A Culturally Sensitive Approach to Engaging in Research With Latino Families

• In Event: Responding to the Challenges of Disadvantaged Populations: Engaging Families to Promote School Success

Abstract

Objectives

This paper details the strategies utilized to incorporate a culturally sensitive approach into a randomized cluster design when working with predominantly low-income, Latino families.

Perspectives

With significant funding from federal agencies, education researchers have increasingly employed experimental designs to assess causal effects in education settings. Beyond ethical considerations of who gets what services (Borman, 2009), the challenge for researchers is to ensure that studies are conducted in a culturally sensitive manner. A culturally sensitive approach enables researchers to connect more closely with the population of interest by ensuring that the voice of the community is prominent in all aspects of the research. This is important because trust between researchers and members of disadvantaged minority groups is often tenuous (Fouad et al., 2000).

Methods

This paper proposes a culturally sensitive approach to education research that has conceptual and practical implications for randomized controlled trial designs (RCT) with disadvantaged populations. Much qualitative research has focused on culturally sensitive data collection methods. One of the unique aspects of our experimental design is that it includes a culturally sensitive intervention within a large scale study of over 3,000 families.

Data

A culturally sensitive approach should be reflected in all phases of an RCT, from planning to instrumentation, recruitment, intervention, data analysis, and dissemination of findings. In this study, planning began with a research question that addresses an educational need for a disadvantaged population. Planning also entailed significant investment in collaborating with community partners. English and Spanish instruments were developed and modified to reflect participants’ literacy and regional characteristics based on feedback from community partners, consultants, and the research team. Recruitment methods were flexible to overcome barriers associated with hard-to-reach populations. The evidence-based intervention, FAST, was selected because of its sensitivity to the community under study. Analyses included relevant variables to account for the unique cultural characteristics and heterogeneity within the Latino population. In addition, by including interviews and focus groups, we can document the meaning of participant experiences in their own voices. Finally, we are able to disseminate our findings not only through scholarly journals but also through informal presentations to community collaborators and school staff. We are providing feedback to local agencies to assist in their future planning efforts to improve the well-being of Latino families and communities through a school-based family intervention.

Results

This paper provides best practices for how to use a culturally sensitive approach to plan, measure, recruit, implement, analyze and disseminate information gathered as part of an RCT, with a disadvantaged, hard-to-reach population.

Significance

Culturally sensitive approaches in randomized trials have been largely limited in education research. Given the increasing presence of Latinos in primary and secondary education, a focus on incorporating minorities more generally and Latinos specifically into RCTs holds a great deal of promise to improve educational outcomes and reduce educational disparities. In an attempt to increase minority participation and better assess outcomes in education RCTs, we propose a culturally sensitive approach.

Authors

• David Enrique Rangel, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Carmen Valdez, University of Wisconsin - Madison