Advocating beyond the academy

Dilemmas of Communicating Relevant Research Results

Bibliographic Data

ID2403635
AuthorsCatrina A Mackenzie (0000-0002-7478-6486, McGill University), Julia Christensen (0000-0002-3728-5121, University of British Columbia), Sarah Turner (0000-0002-6542-8767, McGill University)
Year2015
Volume15
Issue1
Pages105-121
Publication date2015-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-7941 • E-ISSN: 1741-3109
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1468794113509261
OpenAlexW2050898615
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited39

Drawing from experiences in Northern Indigenous Canada, Uganda, and Vietnam, we discuss the challenges encountered while trying to communicate relevant results to local communities with whom we work. Wavering between participatory and advocacy research, we explore how we grapple with finding the right audience with whom to share results, our attempts to craft communication to be relevant within specific contexts, and dilemmas over self-censorship. We also document our struggles to manage our own expectations and those of the communities with whom we work regarding the ability of our research to broker change. This article emerged from our frustration at wanting to be accountable to our interviewee communities, but finding few academic articles that go beyond ideals to examine how researchers often struggle to meet these expectations. While participatory approaches are increasingly mainstreamed in social science work, we argue that advocacy research can be a more appropriate response to community needs in certain cases

Citizen journalism · Community-based participatory research · Craft · Indigenous · Media studies · Participatory action research · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Law · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access