Nothing About Us Without Us: How the Need for Cultural Responsiveness is Changing Research

There is increased awareness and urgency within the research community to ensure that evaluation and assessment practices are sensitive to the cultures of people who are most impacted by those practices. Driven by changing demographics and the increasing complexity of problems that researchers and communities seek to address, new efforts are underway to develop research practices that better account for the unique perspectives and needs of the communities being studied. But there is hardly consensus on what culturally responsive research actually means or, more broadly, what implications such approaches could have on evidence-based policies and programs.

This discussion will bring together leading voices from across academia, philanthropy, and government to consider how research can be done with communities rather than to communities, define and provide examples of culturally responsive research, and outline practical strategies researchers can use to address culture and context in their practice.