In a world marked by widening inequalities, global migration, climate injustice, and the intensifying struggle for human dignity, research can no longer remain a neutral observer. Knowledge production is not passive; it carries responsibility, the responsibility to expose injustice, amplify silenced voices, and contribute to a more equitable world.
This blog post translates insights from a transformative webinar on Social Justice in Qualitative Research, enriched with global scholarship and my own reflections as a researcher and teacher. The aim is simple: to share, to guide, and to inspire, beyond borders.
1. What Social Justice Really Means
Social justice refers to the ongoing effort to create a society where every human being enjoys equality, dignity, and meaningful participation. It is not merely a moral aspiration; it is a research imperative.
Social Justice Ensures:
Equal opportunities and rights
Fair distribution of resources
Respect for cultural and social diversity
Addressing historical and systemic inequalities
Challenging injustice in all its forms
The 4Rs Framework of Social Justice
A powerful model aligned with Nancy Fraser’s justice theory:
Recognition—cultural respect, validation of identities and practices.
Redistribution—economic fairness and resource equity.
Representation—political and social participation and agency.
Reconciliation—addressing historical harms, building shared, peaceful futures.
2. Why Qualitative Research Naturally Aligns with Social Justice
Qualitative research (QR) centers human experiences, interpretations, and the complexity of lived life. Its core mission is clear: Giving voice to the voiceless and generating insights that matter to marginalized communities.
Epistemology (How We Know Things)
The nature of knowledge in QR is inherently
Interpretivist:
People interpret the world through culture, relationships, and lived experience.
Knowledge is co-created, meaning is shaped through dialogue, trust, and context.
Ontology (What Reality Is)
QR sees reality as Constructionist:
Social phenomena are actively constructed by people and constantly revised.
Reality is shaped by power, meaning-making, and social interaction.
Additionally, QR is:
Idealistic — reality does not exist independently of human construction.
Anti-foundational — no single universal truth; multiple realities coexist.
This reflects the social justice understanding that the social world is infused with power, privilege, and oppression.
3. Integrating Social Justice into Qualitative Research
Socially just QR does more than describe the world; it seeks to transform unjust structures.
Axiology (Role of Values)
A justice-focused researcher intentionally foregrounds the following values:
Working with vulnerable/diverse/marginalised communities
Promoting fairness and addressing systemic inequalities
Prioritising themes of equity, access, participation, and rights
Ensuring research contributes to tangible community benefit
Methods that Support Social Justice
In-depth interviews
Life histories, narrative inquiry
Ethnography
Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Community-based approaches
These methods nurture trust, reciprocity, and confidentiality, essential for ethical partnership.
Ethical Commitments of Socially Just Research
Harm: Minimize harm, maximize benefit.
Autonomy: Respect participant independence and right to withdraw.
Privacy: Protect confidentiality and data security.
Reciprocity: Ensure fairness and mutual respect.
Equity: Treat all participants with equal regard and no discrimination.
Justice in dissemination: Share findings to genuinely amplify voices.
Lyons et al. (2013): What Socially Just QR Looks Like
Development & Preparation—community involvement, ethical foresight
Data Collection—participant-led narratives, respectful engagement
Analysis & Interpretation—diverse coders, reflexivity, member-checking
Application—practical usefulness, shared ownership of results
These practices embody the four central principles of socially just QR:
Equity
Access
Participation
Harmony
4. Broader Importance & Researcher Reflexivity
Social justice is urgent because of rising global challenges: displacement, economic precarity, climate vulnerability, and shrinking solidarity. QR responds by examining power, privilege, disadvantage, inclusion, and exclusion.
Researcher Reflexivity
Researchers must continuously examine:
their identities,
their biases,
their positionalities,
and the power they hold in the research relationship. Reflexivity is not optional; it is a path toward becoming a more ethical, more humane, and more socially just researcher.
5. Insights from Global Scholars
Linda Tuhiwai Smith—Decolonizing Methodologies: Research must resist extractive practices, restore Indigenous agency, and dismantle colonial legacies.
Kimberlé Crenshaw—Intersectionality: Oppression is layered; race, gender, class, disability, and language intersect to shape lived realities.
Participatory Approaches: PAR/CBPR democratize knowledge, positioning communities as co-researchers rather than subjects.
Conclusion: A Call to Action for Researchers
Every research project is an ethical decision. Every method is a political stance. Every interpretation shapes who is seen, and who remains silenced.
As you design your next qualitative study, pause and ask:
How will this research promote equity?
Whose voices are missing?
How can my methods create fairness, inclusion, and justice?
The Researcher’s Social Justice Checklist
(Adapted from the webinar’s guiding questions)
Purpose: Why is this research important?
Voices: Whose perspectives are present? Whose are missing?
Inclusion: How can we create democratic, participatory spaces?
Co-production: How can the community share ownership of knowledge?
Justice: How will we address recognition, rights, redistribution, and representation?
Transformation: How will this research challenge the status quo and imagine inclusive futures?
Social justice is not an optional add-on; it is a responsibility.
Research becomes transformative when it:
Respects humanity
Challenges inequity
Amplifies silenced voices
Imagines more just futures
Let us learn, practice, and share socially just research beyond borders, beyond disciplines, and beyond silence.
Credit: This blog post is based on insights shared by Dr. Ambreen Shahriar, Senior Lecturer in Education, London Metropolitan University, in her session on social justice and qualitative research.
