Navigating participation and ethics with immigrant communities

Participatory approaches offer methodologies for researchers to work in partnership with communities, to foster equity and empowerment, and to act toward social justice. Given the inherent power imbalances between researchers and community participants, and the unique vulnerabilities and strengths of immigrant communities, the question of best practices, in how to co-create research inquiry, knowledge production, and ethical practice demands deep, and on-going reflection. In the current article, two case studies illustrate ethical dilemmas that arose in the context of engaging in participatory research with immigrant communities. The dilemmas highlight issues of power, autonomy, benefit, visibility, and voice for community participants and partners. The ethical quandaries call for a shift from traditional paradigms that do not adequately fulfill the needs, perspectives, and preferences of immigrants and communities of color. The cases inform broader questions of ongoing transformation and progress in the field to address structural racism, and demand that research aims go beyond knowledge acquisition and objective distance, to connection, partnership, and mutual benefit. Future scholarship should continue to derive and develop guidelines from ethical challenges in research with immigrants, and Black, indigenous, and communities of color, which highlight gaps and fissures in the current ethical code, and need to be addressed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)