Decolonizing Data Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods

Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods by Jacqueline M. Quinless, yields valuable insights into the decolonization of research methods by addressing and examining health inequalities from an anti-racist and anti-oppressive standpoint. Canada’s colonial history continues to have a devastating impact on Indigenous peoples and communities. Decolonizing Data explores how ongoing structures of colonization negatively impact the well-being of Indigenous peoples and communities across Canada, resulting in persistent health inequalities. In addressing the social dimensions of health, particularly as they affect Indigenous peoples and BIPOC communities, Decolonizing Data asks, should these groups be given priority for future health policy considerations? Decolonizing Data provides a deeper understanding of the social dimensions of health as applied to Indigenous peoples, who have been historically underfunded in and excluded from health services, programs, and quality of care; this has most recently been seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on both western and Indigenous methodologies, this unique scholarly contribution takes a sociological perspective, as well as the "two-eyed seeing" approach to research methods. By looking at the ways that everyday research practices contribute to the colonization of health outcomes for Indigenous peoples, Decolonizing Data exposes the social dimensions of healthcare, and offers a careful and respectful reflection on how to "unsettle conversations" about applied social research initiatives for our most vulnerable groups.