>> Data Biases in Research Workshops

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Special Guest Lecturer at the London College of Communication in MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures Course

photo of me lecturing infront of an engaged audience

about the workshops

Data is everywhere and affects us all - even a conversation with a community member is a way of collecting data. What kind of questions are you asking? What happens with their answers? What are the power dynamics of the conversation? Whom is this project for? Who is this project by? In this workshop, ideas about power, bias, and extractive research methods were discussed and challenged. Different kinds of biases were recognized through various examples and group discussions. Furthermore ways to work with these biases while considering our own power as researchers was explained with community based research as a focus.

slide 1 of the workshop, green text that says data and research justice over a black and white background with the same text

a slide from the presentation that has the title questions to recognize some biases. it quotes “this is not about answer, but rather about asking better question” it asks below, what pre-existing biases do we have about the participants? what are they? if i am doing research with marginalized groups of people, are we centering their trauma without considering their resilience and full humanity? how might the questions that are being asked be seen as discriminating? do they further marginalize particular populations? could the data being collected be used to discriminate based on class, for example? is it necessary to ask about income? why? how are the questions influenced by bias? are we considering other axis of identity? how will the data that is being collected reflect the population the project seeks to serve or speak to? how can we analyze the data from multiple perspectives and intersections of identity?