This webpage is part of the broader Equitable Community Engagement Guide for Disability Inclusion. This Guide can also be accessed as a downloadable document: Equitable Community Engagement Guide for Disability Inclusion (MS Word).
Analyzing Data
Recognize individual experience. Community engagement is a vital aspect of any project’s process; however, it is important to consider that one person’s experience may not be generalizable to the whole identity demographic. Community engagement must be an ongoing commitment to learning that does not tokenize or universalize one participant's experiences.
Accurately depict disability. Consider how to meaningfully analyze and report on information about participant’s identities and disabilities. Disability is a broad category with nuance in how an individual identifies; this may include identifying with person-first or identity-first language or preferring other, more specific identity labels. For qualitative research, a descriptive account of a participant’s disability may be appropriate, taking care to reflect the participant’s own words. For quantitative research, your data may require that you group diverse disabilities, for example, to make sure you have enough sub-group populations to support data anonymity or statistical processes. Be clear about how you categorized or coded each subcategory, including your rationale and purpose in doing so.
Employ intersectional data analysis. Be aware of limitations in the generalizability of your data. For example, if the majority of your disabled participants identified themselves as white, then any generalized claims regarding disabled participants in your community engagement would not accurately reflect the experiences of Black disabled people or disabled People of Colour.
Communicating Results
There are many ways to share the results of your community engagement. Try to engage in as many approaches as you can, including a combination of conventional academic approaches (ex. conferences, scholarly journals) and community-oriented approaches (ex. social media, infographics, blog posts).
Consider the following best practices in communicating community engagement results:
- "Close the loop” with participants and partners to share findings and mutual benefits
- Emphasize clarity and accessibility in your communication.
- Empower participants and partners to understand how they can use your findings to support their work.
- Report accurately without sensationalizing findings or misrepresenting the data of equity-deserving groups.
Access the University of Waterloo’s Inclusive Communications Guide (website) to support inclusive and accessible media development.
Ask yourself:
- Am I accurately representing the barriers faced by participants?
- How I am I generalizing the experiences of participants to the nuanced experiences of a larger, demographic?
- How are my findings and the communication of those findings addressing intersectionality?
- How can I offer this information to people who could use it?