Transforming (Un)just Institutions: A Reflection on Methodology

• In Event: Can We Research Leadership for Social Justice in Rigorous and Meaningful Ways?

Abstract

What role can social justice research play in shedding needed light on the real obstacles that limit the opportunities and life chances of economically poor children and youth? In this paper, I discuss how my own response to this question has changed over the years, and show how my preferred methodological lenses have shaped how I frame (as well as how I have reframed) social justice issues in my research projects. In recognizing that issues of opportunity, freedom, and choice are central to social justice research, I suggest that the capability approach as discussed by Amartya Sen (1992, 1999) and Martha Nussbaum’s (2000) provides a valuable methodological framework for fleshing out what researchers mean by social justice and how it can be examined more fully using field based research. By revisiting several of my prior studies employing other methodologies (Denzin, 1989; Geertz, 1989; Smith, 1990, 2005; Ricouer, 2007) as well as by portraying the work of my students and colleagues, I show how the researchers’ attention to issues of freedom and opportunity as well as the use of greater reflexivity in research projects can enhance our abilities to illuminate important issues that are often overlooked in field-based projects.

Author

• Colleen L. Larson, New York University