Collaborative Family Program Development: Research Methods That Investigate and Foster Resilience and Engagement in Marginalized Communities

Emancipatory approaches in couples' intervention research

“…Baker et al added:

The research focuses on how particular characteristics, such as color, class or religion, are associated or correlated with particular outcomes, such as occupational status, education or legal provision. There is therefore a tendency to locate the causative factors contributing to particular inequalities in the attributes of disadvantaged people, in their gender, poverty or ‘race’, rather than in the structured relations, the planned and unplanned exclusionary systems, that transform individual attributes into inequalities (p. 171).

Thus, all researchers, particularly White scholars, studying URM‐HM populations should critically reflect on the privileges they possess; their lived experience compared to the lived experience of the population of their research; and the power differences that exist between the researcher and participant (Fraenkel, 2020; Hoffman‐Cooper, 2021; Reed, 2015). Critical whiteness theory postulates that those who benefit from White privilege do not see how they benefit because White privilege is natural and normal thus blocking the ability to see how racism, prejudice, inequity, and injustice operate within their spaces (Delgado & Stefancic, 2013; Staiger, 2004).…”

“…With emancipatory research advancing a social model that recognizes, values, celebrates, and empowers URM‐HM populations, researchers and practitioners should not assume they understand URM‐HM populations from the literature, prior research, or experiences with a small number of people (Behar‐Horenstein & Feng, 2015; Fraenkel, 2020; Noel, 2016). Understanding minority or historically marginalized populations is quite different from the personal lived experience of those who possess a more accurate vantagepoint to understand the conditions and systems that perpetuate inequities (Baker et al, 2004).…”

“…Key assumptions of emancipatory research include the importance of the bidirectional relationship between the researcher and the participant; that each holds a different reality; and that participants should be significantly more engaged in the development or knowledge (Fraenkel, 2020; Guba & Lincoln, 2005). Additionally, mutual value needs to exist between the researcher and the participants (Swartz & Nyamnjoh, 2018) along with a research design and implementation that proves empowering for the participants (Swartz, 2011).…”

“…Strategies mentioned earlier including the use of research coalitions, local area partnerships, and learning partnerships (see Baker et al, 2004) along with voice and engagement of participants in all aspects of the research design and methodology (see Fraenkel, 2020; Humphries et al, 2002; Noel, 2016) are important recommendations to develop research that better benefits the populations being studied. However, researchers also need to consider identifying systemic issues that contribute to the very conditions being studied.…”

“…Partnering with participants at the beginning and throughout the research process provides numerous benefits including more effective strategies to reach the desired population; opportunities for researchers to obtain greater understanding of the contextual issues facing the population; and for the participants to help define the research agenda and increase their knowledge and agency (Fraenkel, 2006(Fraenkel, , 2020Reed, 2015;Singh, 2010). Baker et al (2004) provided three recommendations that would reflect and enhance emancipatory research methodologies: (a) research coalitions, (b) local area partnerships, and (c) learning partnerships.…”