Transformative research: personal and societal

Abstract

Abstract:Transformative researchers have the potential to contribute to both personal and societal transformation. In this article, I argue that the two are intertwined and that personal transformation is a necessary component of research that is designed to support change at the societal level in the form of furthering human rights and social justice. I describe a transformative framework that examines assumptions related to ethics, the nature of reality, epistemology, and methodology that can guide researchers who choose to address both the personal and societal levels of transformation. Ethically, researchers need to examine who they are and who they are in relation to the community in which they are working. This process goes beyond self-examination to a critical analysis of the cultural blinders that might obscure our ability to contribute to positive impacts. I put forth the hypothesis that if we design our research so that it explicitly addresses issues of discrimination and oppression that the probability of personal and social transformation increases.

Intervención participativa y transformadora con madres en un centro escolar

“…Estimulamos el pensamiento y la reflexión a partir de un caso no preestablecido según lo define Stake (2010), sino que se va configurando a medida que avanza la realización del proyecto Las Ganchilleras Luchadoras y L'Anticor. Y es que el problema de investigación está estrictamente relacionado con el enfoque metodológico elegido para una Investigación de Acción Participativa y Transformadora, que deriva de la transdisciplinariedad, y que tiene como objetivo producir aquel conocimiento que contribuya al esfuerzo colectivo de buscar alternativas a la condición de conflicto y segregación social entre comunidades (Mertens, 2017). Planteamiento que desplegamos conforme a los siguientes objetivos:…”

“…Las mujeres son co-investigadoras, generan nuevo conocimiento dirigiendo la acción en el espacio social. En este proceso todas las protagonistas, incluida la investigadora principal, experimentan una específica metodología de indagación y se comprometen en un proceso de transformación personal y social (Mertens, 2017).…”

Efforts to inspire transformative research with farmers in a small town in the North West Province of South Africa

“…The participatory action research approach (as we recount it here) to protect living systems can be called transformative (Mertens, 2010(Mertens, , 2017(Mertens, , 2019 McIntyre-Mills, 2019b; Romm, 2015) in that as it is based on a learning community approach. It uses learning networks (Jones, 2004) to bring people together to pool resources in order to help to protect local habitat for living systems (Chilisa, 2017;Wenger, White & Smith, 2009).…”

Becoming a mother and mattering in early 21st century Australia: An exploration of women's perinatal transitions and equity in wellbeing

“…The transformative paradigm arose during the 1980s and 1990s in response to some scholars perceiving that research informed by social constructivism did not go far enough in advocating for an action agenda to help marginalised people (Creswell, 2014). The transformative paradigm brings together philosophical strands including feminism and critical theory and prioritises analysis of dynamics of power and privilege to identify how the status quo might be challenged (Creswell & Creswell, 2018;Mertens, 2017). An assumption underpinning the transformative paradigm is that "the purpose of knowledge construction is to aid people to improve society" (Sweetman, Badiee, & Creswell, 2010, p. 442).…”

“…Producing accountable knowledge incorporates reflexivity about how the researcher's position influences the research (Doucet & Mauthner, 2012;Mertens, 2010). As characteristics of researchers are important determinants of the way they see and interpret reality, feminist researchers need to acknowledge and declare the values, basic assumptions, beliefs and prejudices that they bring to their study (Letherby, 2003;Mertens, 2010Mertens, , 2017Punch, 1998).…”