Re........ search.

Why do research? Same reasons you went here.

Why build a dock?

Have to understand the thinking and research processes behind results, behind the data, behind the question construction….We want you to be informed decision makers who can understand data from beginning to end, not just the output. It's not just a dock.

The more you understand everything behind the scenes in research, the more questions you can ask as a leader.

You’ll be able to better explain the “why” behind a decision and either defend it or change it.

Key theme of Linda Tuhiwai Smith's book, Decolonizing Methodologies.

"Until lions have their own historian, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunters."
- unknown

But what should research be based on? What should research seek?

Big "T" truths (singular) are absolute universals that can be applied to all things. One set of "answers" must be accepted as the “T”ruth…the final word… the absolute reality….

Little "t" truths (plural) are realities that “depend” on the context and therefore the “truth” is not fixed or finite. It is subjective and as infinite as the people who may have the experienced the truth in question. Link between seeing & knowing= subjectivity. We have the ability to imagine new realities.

PAR? Researcher is expert?

See Jolivette book "Indian Blood".

"In every instance that we as Indigenous people come together to collectively make our stories known, we are healing not only individually, but also as a community."
p. 139

How could this be used at work?

PAR:
Focuses on increasing understanding about a social problem in order to achieve real change.

Four Steps: planning, executing, reconnaissance, & evaluation

Research, education, action.

Participants bring about change themselves by being active in the research process.

Researchers are privileged because they have the opportunity to facilitate client learning.

Often used for needs assessment, program evaluation, comprehensive plans, community assessment, community assets inventory, stakeholder analysis.

Design the research project with the community and give results of research to the community.

Main reason "why" we do research is to inform decisions. Inform decision makers. Inform leaders. Inform community.

Search to see what needs to be seen and do what needs to be done.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/111765367

See Santiago-Rivera article.

Community-based participatory action research is a "collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. Begins with a research topic of importance to the community, has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change..." (WK Kellogg Foundation Community Health Scholars Program).

involves: (1) co-learning and reciprocal transfer of expertise, by all research partners [not one directional like PAR]; (2) shared decision-making power; and (3) mutual ownership of the processes and products of the research enterprise.

extent the research agenda “bubbles up” from individuals or communities, or is being pursued by others, often professional researchers on behalf of government agencies and nonprofit, but with extensive community involvement and participation.

Requires: Systems Thinking. what is going on in a policy area? Who is “responsible”? Where do resources come from? Who is harmed by current policies…and are they aware of what’s going on? Who will be threatened by efforts to change this system?

The goal: system change, not simply data collection for academic purposes

Research depends on the purpose, participants, and context.

OCAP principles: Ownership, Control, Access, Posession.

https://ijpds.org/article/view/911

How we do research depends on the participants, community, audience, stakeholders, rightsholders, funders, decision makers, ethics, and place based protocols of procedures and approvals.

Epistemology: How you come to know. What you accept or reject. The lenses you use to acquire knowledge. Embodied knowledge. World view that informs your positionality.

Kovach: Indigenous Research

Framework, Plains Cree tradition

Research also depends the researchers' standpoint and positionality.

Positionality: cultural accounts of experience. Draws attention to the conditions under which a position arises, the factors that stabilize it, the implications, and what forces maintain it.

We are each individuals with our own life experiences, work experiences, histories, and world views. Everything I say today (and in this entire class) can have an exception, a "well, but..." response or “it depends” caveat to consider. Remember, I'm not here to give you a cookbook or best practice. I'm here to push you to practice being the leader you want to be and foster self-awareness. This presentation will offer pathways, potential steps, but not definite answers appropriate for every situation.

Who? Where? When? Every tip I can offer depends on: context, place, culture, power, positionality.

Positionality: Legitimacy of my presence. The ways we think effect the ways in which we act and react. Like a picture, thoughts are “framed” by our world view and then we see the picture based on the meaning our position filters.

Positionality is the notion that personal values, views, and location in time and space influence how one understands the world. In this context, gender, race, class, and other aspects of identities as indicators of social positions are not fixed, given qualities. Positions act on the knowledge a person has about things, both material and abstract. Consequently, knowledge is the product of a specific position that reflects particular places and spaces.

Issues of positionality challenge the notions of value-free decisions/governments that have dismissed human subjectivity from the processes that generate policy, programs, services, knowledge, and identities. Consequently, it is essential to take into account personal positions before engaging in governing.

“By positionality we mean […] that gender, race, class and other aspects of our identities are markers of relational positions rather than essential qualities. Knowledge is valid when it includes an acknowledgment of the knower’s specific position in any context, because changing contextual and relational factors are crucial for defining identities and our knowledge in any given situation. “Positionality,” also known as self-location, refers to an awareness that our life experiences and circumstances impact how we see and understand the world around us, and further, that this understanding is situational. Positionality always requires a fair degree of self-reflexivity and honesty, as well as acknowledgement that we are embedded within systems of power. When scholars include a discussion of their relationship to their research, such discussions are often referred to as “positionality statements.”- http://www.unwrittenhistories.com/the-historical-is-personal-redux-position...

Authentic voice

Legitimacy

What determines the methodology and method of research?

It depends.

Mandated by constitution Article I, section 2 for apportionment:
"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers... The actual Enumeration shall be ... within every subsequent Term of ten Years."

$$$ Distributes more than $400 billion in federal funds to local, state and Tribal governments each year based on census data. U.S. Census Bureau (part of the U.S. Department of Commerce)

Official name: “Population and Housing Census”. That is its purpose: count people within a housing domicile. Shouldn't they just give a head count then? Why ask any questions about race, sex, etc.

Procedure: count all persons residing in country on April 1.
(309 million in 2010; 330 million by 2020). Is April a good time of year to go knocking on doors in Indian country?

Document: set of ten questions mailed to each household (140 million households); door-to-door follow up if not mailed back.

How Census Data are Used: used to define legislature districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government--- to make decisions about what community services to provide. Changes in your community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to: provide services for the elderly; where to build new roads and schools; or where to locate job training centers.

Who?: All persons in the country on April 1, 2010 (April Fool’s Day, ha!). Citizen or not (even though main purpose for census was supposed to be for representation in Congress), Incarcerated, Institutionalized (psychiatric facility, nursing home, hospitals, treatment centers), Military base.

Not counted: Homeless persons in shelter or not, persons in domestic violence shelters, & persons traveling/living outside U.S..

Census 2010 Questions:
(show actual questionnaire on screen)
https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/2010questionnaire.pdf

Census bureau states that they collect data about home ownership vs. rental, age, sex, and race to see if there are disparities of services or needs. Ex. if one area is disproportionately old renters... what government programs might that area need more than areas with young home owners?

Danger: logical fallacy. Asking more of your data than is actually there. Assuming needs based on stereotypes.

If governments want to use the census data to make decisions about funding specific programs to address disparities of need, then the census bureau should ask communities what they need! Not make assumptions based on these demographic categories.

Be thoughtful with your own research. Don't ask more of your data than is actually there. If you want to find out about needs for trauma support, then ask about it. If you want to find out about processes for co-management, then ask about it. Try not to craft questions that have logical fallacies built into them. You can only analyze what's there. You can only report what responses say. Don't make logical leaps to conclusions that are in your world views, but can't be found in the data.

“unmarried partner” category first time on 2010 census. A bit scary as gov could create “master list” of same sex couples. Arguably asking “race” or “ethnicity” at all is a bit scary too for same reason. Big debate before 2010 census about creating an “Arab” category given this is currently lumped in with “white”. The fear of a master list is exactly why we do not ask for religious affiliation.

Ten questions.

1. How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?

2. Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?

3. Is this house, apartment, or mobile home: owned with mortgage, owned without mortgage, rented, occupied without rent?

4. What is your telephone number?

5. Please provide information for each person living here. Start with a person here who owns or rents this house, apartment, or mobile home. If the owner or renter lives somewhere else, start with any adult living here. This will be Person 1. What is Person 1's name?

6. What is Person 1's sex?

7. What is Person 1's age and Date of Birth?

8. Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?

9. What is Person 1's race?

10. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?

Response required by law. Refusal or false information= $500 fine. Census is “counting”; not research. Participation is mandated by law (per Title 13 US Code).

Changes in 2020 to save money and increase self-response: http://www.census.gov/library/infographics/invest-now.html .

Savings of $5 billion.

Response options via e-mail, text, social media, and online.

They are also going to pilot test language support for the first time.

Access existing government data to reduce need for door knocking. If your info is already in another government database (HUD, VA, HHS, SSA, IRS) then the census doesn’t need to bug you.

Crisis: no current Director, no current budget, push to put questions about citizenship and immigration on census. If there is no new census, they will use old data.

Census Bureau conducted 13 "regional" tribal consultation meetings and one webinar from October 2015 through April 2016.

Results:

https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/tribal-program/...

What is the right way to approach the census?

Methodology: what do we need from the research?

Do we really just need counting?

The methodology can embody the power of naming. How you collect the data and the words you choose to use in the questions you ask have the power of naming reality= world making.

Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies

Note all are action oriented... end in "ing" = verbs

Are also descriptive ... adjectives: "She is remembering" or "He is representing"

Can the census be designed through Indigenous Methodologies? Should Tribal Governments refuse the current census to create multiple and distinct Tribal censuses using Indigenous Methodologies?

Is a "form" questionnaire the right tool for the census if they really want a portrait of America?

The method can also embody the power of naming. How you collect the data and the words you choose to use in the questions you ask have the power of naming reality= world making.

Needs Assessment: SWOT

Community Impact Plan (Model): shows how direct services make lasting changes in community conditions. Select impact area, community identified needs, target strategies, mobilize resources, track results.

What is a community asset?
A community asset or resource is anything that improves the quality of community life.
Assets include:
• The capacities and abilities of community members.
• A physical structure or place. For example, a school, hospital, or church. Maybe
a library, recreation center, or social club.
• A business that provides jobs and supports the local economy.
• Associations of citizens. For example, a Neighborhood Watch or a Parent
Teacher Association.
• Local private, public, and nonprofit institutions or organizations.

Researchers, leaders, practitioners, community members, participants transform data into information.

We are the filter. We are the drivers.

Research: why and what?

It's in our hands

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Framework: journey of self-knowing for community action to connect and express doing Indigenous practices and being Indigenous in context. IK is not categorized or limited to a boxed and stationary understanding because the journey is shared by all collaborators in the research process. IK is nested in our dynamic collective identities and distinct cultures, responsible to all our relations (person, place, cosmos), and emerging as questions are asked of knowledge.