As I continue on my learning journey as a nurse working with multiple disciplines, it is important for me to broaden my perspective and increase my knowledge on research methodologies, design and ethics approvals. I am now taking a course on "Doing Interdisciplinary Research". Through recent discussions and constructive feedback from peers about "good" research questions, I modified my original question to: How did social-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic impact the social determinants of health for racialized children?
After exploring and learning more through readings and group work discussions, I have modified my question to narrow the scope further. The current question I am considering is now: How social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the socio-emotional development of racialized children in Canada
Considering implications for conducting research
Learning about how to address ethical issues that arise through research, expanding my scope on the many theoretical models and research methods used has been insightful. As my research has a focus on mental health and racialized children, each word "mental health", "racialized" and "children", all have connotations of bias in itself. Balfour & Martel (2018) highlight the role of text as a 'type of organizational power' and it reminds researchers to be aware of the power of language.
In any of my research communications (including proposal, approvals, methods), I need to reflect and assess the text using feminist, anti-racist, and Indigenous methodologies versus a positivist or universalist assumptions that our Western colonial institutions/organizations are based on (Chalmers, 2017).
As a nurse and health promotion specialist in public health, part of my role during the pandemic was the vaccination rollout strategy. A key component of this was to develop a strategy using an equity-focused lens. Ackerley and True (2008, p 693) argue that feminist research practices provide an excellent ethical framework and using a feminist research practice will not only help resolve ethical dilemmas but enhance the quality of research produced. For me, working in the health care system throughout the pandemic, has had me reflecting on how mandates, public health interventions, government bylaws, access to health services, communication and education have impacted racialized groups in a variety of ways (including physically, socially, mentally and emotionally). In order to understand the complexities of these issues, it has been imperative to examine the historical and legal context. An example I will use is COVID-19 vaccine coverage and based on data, many racialized groups have had lower uptake:
the proportion of people having received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine was lower among people who self-identify as off-reserve First Nation (81%), Black (82%) or Arab (85%), but higher among South Asian people (96%) than among individuals who are neither Indigenous nor part of visible minorities (93%) (PHAC, 2022).
In addition, the importance of social position is key and I believe when working with participants of marginalized groups, considering participatory action research methodologies helps researchers be culturally responsive in the research design (Bull, Beazley, Shea, MacQuarrie, Hudson, Shaw, Brunger, Kavanagh & Gagne, 2019, pg 1, 22,33). Chalmers, J. (2017, p. 103) states: "An ally is someone who steps to the side to make room for multiple voices….to decolonise research…so that marginalized voices can place their own needs and knowledge at the centre of research". Donnor (2019) further expands on this with the recommendation to use critical race theory (CRT) in education. In order for researchers to mobilize policy change, this needs to go beyond our formal education institutions and be instilled in every organization and across disciplines.
Researchers need to go beyond the minimalist ethical codes and to support this using a variety of approaches (i.e. interdisciplinary, feminist, indigenous, decolonising etc...) throughout each stage of the research process. Carlson's (2016, p 501-502) eight principles of: resistance to and subversion of colonial hegemony; accountability; land/place engagement; egalitarian and community-based methodology; reciprocity; self-determination; social location and reflexivity; and wholism reinforces how researchers can ethically improve their research.
This is where using the three R's of Responsive, Relational, and Reflexive research will help us as researchers to guide our work by being open to constant learning and adapting our thoughts/methods (Lahman, Geist, Rodriguez, Graglia, & DeRoche, 2011). It strengthens the importance for researchers to remain vigilant in being aware of the 'gatekeeping' of knowledge by Western academic and colonial based frameworks, through the revamping of approaches to research by building relationships to foster relational accountability (Carlson, 2016).
To incorporate these learnings for my qualitative research, I am considering to use a participatory action research (PAR) approach, including the use of decolonising methods.
References
Ackerley, B., & True, J. (2008). Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on international relations. International Studies Review, 10(4), 693–707.
Balfour, G., & Martel, J. (2018). Critical prison research and university research ethics boards: Homogenization of inquiry and policing of carceral knowledge. Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 8(2), 225–246
Bull, J., Beazley, K., Shea, J., MacQuarrie, C., Hudson, A., Shaw, K., Brunger, F., Kavanagh, C., & Gagne, B. (2019). Shifting practise: Recognizing Indigenous rights holders in research ethics review. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 15(1), 21–35.
Carlson, E. (2016). Anti-colonial methodologies and practices for settler colonial studies. Settler Colonial Studies, 7(4), 496–517. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473x.2016.1241213
Chalmers, J. (2017). The transformation of academic knowledges: Understanding the relationship between decolonising and Indigenous research methodologies. Socialist Studies, 12(1), 97–116.
Donnor, J. K. (2019). Understanding the why of whiteness: Negrophobia, segregation, and the legacy of white resistance to Black education in Mississippi. In J. T. DeCuir-Gunby, T. K. Chapman, & P. Schutz (Eds.), Understanding critical race research methods and methodologies: Lessons from the field (pp. 13–23). Routledge.
Lahman, M. K. E., Geist, M. R., Rodriguez, K. L., Graglia, P., & DeRoche, K. K. (2011). Culturally responsive relational reflexive ethics in research: The three Rs. Qual Quant, 45(6), 13971414.
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). (2022, June 17). COVID-19 vaccination coverage by ethnicity: Insight from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization-vaccines/vaccination-coverage/covid-19-vaccination-coverage-ethnicity-insight-canadian-community-health-survey.html
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