Walking The Talk and Stumbling: Fallacies of Empowering Research

• In Event: New Vistas for Qualitative Research

Abstract

This paper critiques current approaches to empowering research, which rely too often on participatory research tools alone. It is revealed how the underlying deficit perspective of such approaches can adversely affect marginalized populations. Empowerment through research is therefore re-defined in accordance with self-determination theory. Based on the foundation of this re-definition, an empowering research framework is built. This framework is designed to empower all parties involved in the research process: academic and community researchers, participants, the researched community, and end users. It does so by satisfying all parties’ need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness; and by providing all parties with new knowledge or skills.

Author

• Antje Deckert, Auckland University of Technology