Promoting wellbeing
Research increases the well-being of all those involved, and the wider community.
+problem
Historically, much research has failed to impact positively on the well-being of the subject researched, or taken the well-being of participants and communities into account in its practices.
+background
Some research is damaging to the physical or emotional well-being of the people and communities it involves of affects. Other research is neutral and does not have well-being as a primary principle. Inevitably, where ownership of the research is with an external body such as a University, research is less likely to prioritise the well-being of participants or their community than if it is owned and conducted by those same people.
Because researchers have tended to be seen as rational, neutral and distant from the issues they research, their own well-being is often ignored in many research approaches. And practitioner and activist researchers may be especially vulnerable to stress and burn-out.
+solution
Promoting well-being should be a core aim of research, through its practices, processes and wider effects. This may include the physical and emotional well-being of the people, communities and organisations involved, including the researcher(s), the researched, and those impacted at different stages of the research.
maybe a new pattern on balancing commitments?
