Research on Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations

American Political Science Association Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Qualitative Transparency Deliberations, Working Group Final Reports, Report IV.3 (2018)

16 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2019

See all articles by Milli Lake

Milli Lake

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Samantha Majic

City University of New York (CUNY) - Department of Political Science

Rahsaan Maxwell

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

Date Written: February 13, 2019

Abstract

This report discusses research transparency – its forms and benefits, costs and risks, and recommendations for practice – as it pertains to qualitative research projects involving vulnerable and marginalized populations. In the first section of the report, we draw from the QTD deliberations to first explain that "marginalization and vulnerability" are not fixed or given categories in political science research. Relying on university Institutional Review Board (IRB) definitions of these terms is insufficient, as they do not account for the range of research participants that political scientists may encounter, and IRBs are often not familiar with the contexts in which political science research is conducted. Therefore, rather than positing a universal or all-encompassing definition of vulnerability and marginalization, we suggest that these terms are constituted vis-à-vis specific research questions and contexts.

Keywords: qualitative methods, research transparency, marginalization, vulnerable populations, research ethics, human subjects protection, Qualitative Transparency Deliberations

Suggested Citation

Lake, Milli and Majic, Samantha and Maxwell, Rahsaan, Research on Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations (February 13, 2019). American Political Science Association Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Qualitative Transparency Deliberations, Working Group Final Reports, Report IV.3 (2018) , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3333511 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3333511

Milli Lake (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Samantha Majic

City University of New York (CUNY) - Department of Political Science

New York, NY
United States

Rahsaan Maxwell

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill ( email )

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

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