Systematic Review of Accountability Processes in Community-Engaged Research

Research has historically been extractive where scholars take a “parachuting” approach (de Vos, 2020) by entering settings, like communities and schools, collecting data, and returning to their institutions to analyze and publish, and are seldom seen in community again. This approach upholds unequal power dynamics, devalues community input, and excludes expertise that can create more equitable and sustainable change. Anti-racism research combines processes and outcomes promoting institutional and individual change and action. Institutional changes and actions include addressing system-level mechanisms that look at how racism impacts access (Beard et al., 2022), the proposal review process, and attention to the study of racism in all forms (Rogers & Heard-Garris, 2022). On the individual change and action side, Daftary (2018) and Doucet (2021) call for centering a critical race perspective with strategies that include making race and racism visible; strengths-based framing of Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color; humanizing research participants and their experiences; co-constructing research with the community focused on “story with” rather than “story of;” and ensuring research ultimately benefits the community. In addition to implementing community-engaged research methods, it is essential to maintain accountability with those communities. Through this systematic review, we will identify and synthesize the existing literature on this topic to support our and other researchers efforts to infuse engaged methods in their work. While there is a rich literature community-engaged research practice, there seems to be much less on accountability practices.