Summary

Researchers often encounter situations in which there are strong conflicting values, interests, and perspectives among the major stakeholders in a study. Sometimes these conflicting views can disrupt the research. One way to handle such situations is to democratize the research. This is done by including key stakeholder views, encouraging extensive dialogue with and among stakeholders to reduce misunderstandings, and enhancing opportunities for deliberating about the findings. One model for such extended deliberation is deliberation by jury in a legal trial, whereby the evidence and its implications are assessed, debated, and examined in depth. Not all situations are suitable to democratic research. The approach must be culturally acceptable and sufficiently resourced. One hopes that studies that are more democratic will make the findings more accurate, more just, and more usable.