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date: 24 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

The transformative paradigm brings together many philosophical strands where social justice operates as a first principle in research endeavors. Multimethod and mixed methods research (MMR) is an appropriate research response to understanding, explaining, and intervening for transformation. Incorporating Indigenous research within the transformative paradigm stretches understandings of social justice to acknowledge Indigenous aspirations for self-determination and decolonization. The commonalities and tensions that arise when transformative research takes into account both social justice and decolonization are explored across the philosophical assumptions of the transformative paradigm. The inclusion of Indigenous research within the transformative paradigm reinforces the importance of respectful research relationships that strengthen connectedness and knowledge. It is within this web of relationships that MMR helps examine, explain, and resolve complex problems and where discussion can happen about how transformation will be inclusive of all peoples.

Keywords: transformative paradigm, social justice, Indigenous research, decolonization, respectful relationships

Fiona Cram

Katoa Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

Donna M. Mertens

Donna M. Mertens has authored, co-authored or edited over 15 books relate to research and evaluation methods and human rights, most recently Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity with Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods (2014, 4th ed.), Indigenous Pathways into Social Research (co-edited with Fiona Cram and Bagele Chilisa, 2013), Program Evaluation Theory and Practice (co-authored with Amy Wilson, 2012) and Transformative Research and Evaluation (2009). Her scholarly work focuses on the intersection of research and evaluation with social justice and human rights and is situated within the philosophical assumptions of the transformative paradigm. She was a professor in the Department of Education at Gallaudet University for 32 years where she taught MA and PhD hearing and deaf students in education, psychology, social work, audiology, administration, and international development. She has been invited to conduct professional development related to transformative mixed methods in many context by many agencies, e.g., the Australasian Evaluation Society in Australia and New Zealand, the African Evaluation Association in South Africa, Niger, and Ghana, the Grupo de Institutos, Fundações e Empresas in Brazil, the World Bank in India and Nepal, the Community of Evaluators in India and Nepal, the Sri Lankan Evaluation Association in Sri Lanka, and UN Women and Evaluation Partners in Kazakhstan. Mertens also served as the Editor for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research 2010-2014.

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