Week 15: Inclusionary Research Methods

This chapter deals with means of including previously excluded groups in research. Part of the problem is that the excluded groups, including women, racial and ethnic groups, homosexuals, alcoholics, and others, are often seen as “outsiders,” while those in charge of the research process are generally “insiders.” We next discussed seven disadvantages that social research can have for these outsider “groups (if poorly executed), and seven corresponding advantages (if properly executed). The discussion then turned to means of including women in research, including a discussion of seven reasons why women are often excluded, followed by eight criticisms of published research that does include women. This section ended with a discussion of specific techniques for including women. We next turned to the inclusion of racial and ethnic groups. We saw that some of the general problems of including these groups were the same as for women, while some (such as language problems and unfamiliarity) were different. Techniques for including Hispanics were discussed in detail.
The discussion then turned to the particular problems of including so-called deviant groups, such as alcoholics and homosexuals. Part of the problem here is simply identifying the members of these groups.
The last groups discussed were people with disabilities and children. The chapter ended with a discussion of the politics of inclusion and an assessment of where we now stand.”