STUDYING CONFLICT WITHOUT HARM: ETHICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND EMOTIONAL TENSIONS IN DEI AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

Abstract: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and conflict management research naturally align. One under-recognized area of similarity is how the process of conducting and disseminating research on these topics may involve conflict (e.g., gaining participants’ trust to receive potentially vulnerable responses; navigating comments from reviewers who may hold different perspectives). This proposed roundtable serves to create a space for conversation about these areas of conflict, with panelists providing their insights on how these conflicts manifest and how to best navigate them. This proposed roundtable discussion brings together scholars who study DEI and conflict-related phenomena such as discrimination, harassment, exclusion, and identity-based tensions. The roundtable intentionally includes a wide range of perspectives; the speakers are DEI and conflict management researchers who study a variety of topics (e.g., gender, race, disability, neurodiversity), using quantitative and qualitative methods, and coming from a diverse range of career stages (i.e., PhD candidates to senior scholars). Guided by a moderator, panelists will unpack the tensions between methodological rigor and ethical care, including the role of researcher positionality in shaping the research project, all the way from research design to participant responses. Panelists will also reflect on institutional and review-board constraints and the often-unrecognized emotional labor involved in DEI and conflict management research. This roundtable discussion will overall provide insight on how the field might distinguish between responsible harm reduction and overly risk-averse research practices that limit knowledge production. An interactive question-and-answer session will allow attendees to engage directly with these critical topics.

Keywords: metascience; research process;