What works: Increasing the impact of research that demonstrates structural inequalities

What does discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism, ableism) look like? Data that demonstrates inequalities of outcome can be interpreted in different ways i.e., as indicating structural inequalities and/ or as indicating individual differences. The proposed research will combine quantitative and qualitative methods to explore (a) the ways in which people make sense of quantitative data on structural inequalities; (b) how people may interpret data in ways that are contrary to the expectations of the researchers; and (c) how data can be framed to encourage people to acknowledge, discuss, and address structural inequalities.

The student identified specific ethical issues around anonymity and confidentiality within focus groups. The supervisory team has experience addressing these directly within research and with the advice of the local ethics committee. Both focus groups and quantitative research can be conducted digitally and remotely for researcher safety.