Creative Research Series, part one: Inclusion
5 Minute Read
What simple shifts can make research more inclusive?
Whatever sector you’re in, you’ll know how crucial it is that research methods are inclusive and engaging for the communities you’re working with.
In the run up to our Creative Research Methods webinar on November 11th, we’re sharing actionable insights on how Creative Methods can make your research more inclusive, insightful and impactful.
Creative researcher Dr Ella Harris, engagement specialist Kheron Gilpin, and artist and facilitator Hannah Mumby will be your webinar hosts on the 11th. Here, we each share some fundamentals for inclusive research from our own practice.
1: Involving participants in research design
Dr Ella Harris
“Inclusion can mean involving participants all the way through your research, from design to dissemination”
Do you want your research to be inclusive? Do you want it to benefit the people it’s ‘about’? Do you want to be ethical in how you work with participants?
I’m guessing anyone reading this will answer “yes” to all three questions!
But what does it really mean to do inclusive research? How does this ideal translate into tangible approaches?
In my work I’ve been really inspired by the concept of ‘Epistemic Justice’, developed by philosopher Miranda Fricker. This philosophical concept has helped me to think more concretely about what inclusion means in research.
Epistemic justice is about two things. Firstly, it’s about making sure that all people are taken seriously as producers of knowledge (testimonial justice). Secondly, it means making sure that knowledge serves the needs of all groups and includes concepts that are helpful for them in their lives (hermeneutical justice).
In concrete terms, this can look like involving participants not just in data collection but also in the design of research methods and the analysis of research data.
That might sound like a challenge, but there are simple and effective ways to include participants in all research stages. I’ll give a couple of examples.
Engaging Participants in Research Design
A very straightforward but effective way to involve participants in research design is to hold a workshop where participants can get involved in selecting and/or coming up with research methods.
This is an approach I took when working with the charity Caring in Bristol on research to inform the design of their new youth homelessness shelter, Z House. You can read more about this here.
Drop-in Consultation Workshop Materials, for involving participants in research design.
Involving Participants in Analytical Activities
You can also get participants involved in analytical research stages more easily than you might think. Creative activities are a brilliant way to make complex and abstract topics more tangible, allowing participants to discuss and draw conclusions on research topics.
In one project, commissioned by The British Academy and run in partnership with London Development Trust, I did this using a card deck game. This playful activity allowed young people to explore what researchers have identified as social and cultural infrastructure and add their views to a nuanced and knotty subject. You can read more about this in a report we recently published - here.
There are loads of similar strategies you can use to involve participants in every stage of your research, making sure they have a say over both how knowledge is produced and what that knowledge is.
The first version of our card deck for measuring social and cultural infrastructure.
2: Creating an inclusive space
Kheron Gilpin
“I strongly believe that everyone has a part of the answer. When we create a space where everyone can be heard, we can truly make progress together”
One of my favourite concepts - when thinking about inclusive environments - is ‘affective infrastructure.’ This concept is used in lots of ways - many of them very theoretical! - but at its most basic it means the impact that our environment has on how we feel, act and interact.
For those wanting to get into the theory, you can read more about this rich idea here.
Affective infrastructures are something we’ve all experienced. We know that the design of public spaces, from parks to shopping centres, impacts whether we feel calm, worried, excited or bored. We might feel anxious in a dark park with no street lighting, but comfy and confident in a well lit town square, with clean and inviting benches.
You’ll also have first hand experience of how different kinds of spaces and systems encourage different types of behaviour; from the excited energy you get at a sports event or festival, to the formal attitude you adopt in a job interview.
In research settings, we want to deliberately cultivate an affective infrastructure that makes participants feel included, inspired and open.
When a space is thoughtfully designed it can set the stage for deeper connections and more meaningful participation. For instance, playing soft background music or using soundscapes can help put people at ease or energise them, depending on the tone of the session. We can also rearrange chairs to foster group discussions or create an open space for movement and collaboration. Even something as simple as opening a window to let in fresh air or adding plants for a touch of nature can transform the energy of the room.
Ultimately, while we may not be able to change the physical structure, we can always tweak the environment to make it more conducive to connection, focus, and engagement. A well-prepared space signals care and consideration, making attendees more receptive and motivated, ultimately enhancing the outcomes of your research session.
3: using play for collective thinking
Hannah Mumby
“Co-production, or meaningful collaboration, works best when good conversations are able to happen, so that we can understand each other - creativity and a sense of playfulness can help massively with this”
One of the core features of co-production, or meaningful collaboration, is creating an inclusive space that invites people to contribute in different ways, and share different types of knowledge, with the understanding that all experience can be welcomed and valued.
Over the last couple of years I’ve run a number of workshops focusing on introducing people to the core elements of co-production, and what I’ve found is that the following principles can be really helpful in a workshop setting: Play, Creativity and Problem-Solving. Here’s how I would break down these principles:
Play
Open-ended exploration without needing to resolve anything or finish;
Permission to make mistakes and experiment;
Anti-productivity: you don’t need to work hard, you can just enjoy the process;
Connecting on a non-intellectual level by being alongside others who are playing;
Allowing fun and humour to be welcome in the space - time to be silly and let loose!
Creativity
Using creative activities can give people more ways to express ideas, beyond speaking and writing;
Creative artforms can offer ways to express concepts, feelings or ideas that are intangible, complicated or hard to put into words;
Everyone has a different way of creatively expressing themselves, so diversity and difference is inherently welcome;
Being creative can be about learning about a process, or about making something that starts a conversation - it doesn’t have to be ‘useful’.
Problem-Solving
Workshops can be spaces where groups can come together to identify problems and find solutions, whether that’s through conversation or creating prototypes of innovative new ideas;
Some workshops can be structured around staged processes, using developed approaches like ‘Design Thinking’ - a method created by D.School (a hub for innovation, collaboration and creativity at Stanford), that uses a process of ‘empathise, define, ideate, prototype, and test’. There are many workshop activities linked to this process that can be used as enjoyable ways of helping groups collectively solve problems;
Giving a group of people time to focus specifically on exploring and addressing problems or questions can be a meaningful way to help groups get to know each other’s communication styles, priorities, power dynamics and motivations;
Defining a space where a group can test ideas in an open-ended way, and ask questions, can actually often generate much-needed new perspectives on issues that they might need to explore further.
There are so many activities that you can run in a workshop space, and obviously it depends what the focus of the workshop is, who the group is, why they are there, and the journey you want to take them on. However, in my experience, if there are elements of the workshop that embed these three principles, it can create a space that is permissive, exploratory, fun and inclusive, where sharing diverse forms of knowledge, and participating in different ways, is built into the structure of people coming together.
