Office Creates Guidelines for Using Race as Research Variable

An evolving document created by the Office for Research Development and Scholarly Activity serves as a set of guidelines for increasing diversity in research studies.

Although research globally has made strides toward inclusivity, the reality is that most studies focus on people who are white, well-educated and from industrialized, economically advantaged and democratic societies. The Office for Research Development and Scholarly Activity (ORDSA) at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine created an evolving set of guidelines to help researchers incorporate diverse study participants and conduct studies whose outcomes can be applied to the multiplicity of society.

Although the effort originates from the ORDSA office, many faculty and administrators across campus have contributed while also seeking perspectives from national experts and people in the community representing the diversity of race, ethnicity and cultures. A portion of the guidelines address appropriate language to describe various populations. Other sections focus on statistical analysis involving race as a variable, as well as reporting results, including implications for practice and policy.

“Researchers tend to over-sample people who look like us,” said Sarah Beth Bell, Ph.D., a social psychologist in the ORDSA office. “When we do that, we can’t translate our findings to everyone. Representation matters when it comes to recruiting research participants.”

The document produced by the group is called Guidelines for Using Race as a Variable in Your Research. It is a starting point, not a finished product, and will change as the team continues to discover small and large ways of increasing diversity in research. The document is already being expanded with guidelines about sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and accessibility as they apply to research.

Kent Teague, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, said the group plans to seek input across OU’s three campuses and further design the guidelines as a resource for both individual researchers and research administrative offices. Overall, the initiative is more of a marathon than a sprint.

“We want this to be a checklist of best practices and, going forward, something that becomes integrated throughout our university,” Teague said. “The systemic issues of underrepresentation and discrimination that we see in the political and social realms are also built into the research realm, which affects who we study and how we report and describe our results. This is about doing the best science for all the populations we study and we serve.”

Others involved with the initial creation of the project include research statistician Heather McIntosh, ORDSA program manager; Marianna Wetherill, Ph.D., MPH, and Mary Williams, Ph.D., representing the Hudson College of Public Health; and Jasmine Willis-Wallace, Ed.D., Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for OU-Tulsa.

Medical students, residents and graduate students who conduct research have begun referring to the guidelines as they carry out their projects, and the first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Research Award was presented during the last research forum. The guidelines also correlate with the institutional goal of increasing diversity among research faculty and trainees.

“We are coming up with a list of recommendations for departments to consider,” Bell said. “For example, when women chair hiring committees, 23% more women are hired. When people of color chair hiring committees, 118% more people of color are hired. Just as we are focusing on research within diverse populations, we want to take the next step and focus on hiring, training and retaining a diverse research faculty, who will then serve as role models for students and trainees across the spectrum.”