrote our toolkits in plain English so people understand the tactics without getting lost in jargon—they can learn the jargon later."

Toby Haug

Discussion

June 9, 2017

Jemma Ahmed

"Difficult people need to sit and wallow in that difficult, messy middle with those difficult questions."

Jemma Ahmed

Theme 2 Intro

March 26, 2024

Pippa Lomas

"The most common age for women to be diagnosed with ADHD is in the late thirties to early forties."

Pippa Lomas

Paving the Path for Neurodiversity in Design

October 4, 2023

Patrick Neeman

"It feels like there’s a real brain interacting with you, which is scary."

Patrick Neeman Jeffrey Zeldman

Agent Standards Best Viewed in Every Assistant

September 4, 2026

JD Buckley

"Connecting your UX metrics to company KPIs requires the heart of a UXer but the soul of an economist."

JD Buckley

Communicating the ROI of UX within a large enterprise and out on the streets

June 14, 2018

Alexandra Schmidt

"Sometimes the solution perceives the problem in the eyes of users, especially in enterprise spaces."

Alexandra Schmidt

Enterprise UX Playbook

December 1, 2022

Laine Riley Prokay

"The competencies allow managers to celebrate individualism while maintaining consistency across teams."

Laine Riley Prokay

How DesignOps can Drive Inclusive Career Ladders for All

September 30, 2021