Key Ideas

• Researchers often encounter situations in which there are strong conflicting perspectives, values, and interests.
• One way to handle such differences is to democratize the research by including diverse perspectives in the study.
• Deliberative democratic research involves key stakeholders in the study, promotes dialogue with and among stakeholders, and enhances deliberation about research findings.
• There are many ways to involve stakeholders, depending on experience, available resources, and the ingenuity of the researcher.
• Not all research situations are suited to engaging in democratic research.

It is tough to do research studies in settings in which there are strong conflicting perspectives, values, and interests. Perhaps nowhere are these problems more acute than where there are class, cultural, and ethnic differences. One way of dealing with these differences is to incorporate them into the research itself. I will discuss a study in which such differences were pronounced and how I handled them. My democratizing approach to planning and conducting studies can work with any of the research approaches presented in this book.