Navigating Institutional Hierarchies in Research-Practice Partnerships

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Maximizing the Potential of Research Practice Partnerships (Table 26)

Abstract

This paper extends work on power dynamics in research practice partnerships (RPPs) by exploring the challenges to equitable relationships posed by RPPs’ organizational and sociopolitical contexts. Drawing on data from observations, interviews, and process surveys, the authors describe how asymmetric hierarchical pressures, exacerbated by a hostile sociopolitical context, tempered sense of agency and authority among research team partners. Cross-institutional imbalances in power and agency in RPPs were not just a matter of the status afforded by institutional affiliation, but also defined by the relative freedom and authority participants had within their own institutions. Understanding the nuances of who is authorized to make which decisions in partnership research is particularly important for RPPs committed to deep transformation of educational inequity.

Authors

• Marcy Singer-Gabella, Learning Policy Institute

• Caroline Marks, Independent Scholar

• Changhee Lee, Vanderbilt University