Integrating Participatory Methods in the Study of Equity and Inclusion

Kristen Moore; Matilde Luz Sanchez-Pena; Qiuxing Chen; Anne M. McAlister; Courtney Burris; Jada Vanessa Mowatt

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43775
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43775
Download Count: 227

Paper Authors

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Kristen Moore University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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Kristen R. Moore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at University at Buffalo. Her research focuses primarily on technical communication and issues of equity, inclusion, and social justice.

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Matilde Luz Sanchez-Pena University at Buffalo, The State University of New York orcid.org/0000-0002-3511-0694

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Dr. Matilde Sánchez-Peña is an assistant professor of Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo – SUNY where she leads the Diversity Assessment Research in Engineering to Catalyze the Advancement of Respect and Equity (DAREtoCARE) Lab. Her research focuses on developing cultures of care and well-being in engineering education spaces, assessing gains in institutional efforts to advance equity and inclusion, and using data science for training socially responsible engineers.

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Qiuxing Chen

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Anne M. McAlister University of Virginia orcid.org/0000-0002-4155-251X

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Anne M. McAlister is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo. Her research focuses on engineering identity, social justice, and equity with the goal of broadening ideas about who engineers are and what they do in order to empower students to tackle the big issues in today’s world through engineering. Dr. McAlister has a PhD in Education and a MS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. She has a BS in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University.

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Courtney Burris

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Jada Vanessa Mowatt Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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Jada Mowatt is a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University at Buffalo. Her research focuses on PFAS' ("forever chemicals") adsorption in the environment and remediation strategies. She also has interests in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

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Abstract

Researchers and practitioners across engineering programs have committed many resources (time, money, etc.) to understand the experiences of multiply marginalized and underrepresented (MMU) students in engineering. The methods used to capture these experiences vary: from deep, qualitative research with low numbers of participants to large-scale quantitative methods like sense-of-belonging or campus climate surveys. Critical and Black Feminist methodologies suggest that research in equity and inclusion that involve MMU students must carefully consider the impact of the research on the participant, taking care not to re-traumatize students through the experience of participation and honoring student experiences through ongoing participation and feedback loops. Equitable practices in the execution of engineering education research projects are essential to drive the positive change we envision making in the engineering culture.

This paper presents a methodological innovation our research team used to study equity and inclusion in a way that was both generative for our research purposes and also responsive to the need to prevent harm. Our semi-structured interviews and focus groups were anchored in iconographic depictions of the university, asking students to interact with the graphic through a traditional participatory urban planning method. These approaches shift the power relationships traditionally established in interview settings and allowed student participants to shape the direction of their interviews and storytelling.

In this paper, we first describe the central ethical and justice challenges to soliciting and engaging BIPOC students in research about their experiences. After describing the goals of the study, we explain how we integrated participatory urban planning methods in order to empower, engage, and create openness in our research design. We report out on the project through a participatory authorship methodology that combines participant researcher reflections with participatory design objectives to assess the effectiveness of our approach. Ultimately, we suggest that participatory design approaches are effective in engaging participants but caution against relying on methodologies alone to establish trust with participants.

This paper presents a methodological innovation our research team used to studying equity and inclusion in a way that was both generative for our research purposes and also responsive to the need to prevent harm. Drawing on Starr and Greisemer’s theory of “boundary objects,” our semi-structured interviews and focus groups were anchored in iconographic depictions of the university, asking students to interact with the graphic through a traditional participatory urban planning method. These approaches shift the power relationships traditionally established in interview settings and allowed student participants to shape the direction of their interviews and storytelling.

In this paper, we first describe the central ethical and justice challenges to soliciting and engaging BIPOC students in research about their experiences. After describing the goals of the study, we explain two key strategies that allowed us to address these challenges in our data collection:1) Use of boundary objects to elicit participants narratives, and 2) the integration of participatory urban planning methods.

We show sample data sets to explain the ways our methods provided opportunities to learn more from students, to gain a comprehensive understanding of student experiences across sites of work, and to protect students in meaningful ways. Finally, we map the data onto our recommended next steps to institutional leaders. Implications of this methodological innovation involve the prioritizing of equitable research practice through the use of unique combination of methods that serves the purpose of integrating equity not only on the research goals of our research but also in its execution.

Citation
Format

Moore, K., & Sanchez-Pena, M. L., & Chen, Q., & McAlister, A. M., & Burris, C., & Mowatt, J. V. (2023, June), Integrating Participatory Methods in the Study of Equity and Inclusion Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43775

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Researchers and practitioners across engineering programs have committed many resources (time, money, etc.) to understand the experiences of multiply marginalized and underrepresented (MMU) students in engineering. The methods used to capture these experiences vary: from deep, qualitative research with low numbers of participants to large-scale quantitative methods like sense-of-belonging or campus climate surveys. Critical and Black Feminist methodologies suggest that research in equity and inclusion that involve MMU students must carefully consider the impact of the research on the participant, taking care not to re-traumatize students through the experience of participation and honoring student experiences through ongoing participation and feedback loops. Equitable practices in the execution of engineering education research projects are essential to drive the positive change we envision making in the engineering culture. 

This paper presents a methodological innovation our research team used to study equity and inclusion in a way that was both generative for our research purposes and also responsive to the need to prevent harm. Our semi-structured interviews and focus groups were anchored in iconographic depictions of the university, asking students to interact with the graphic through a traditional participatory urban planning method. These approaches shift the power relationships traditionally established in interview settings and allowed student participants to shape the direction of their interviews and storytelling.

In this paper, we first describe the central ethical and justice challenges to soliciting and engaging BIPOC students in research about their experiences. After describing the goals of the study, we explain how we integrated participatory urban planning methods in order to empower, engage, and create openness in our research design. We report out on the project through a participatory authorship methodology that combines participant researcher reflections with participatory design objectives to assess the effectiveness of our approach. Ultimately, we suggest that participatory design approaches are effective in engaging participants but caution against relying on methodologies alone to establish trust with participants.

 This paper presents a methodological innovation our research team used to studying equity and inclusion in a way that was both generative for our research purposes and also responsive to the need to prevent harm. Drawing on Starr and Greisemer’s theory of “boundary objects,” our semi-structured interviews and focus groups were anchored in iconographic depictions of the university, asking students to interact with the graphic through a traditional participatory urban planning method. These approaches shift the power relationships traditionally established in interview settings and allowed student participants to shape the direction of their interviews and storytelling. 

 In this paper, we first describe the central ethical and justice challenges to soliciting and engaging BIPOC students in research about their experiences. After describing the goals of the study, we explain two key strategies that allowed us to address these challenges in our data collection:1) Use of boundary objects to elicit participants narratives, and 2) the integration of participatory urban planning methods. 

 We show sample data sets to explain the ways our methods provided opportunities to learn more from students, to gain a comprehensive understanding of student experiences across sites of work, and to protect students in meaningful ways. Finally, we map the data onto our recommended next steps to institutional leaders. Implications of this methodological innovation involve the prioritizing of equitable research practice through the use of unique combination of methods that serves the purpose of integrating equity not only on the research goals of our research but also in its execution.  
AU  - Kristen Moore
AU  - Matilde Luz Sanchez-Pena
AU  - Qiuxing Chen
AU  - Anne M. McAlister
AU  - Courtney Burris
AU  - Jada Vanessa Mowatt
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Integrating Participatory Methods in the Study of Equity and Inclusion 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43775
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43775
ER  -