Community Power Structure Analysis and the Ethical Considerations of “Studying Up”

Abstract

This narrative outlines our challenges in studying power and power structures within an individual-level ethical framework. Taking a social ethics perspective, we share the story of our "sticky situation" (Campbell, ) that transpired during a multi-year community partnership. We were asked, by our community partners, to help collect interview data without informed consent. As a team of community-engaged university researchers, we were faced with a seemingly easy ethical situation (no consent, no research) that had unexpectedly complicated and long-lasting consequences. This experience revealed to us how community-engaged research and action, under a traditional ethics framework, can often work to protect those in positions of power and offer little to disrupt the status quo. Reflecting on the tension between individual and social ethics, we discuss the limitations of an individual-level framework, including the definitions for respect for persons, justice, and beneficence, on our ability as a field to understand, critique, and contribute to the dismantling of oppressive power structures.

Complicating Narratives: Defining and Deconstructing Ethical Challenges in Community Psychology

“…Often, these individuals are gatekeepers to information and data that researchers require in order to develop an evidence base that documents the harms that need to be remedied. For example, Kivell, Evans, Paterson and Kesten (2017*) describe how their research team was working with a large coalition of social justice organizations that wanted to do a Power Structure Analysis to identify power relations in the community. The coalition asked the researchers for help in conducting interviews with the community's power elite (those within the system), but did not want them to reveal to the interviewees the true nature of the research, as it seemed likely that the power elite would not participate or provide full data if they knew why the information was being collected and how it would be used.…”

Supporting ethical practice in community-engaged research with 4R: Respond, Record, Reflect, and Revise

“…Psychologists will act to avoid "unwise or unclear commitments" (Principle C: Integrity; APA, 2017a), and identify pressures that may result in unequal access among stakeholders and groups to the benefits of partnered work or psychological science as a whole (Principle D: Justice; APA, 2017a). Central to Integrity and Justice are issues that arise from attempts to balance individual rights with group or social gains (Kivell et al, 2017). Fundamentally, scientists strive to advance knowledge and support the greater good.…”

“…Beyond weighing CBO-specific individual (e.g., specific staff members) risks versus group (e.g., a department within the CBO, or the CBO as a whole) benefits, we often find that we must weigh individual risks with group benefits where the "group" in question represents the larger field or society as a whole (see Kivell et al, 2017). Procedures to ensure privacy, confidentiality, and right to decline participation without undue pressure ultimately impact data collection and may result in insufficient information to answer scientific questions (Dworkin & Allen, 2017).…”

“…and legal standards built to accommodate research on campus; Frazier, Formoso, Birman, & Atkins, 2008;Michener et al, 2012). Research teams also face ethical challenges that arise from biases that exist on both sides of partnership (e.g., Case, 2017;Haarlammert, Birman, Oberoi, & Moore, 2017); differences in values and priorities across teams and subgroups (e.g., Kivell, Evans, & Paterson, 2017); and conflicting accountabilities across research team members' various roles (e.g., Kesten, Perez, Marques, Evans, & Sulma, 2017). Moreover, investigators' own needs and priorities (e.g., securing funding, career advancement, publication) can become entangled in -and may compete with -efforts to thoughtfully address these issues.…”

Cultivating Academic Integrity in a Digital Learning Environment

“…In developing self-management abilities of emotional intelligence (awareness, regulation, and motivation) individuals will become extra conscious of personal behavior and emotions and the positive and negative the impact of both, on others [10]. Learning to control disrupting actions, deliberate before acting, and increasing intrinsic motivation, can lead to greater determination during challenging circumstances.…”