Digital Inequalities and the Online Researcher

Research DesignDiversity Equity & Inclusion
Written By

By Janet Salmons, PhD Research Community Manager for Sage Methodspace

Use the code MSPACEQ323 for a 20% discount on a purchase of the book, through September 2023.

For those of us who have broadband access and are always on, it can seem hard to believe that the digital divide still exists.

In this interview with Dr. Ellen Helsper, you will learn why having an understanding of digital inequalities is important for researchers. Learn more from her excellent book, The Digital Disconnect: The Social Causes and Consequences of Digital Inequalities, Dr. Helsper's website, and these resources:

More Methodspace Posts about Equity and Inclusion

Blog
Decolonization, Technology, and Online Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Decolonization, Technology, and Online Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Decolonizing research methods means rethinking how we look at participants and problems. In the digital world there are even more ways the European West exerts cultural, economic, and political control. At the same time, the digital world allows researchers to conduct studies across the distances.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Think Before You Share: Navigating Power Hierarchies and Decoloniality in Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Think Before You Share: Navigating Power Hierarchies and Decoloniality in Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Co-authors share about a topic of decolonial research, privilege, and ethics. They write this piece in two parts, narrating their understanding of the experience and how it relates to power hierarchies and researcher responsibility.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Research in Education and Psychology: Focusing on Root Causes and Increased Justice
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Research in Education and Psychology: Focusing on Root Causes and Increased Justice
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Chart research directions that take you to the roots of the problem. Learn more in this guest post from Dr. Donna Mertens.

Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Studying Difficult Topics with Netnography
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Studying Difficult Topics with Netnography
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

These difficult times present challenges for researchers. Find five original posts by Robert Kozinets about using Netnography to study sensitive topics.

Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Epistemological Questions in Indigenous Research
Identifying & Planning Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Epistemological Questions in Indigenous Research
Identifying & Planning Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Read this collection of multidisciplinary articles to explore epistemological questions in Indigenous research.

Identifying & Planning Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
DO, don't just quote, this MLK Day
Teaching Methods, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society
DO, don't just quote, this MLK Day
Teaching Methods, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society

This year we need to honor Martin Luther King's legacy with both reflection and action! In this post, find links to lots of original source materials, including documents and recordings.

Teaching Methods, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society
The Importance of Being Disruptive: On Decolonising Creative Research Methods
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research, Data Collection
The Importance of Being Disruptive: On Decolonising Creative Research Methods
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research, Data Collection

Caroline Lenette offered a keynote address at the International Creative Research Methods conference, September 2023. See the address and learn about the 2024 conference here.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research, Data Collection
Academic Writing: From Global Authors to Global Readers
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Teaching Methods, Communicating Research
Academic Writing: From Global Authors to Global Readers
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Teaching Methods, Communicating Research

Safary Wa-Mbaleka, Arceli Rosario, and Anna Cohen Miller discussed opportunities and challenges for global researchers and academic writers in this roundtable discussion.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Teaching Methods, Communicating Research
Disseminating Research with an Equity-Focused Lens
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research
Disseminating Research with an Equity-Focused Lens
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research

Learn about disseminating research with an equity lens in this guest post from the CTE Research Network Equity Working Group.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Communicating Research
Researchers collaborate to be PREPARED for the next global crisis
Research Ethics, Communicating Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Researchers collaborate to be PREPARED for the next global crisis
Research Ethics, Communicating Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Given the difficulties that emerged with the global Covid pandemic, the European Commission funded the PREPARED project. The aim of the project is to develop an ethics and integrity framework to guide researchers working to prevent and address large-scale crises. Find meeting reports, recordings, and related posts.

Research Ethics, Communicating Research, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Part Two: Equity Approaches in Quantitative Analysis 
Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Part Two: Equity Approaches in Quantitative Analysis 
Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Equity Framework approach draws high-level insights from this body of work to inform equity in data analysis that can apply to groups of people who may face systemic barriers to CTE participation. Learn more in this two-part post!

Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Part One: The Need for Equity Approaches in Quantitative Analysis
Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Part One: The Need for Equity Approaches in Quantitative Analysis
Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Equity Framework approach draws high-level insights from this body of work to inform equity in data analysis that can apply to groups of people who may face systemic barriers to CTE participation. This is part 2, find the link to part 1 and previous posts about the Equity Framework.

Data Analysis, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Digital Inequalities and the Online Researcher
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Digital Inequalities and the Online Researcher
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Some of us feel that technology is everywhere, but that is not the case for everyone. Inequalities persist. What do these disparities mean for researchers?

Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Promoting social justice in qualitative research and empowering early career researchers
Teaching Methods, Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Promoting social justice in qualitative research and empowering early career researchers
Teaching Methods, Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Experienced global researchers Safary Wa-Mbaleka and Anna Cohen Miller discuss social justice and qualitative research.

Teaching Methods, Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Let’s Discuss Intellectual and Academic Freedom, Part 2
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society
Let’s Discuss Intellectual and Academic Freedom, Part 2
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society

In this roundtable discussion moderated by Janet Salmons, Research Community Manager for Sage Methodspace, Marc Spooner (Canada), Nicole Brown and Áine McAllister (UK), Natalia Reinoso Chavez (Colombia) and Consuelo Chapela (Mexico) discuss constraints on academic freedom and recommendations for researchers.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society
Who is in my classroom and why does it matter for teaching research methods?
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society, Teaching Methods
Who is in my classroom and why does it matter for teaching research methods?
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society, Teaching Methods

Why does identity matter in the methods classroom?

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Impact & Society, Teaching Methods
Using an Equity Lens in Measurement and Data Collection
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Collection
Using an Equity Lens in Measurement and Data Collection
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Collection

How to look at data collection using an Equity Framework for CTE Research, which provides principles and practices for researchers on equity questions, designs, and implications throughout the research process.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Collection
Contemporary Studies of Juneteenth
Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Contemporary Studies of Juneteenth
Diversity Equity & Inclusion

Find a multidisciplinary collection of scholarly and historical articles about Juneteenth.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Moving From Praxis To Power: Innovative Pre-Institute Marks The Return of SICSS-Howard/Mathematica
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Analysis
Moving From Praxis To Power: Innovative Pre-Institute Marks The Return of SICSS-Howard/Mathematica
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Analysis

The first Summer Institute in Computational Social Science held at a Historically Black College or University, returns to Howard University for its two-day pre-institute, Praxis to Power for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and beginning faculty who needed more time to practice computational methods.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Data Analysis
What does it mean to “decolonize” research?
Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
What does it mean to “decolonize” research?
Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

We can’t go back and change the past, but we can choose how we move forward. Find a collection of Methodspace posts, articles, webinar recordings and interviews.

Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Collaborative feminist research methods in practice
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research, Communicating Research
Collaborative feminist research methods in practice
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research, Communicating Research

The goals for this collaborative feminist research project were to bring together scholars who had critical methodological lenses, focusing our study through a collaborative feminist methodological lens to explore and address gender-based inequities in higher education institutions. Find the open-access book and toolkit the co-authors created.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research, Communicating Research
Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Decolonising Research
Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research
Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Decolonising Research
Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research

Decolonisation is not a peripheral but central concern to social research for change. Learn more from Caroline Lenette, author of Participatory Action Research: Ethics and Decolonization.

Impact & Society, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research
Data Science for Public Good
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research
Data Science for Public Good
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research

In this Methodspace interview Dr. Joel Thurston and Dr. Cesar Montalvo tell us about how data science can be used for social good, and how their program for young scholars is cultivating a next generation of data scientists.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Identifying & Planning Research
Using an Equity Lens to Design your Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Using an Equity Lens to Design your Research
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design

For researchers interested in incorporating equity into their work, it all starts at the very beginning with designing the study. Learn more in this guest post!

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Women’s History Month 2023
Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Women’s History Month 2023
Diversity Equity & Inclusion

It seems more important than ever to know how and where to access materials on women’s/gender studies, since they may not be available as course readings or in libraries. Find links to some open-access archives.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Critical Race Theory as a Research Design Framework
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Critical Race Theory as a Research Design Framework
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design

In this collection of open-access articles, researchers consider ways Critical Race Theory can be used to frame studies that look at the intersection of race and other societal, cultural, economic, and or political factors.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Equity Framework for Research Design and Practice
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Equity Framework for Research Design and Practice
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design

The Equity Working Group of the CTE Research Network (CTERN) has published a new framework for any researcher in social or education fields on using an equity lens to do their research. Find a link to The Equity Framework for CTE Research and information about a free webinar.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Archival Research on Black History
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Archival Research on Black History
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design

The new open-access Protests Against Racism Web Archive from the Library of Congress contains a selection of websites documenting protests against racism and police brutality against Black people. Also find resources about using archival data in your research.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Psychological Safety for Researchers
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Psychological Safety for Researchers
Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design

Dr. Cindy Veldhuis discusses the need for attention to researcher safety for those who study LGBTQ+ issues.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Research Design
Research with Black Participants: Scholars Rethink Methods and Methodology
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Research with Black Participants: Scholars Rethink Methods and Methodology
Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion

This collection of open-access articles offers examples of creative thinking about methods selected for studies that engage Black participants.

Research Design, Diversity Equity & Inclusion
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