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Introduction to equality, diversity and inclusion research

It is becoming widely recognised that research can be WEIRD - Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic (Henrich, Heine and Norenzayan, 2010). This means that it has been biased towards a white, western, middle class outlook and/or subject-matter. However, it is important to remember that most higher education research is based on academic integrity, so not all research needs to be treated with suspicion. 
 

Across the globe, steps are now being taken to address this. Research has been done on equality, diversity and inclusion, and many educational institutions and other organisations are implementing their own policies and plans to move forward.

Being aware of different theories can help you formulate strategies to liberate your own research from the risk of bias.

Consider the research theories below and think about how research might differ depending on who carries it out. Many of these theories focus through a lens of race, so it is important that you think about equality, diversity and inclusion in terms of all minority groups, whether based on ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, or identity. There are some subject areas where the theories and strategies outlined below are already known and in use, such as in social work. 

Here are some practical suggestions on how you might ensure your own research can be liberated from bias and ensure your research is inclusive to a wide variety of authors who are studying all the communities that make up our entire population. 

Research theories

De-Centering Whiteness
Whiteness is not to do with an individual’s discrimination, but refers to the white identity being seen as the standard of what is normal and privileged within society. It not only leads to marginalisation and ‘othering’ but also leads to dehumanising of people who are not white. All this hangs on the colour of a person’s skin (Rubin and McAfee, 2021).
 
WEIRD can be used to de-centre your research when developing and analysing your literature review. Hunt and Reigelman (2021) suggest you consider:
  • Look at the authors. Who are they? What are their affiliations? What are their  backgrounds?
  • Who commissioned the research? Are these organisations or individuals giving financial support to the work?
  • Use the WEIRD acronym (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) to help you analyse the client groups that were being studied. How many of the WEIRD checks can you find in the research?

 


Colour-blindness
Look out for research that is colour-blind. Colour-blindness is racism that protects white privilege and uses strategies to justify racial inequalities. In other words, it distances white people from blame or responsibility while placing it all on the shoulders of people of colour (Bonilla-Silva, 2017). Is the research you are reviewing racist? Is the research perpetuating the blame of the client group for their lack of position, their ills, within the institution or society?
 
Unconscious bias
Unconscious bias can affect all of us. It is not just applied to colonial attitudes, colonisation but also applied to the marginalisation embedded in institutions, values, cultures, societies. We are all exposed to, and can create blind spots. Unconscious bias make us not as inclusive as we should be (TEDx Talks, 2013). Being aware of your own unconscious biases can help you to monitor and improve any hidden attitudes that could influence your analysis or understanding of research. Any change, no matter how minor, can be helpful. Think inclusively. Remember, no research is absolutely neutral (Frith, 2015). 


Frameworks and Approaches

 Anti-racist approach
This is the theory and practice of opposing and actively dismantling social, cultural and structural instances of racism. Its focus is on Equity, Justice, Inclusion, Voice, Respect and Wellbeing (National Education Union (NEU), 2020).  Look for research that uses this approach or use this approach to critically analyse research you have found.
 
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
Focuses on ‘acknowledging racism as endemic to society, deconstructing problematic analyses of race, and the legitimacy of recognising the personal experiences and narratives of racial and ethnic minorities. This framework is 'fundamental to the deconstruction of race-related inequalities and injustice’ (Campbell, 2017, p. 52).  ‘CRT allows us the opportunity for new starts that do not deny the past but rather work to create a new narrative for carrying out our …’ research topics with the ‘… values of the dignity and worth of persons and the importance of human relationships’ (Campbell, 2017, p. 52). CRT empowers the voices of the marginalised.
 

 
Intersectionality framework
Kimberlé Crenshaw (TED Women, 2016),  spearheaded the work on CRT and Intersectionality. The framework allows you to view your client group or population through the lenses of race, socioeconomic status, gender, gender identity, class, age, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, spirituality, immigration/refugee status, language and education. It enables you to ask hard questions about social inequalities and oppression (Bernard, 2020).
 

 

Practical search tips for finding articles to Liberate your research

Keywords, terms and phrases  

When conducting research it is important to remember that terminologies evolve over time and keywords take on different meanings. You can see this in other fields, such as sexual orientation or gender identity. However, on this page, we are using the race lens to illustrate this point. For example, the keyword African generally finds research on African Americans or Africans. Consider also using African Caribbean and/or Black. Also look out for new terminology, such as global majority or bipoc (black indigenous people of colour).  
 
Some terminology may have become contentious or obsolete, or even offensive, over time, and some may seem similar, but actually have different meanings. Take a look at the terminology below: 
 
  • BME: Black and Minority Ethnic is now an historical term superseded by BAME.
  • BAME: Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic. This term is commonly used in literature and research around race, but is becoming increasingly unpopular. There have been many calls for it not to be used at all. As with BME, it groups together different racial groups who experience racism differently and includes people who are an ethnic minority in this country but identify as White.  
  • Ethnic minority/ Minority ethnic: People whose ethnic group is in a minority in a country. It includes people of all skin colours.  
  • People/Person of Colour: A collective term for anyone who identifies as non-white.  
  • Global majority: A collective term which refers to people who identify as Black, Brown, African, Caribbean, Asian, Arab or Dual Heritage, indigenous to the global south, or racialised as ethnic minorities. These groups combined represent approximately 80% of the global population and are therefore the global majority (Stimpson, 2021). 
Other terms: indigenous people, marginal voices. 
 
Keywords for searching for research methodology 
 
You may also be looking for articles that have applied methodologies or theories. Examples in race:  
  • Anti-racist
  • Anti-racism
  • Critical race theory (CRT)
  • White privilege
  • White male privilege
 
It may also help to search on words such as the ones below, which would apply to any minority grouping: 
  • Discrimination
  • Stigma
  • Stereotyping
  • Prejudice
  • Marginalised
  • ‘Othering’
 
It’s often necessary to use multiple keywords to find as much of the research as you can.    

Expand your research citations

Adapted from Craven (2021, cited in Hunt and Reigelman, 2021):
 
  • Check out how authors self-identify. Google them.
  • Check your citations - make a spreadsheet to identify where you are getting your citations from.
  • Be explicit that citing marginalised or ‘outsider’ groups is not an add-on. ‘Cite because their scholarship is valuable and central’.
  • Read widely, critically, and counter the observed injustices or unfairness
  • Look outside of academic books and articles (history of marginalised or ‘outsider’ groups may sit outside academic education or be excluded from those areas).
  • Consult research found in non-Western journals/authored by non-Westerners.
  • Look at research reports by specialist organisations and at research published by researchers active in anti-racist programmes, or whose research identify inequalities or injustice and acknowledge the history and experiences and those of the black, marginalised or other outside groups being researched.
  • Check out professional organisations to find scholars.

Look for grey literature

Scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed research, even with strict research standards, is often published by white, western researchers, even when that research may be on race or inequalities. Commercial publishing often comes with biases. So what can you do to make sure you're including published research that is less likely to be affected by these biases, and is more likely to be authored by a wider variety of researchers, and studying a wider segment of the population?
 
You can refer to a mixture of academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed research and grey literature. Grey literature describes a wide range of different types of information not found in the traditional publishing arena and rarely indexed in the databases you would normally use to find research articles. It includes research articles that still follow research standards, but are not confined to commercial publishers.
 
Some of the other types of sources grey literature includes are:
  • Reports from organisations and governments
  • Conference papers and proceedings
  • Dissertations and theses
  • Research reports
  • Statistical reports
  • Policy statements
  • Newsletters
  • Pamphlets
  • Interviews
There are lots more, these are just some examples. 
 
There are many resources you can try searching in to find grey literature, including CORE - the biggest database for searching across Open Access repositories to find freely available academic content. Please see Finding Grey Literature for more resources for you to search.
 
Additionally, Google advanced search can help in locating these kinds of materials. For example, if you were searching for UK Government reports, you could put '.gov.uk' in the domain field. 
 
Not all grey literature is subject to the same rigorous review and editing processes to those used by commercial publications, so it is important that you critically evaluate material for quality, reliability and potential bias.

Expand your statistical horizons

Be aware and acknowledge that statistics are not free of bias, not neutral and not objective.
  • Who decides where the statistics come from?
  • Who decides how it is analysed and presented?
Data cannot ‘speak for itself’. Are statistics supported by the ‘experiential knowledge’ of black, marginalised and other ‘outsider’ groups in it’s interpretation? (Gilborn, Warmington and Demack, 2017, p. 17).

Critical evaluation – questions to ask

  • Is the article relevant to your topic?
  • Is it reliable?
  • Does the author provide their credentials?
  • Is the article related to UK or other geographical areas you are researching?
  • What is the main issue being discussed?
  • What are the major concepts discussed?
  • What are the important facts?
  • Can you verify facts presented?
  • What conclusion does the author reach?
  • Does the evidence support the arguments?
  • Is there any bias or use of emotive language or is it neutral?

Liberating Your Research: Further reading by subject

Cited references

Introduction

Henrich, J., Heine, S.  and Norenzayan, A. (2010) ‘Most people are not WEIRD’, Nature, 466(7302), pp. 29–29. doi: 10.1038/466029a.

Research theories

Bernard, C. (2020) ‘Why intersectionality matters for social work practice in adult services’ Social work with adults blog, 31 January. Available at: https://socialworkwithadults.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/31/why-intersectionality-matters-for-social-work-practice-in-adult-services/ (Accessed: 17 March 2023).

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017) Racism without racists: color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. 5th edn. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

Campbell, E. (2017) ‘Critical race theory: a content analysis of the social work literature’, Journal of Sociological Research, 9(1), pp. 50-50. doi: 10.5296/jsr.v9i1.11965.

Frith, U. (2015) Unconscious bias. Available at: https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/publications/2015/unconscious-bias-briefing-2015.pdf (Accessed: 17 March 2023).

Hunt, S. and Riegelman, A. (2021) Conducting research through an anti-racism lens [University of Minnesota Libraries guide]. Available at: https://libguides.umn.edu/antiracismlens (Accessed: 30 September 2021).

National Education Union (NEU) (2020) Framework for developing an Anti-racist approach. Available at: https://neu.org.uk/media/11236/view (Accessed: 2 March 2022).

Rubin, V. and McAfee, M. (2021) ‘Decentering Whiteness: Building for the Movement Tasks Ahead’, Non Profit Quarterly, September 9. (Available at: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/decentering-whiteness-building-for-the-movement-tasks-ahead/ (Accessed: 20 November 2021).

TED Women (2016) The urgency of intersectionality; Kimberlé Crenshaw. October. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en#t-119442 (Accessed: 5 October 2021).

TEDx Talks (2013) Inclusion, exclusion, illusion and collusion: Helen Turnbull at TEDxDelrayBeach. 18 September. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdV8OpXhl2g (Accessed: 2 March 2022).

Practical search tips

Gillborn, D., Warmington, P. and Demack, S. (2018) ‘QuantCrit: education, policy, “Big Data” and principles for a critical race theory of statistics’, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), pp. 158–179. doi: 10.1080/13613324.2017.1377417.

Hunt, S. and Riegelman, A. (2021) Conducting research through an anti-racism lens [University of Minnesota Libraries guide]. Available at: https://libguides.umn.edu/antiracismlens (Accessed: 30 September 2021).

Stimpson, S. (2021) Diversity, Representation & Inclusion in Music Education [Presentation] Haringey EDI INSET 10 September.