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Reimagining Methodologies: Why We Center Marginalized Voices

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

LEES 2: Stories of Intersectionality and Institutional Marginalization

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41576

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41576

Download Count

309

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Paper Authors

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Victoria Siaumau California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Incoming PhD student at UCSD

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Yumi Aguilar California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Undergraduate Engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

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Jane Lehr California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Dr. Jane L. Lehr is the Director of the Office of Student Research and Professor in Ethnic Studies and Women’s, Gender & Queer Studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is also Director of the CSU Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Student Participation (LSAMP) in STEM Program at Cal Poly and affiliated faculty in the Center for Engineering, Science & Mathematics Education (CESAME); the department of Computer Science & Software Engineering; and the Science, Technology & Society Program. Dr. Lehr previously served as elected co-chair of the Science & Technology Taskforce of the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), and as a Postdoctoral Research Officer at the Centre for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS) at King's College, University of London. Her graduate training is in Science & Technology Studies and Women's Studies at Virginia Tech and her teaching and research focus primarily on the complex relationships between gender, race, culture, science, technology, and education.

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Lynne Slivovsky California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Dr. Lynne Slivovsky is Chair of Computer Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA. Prior to joining Cal Poly she earned a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. Her research examines design, entrepreneurship, and community engagement with a particular focus on the interplay between technology and society. She has nurtured long-term partnerships with local community organizations to provide greater access to adapted physical activity through the design of custom devices. Her work in community engagement led to her selection in 2007 as a California Campus Compact-Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Faculty Fellow for Service-Learning for Political Engagement and in 2010 she received the Cal Poly President’s Community Service Award for Significant Faculty Contribution. She earned an American Academy of Underwater Sciences Scientific Diver certification to expand her work at the intersection of computing and marine science. She dives with her students off the Central Coast of California on projects that provide virtual educational experiences for K-12 students on marine science. She loves to cook, ride her bike, and play with her dog.

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Emily Flores California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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I am a first-generation Mexican American studying Computer Science, Political Science, and Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I lead with passion and vulnerability to foster community and create comfortable spaces for collaboration. I believe in coding ethically and ensuring that the products of our knowledge are creating a positive impact for all communities.

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Lauren Cooper California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Abstract

We are a student, alum, and faculty research team seeking to reduce harm, be responsive to / mitigate / reduce trauma, and grow justice within engineering education pedagogy / practice, related research communities (including ASEE), and the broader world. We seek to utilize research methodologies that align with these aspirations, goals, and commitments. However, many standard approaches within engineering education research – even those connected to research agendas focused on diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice – seem to both further harm engineering students from minoritized and/or oppressed groups as part of data collection processes, calling into question motivations of the research. Marginalized students are often asked to perform emotional labor and share painful experiences that are for the benefit and learning of predominantly white faculty, staff, and peers. We know that engineering education culture and environment is often a site of harm for marginalized students and understanding how systems of oppression operate within these environments gives educators a better understanding of how to intervene. However, this knowledge production and these interventions should not be at the cost of the students’ well-being. Methodologies that center the experiences of marginalized peoples while simultaneously not being harmful or exploitative are lacking in engineering education research. This paper suggests a different path and reflects on how we can build a better methodology that does not further harm. We argue that building a more responsive and less exploitative research methodology starts by understanding trauma in relation to structural and systemic oppression, applying Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectional framework to the ways we describe trauma, and being context-specific with the communities we aim to research. We hope this paper acts as a call to action for other researchers, across fields, to more critically examine their methodologies and to center the well-being of the participant over the benefit of the researcher.

Siaumau, V., & Aguilar, Y., & Lehr, J., & Slivovsky, L., & Flores, E., & Cooper, L. (2022, August), Reimagining Methodologies: Why We Center Marginalized Voices Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41576

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