Rethinking Research: A Rigorous, Respectful, Relevant, and Right-Sized Approach to Knowledge Production

Abstract (English)

Through this hands-on workshop, participants will learn about a rigorous, relevant, respectful, and right-sized approach to research and have the opportunity to apply it to a real-world example. Co-created by colleagues at MIT and Tufts University, this approach draws on concepts from participatory design, participatory action research, and lean production and emphasizes the creation of an enjoyable and respectful experience for the participants. It seeks to improve the quality of the information collected, generate research results that are more useful and actionable, and enable the process and results to benefit the participants and other stakeholders involved in the research. This methodology is especially relevant to anthropology, as it aligns with core anthropological values of reflexivity, collaboration, and deep contextual understanding. It offers a concrete framework for practicing engaged, ethical, and community-responsive research—principles that are central to both applied and critical anthropological work.
Through the workshop, participants will learn about the approach and how to apply it to their work through hands-on activities. The session will begin with an activity to get to know one another, which will be followed by an activity, skit, and discussion on when to use the approach; an introduction to the approach with examples of research projects conducted by the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and MIT in Guatemala ; and a hands-on activity to apply the approach to a real-world example. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to articulate the meaning of each principle and be able to determine when and how they can apply the concepts to their research.