By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Community Servant
Community Drain
Click the + button beside each role to learn more.
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Making time to examine our roles in research is an important exercise for all researchers and evaluators but especially those who engage in social science or community-based research. Our approach to research occurs on a spectrum. Most who have been trained in western or European paradigms will find the roles on the left quite familiar. You may have a visceral response to this diagram. It is quite possible that you may even wonder if it's a bad thing to play the roles on the left. “We didn't eat ramen for years while we got these degrees for nothing!" "Aren't we aspiring to expertise?"
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
I remember the first time someone called me an expert. It was shortly after I had been hired to conduct an evaluation of an HIV support program. I immediately felt calmer and more assured while answering questions about the evaluation methodology and the questions that we might ask on the survey. Not once did it occur to me that the clients who were living with HIV and participating in the program were actually the experts. The problem with our training is that it creates a false division between those with academic credentials and those without it.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Attending classes, passing tests, and being able to prove that we understand the theories and methods of a small sliver of knowledgeable human beings, primarily white male scholars, doesn't actually makeus experts, at least not in the way it matters for social science research. It may make us good at some thingsor knowledgeable, but it doesn't make us competent in the same way as the people who are participants inour studies. For example, excelling on tests about art theory doesn't mean that we can sculpt a bust or spraygraffiti. These examples seem obvious, however when it comes to research, we struggle to take the same approach.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Being able to run a focus group or determine statistical significance doesn’t necessarily translate into our ability to understand or explain why or how a phenomenon is occurring in a particular community context. Approaching research and evaluation with humility and curiosity is a critical starting point to moving from extraction to reflexivity. Our priority should be to make conclusions that are informed by more than our academic training and personal experience and to ensure those who are the source of our data are also the beneficiaries of it.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
The research role wheel positions the "community drain," "expert," "savior," "judge," and "authority," as roles in which one is more likely to practice extractive methods and mindsets. Extraction, in this case, implies that data are sourced/gathered from participants without their input, influence, or without the intention of giving something back or consideration of what remains or is expected by participants after researchers leave or end their data collection.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Kelly has been working with the YMCA community center close to her university as a part of her dissertation research. Her professor connected Kelly to the Executive Director (ED) whom her professor knew in college. The ED is hoping to get support for fulfilling the evaluation requirements for their larger federal grants and Kelly is hoping to have access to a group of parents who use their summer camp services. Kelly is paid a small stipend and is able to conduct her research with the parents who opt in. She gives everyone a $25 Target gift card for their participation and successfully writes her dissertation.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
She found that parents who enrolled theirchildren in camp during the summer and in activities like sports, music, and tutoring during the school year,were more likely to have had access to those experiences themselves growing up. She also found thatcommunication about additional opportunities for children varied based on the racial make-up of the schoolthey attended. Kelly published a few academic papers and was able to land a prestigious post-doc at UCLA.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Which of Kelly's actions were in service to the community? Which of her actions were extractive? What opportunities were available for the trio to contribute to families or the broader community that was a part of the research? In what ways did Kelly exercise power that others in this process didn't have?
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
This vingnette is a common experience for many graduate students conducting their own research. They have a goal and they figure out how that goal can be met by utilizing the knowledge, opinions, stories, and experiences of research participants (that they engage or whom another researcher has engaged). Often students are encouraged to look for a gap in the literature or to hop onto another study that a professor is already doing to increase their likelihood of graduation and successful job placement. Students who want to do participatory projects or who are interested in social justice are often discouraged.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
This vignette is a common experience for many graduate students conducting their own research. They have a goal and they figure out how that goal can be met by utilizing the knowledge, opinions, stories, and experiences of research participants (that they engage or whom another researcher has engaged). Often students are encouraged to look for a gap in the literature or to hop onto another study that a professor is already doing to increase their likelihood of graduation and successful job placement. Students who want to do participatory projects or who are interested in social justice are often discouraged.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Thomas, Jamil and Tanya have been hired to conduct an evaluation of a drug and alcohol prevention program being implemented across the state. They all have some experience in this area including a previous 3-year evaluation of a drunk driving prevention program evaluation. Jamil and Thomas have an MPH and Tanya used to work as a therapist at a youth rehabilitation center. They decide to center their evaluation around an evidence-based assessment of youth risk. They also conducted several focus groups with youth. They designed their focus group protocol to determine if the program outcomes for knowledge on 5 specific domains were met.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
The trio enjoyed talking to the youth and found that the teens really opened up. They decided to hold their tongues when the participants shared inaccurate stories about which type of alcohol would get you drunker and how marijuana would balance the effects of alcohol. After the focus group concluded, they shared a few drug awareness tiktoks and some YouTube prevention videos created by teens. Their research concluded that one, the ability of the instructor to connect with the participants was a determining factor in how much the youth retained, and two, 45% of students still believed unreliable information about drugs and alcohol after the program intervention.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
Accomplice
The Accomplice is personified when we: …seek to understand the people’s agenda as well as we understand our institutional and personal agendas. …seek to implement the people’s agenda alongside our institutional and personal agendas.
Learner
The Learner is personified when we: …accept that our expertise is limited. …ask for guidance on context, background, and history in designing, implementation, and interpretation phases.
Expert
The Expert is personified when we: …see our knowledge as superior to the knowledge of our research/evaluation participants. …utilize our knowledge while excluding other ways of knowing. …don’t surface the assumptions we’re bring to our work.
Compassionate Witness
The Compassionate Witness is personified when we: …recognize our shared humanity with those who we’re interviewing/surveying/ researching. …acknowledge that data collection creates interactions that may hold meaning beyond the actual event. …are attentive and flexible in the research process, aware and responding to cues of distress, confusion, or curiosity in participants.
Authority
The Authority is personified when we: …believe we know best. …act without consulting team members and participants. …have little interest in the ideas or needs of team members and participants.
Community Servant
The Community Servant role is personified when we: …see our projects as an opportunity to benefit both us and those who participate. …share our results in ways that are accessible and meaningful to research and evaluation participants. …advocate for community & grantee needs/preferences/benefits to our boards, supervisors, and PI’s.
Detached Observer
Detached Observer is personified when we: …see ourselves as observing whats happening but not in relationship with those who we’re interviewing/surveying/researching. …are distant and inflexible in the research process, not aware or responding to cues of distress, confusion, or curiosity in participants.
Community Drain
The Community Drain role is personified when we: …prioritize what we can get from participants without considering what we can offer. … ask people to participate in surveys and they never see the results. …utilize people’s stories for our own gain.
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Transcript
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Community Servant
Community Drain
Click the + button beside each role to learn more.
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Making time to examine our roles in research is an important exercise for all researchers and evaluators but especially those who engage in social science or community-based research. Our approach to research occurs on a spectrum. Most who have been trained in western or European paradigms will find the roles on the left quite familiar. You may have a visceral response to this diagram. It is quite possible that you may even wonder if it's a bad thing to play the roles on the left. “We didn't eat ramen for years while we got these degrees for nothing!" "Aren't we aspiring to expertise?"
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
I remember the first time someone called me an expert. It was shortly after I had been hired to conduct an evaluation of an HIV support program. I immediately felt calmer and more assured while answering questions about the evaluation methodology and the questions that we might ask on the survey. Not once did it occur to me that the clients who were living with HIV and participating in the program were actually the experts. The problem with our training is that it creates a false division between those with academic credentials and those without it.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Attending classes, passing tests, and being able to prove that we understand the theories and methods of a small sliver of knowledgeable human beings, primarily white male scholars, doesn't actually makeus experts, at least not in the way it matters for social science research. It may make us good at some thingsor knowledgeable, but it doesn't make us competent in the same way as the people who are participants inour studies. For example, excelling on tests about art theory doesn't mean that we can sculpt a bust or spraygraffiti. These examples seem obvious, however when it comes to research, we struggle to take the same approach.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Being able to run a focus group or determine statistical significance doesn’t necessarily translate into our ability to understand or explain why or how a phenomenon is occurring in a particular community context. Approaching research and evaluation with humility and curiosity is a critical starting point to moving from extraction to reflexivity. Our priority should be to make conclusions that are informed by more than our academic training and personal experience and to ensure those who are the source of our data are also the beneficiaries of it.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
The research role wheel positions the "community drain," "expert," "savior," "judge," and "authority," as roles in which one is more likely to practice extractive methods and mindsets. Extraction, in this case, implies that data are sourced/gathered from participants without their input, influence, or without the intention of giving something back or consideration of what remains or is expected by participants after researchers leave or end their data collection.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Kelly has been working with the YMCA community center close to her university as a part of her dissertation research. Her professor connected Kelly to the Executive Director (ED) whom her professor knew in college. The ED is hoping to get support for fulfilling the evaluation requirements for their larger federal grants and Kelly is hoping to have access to a group of parents who use their summer camp services. Kelly is paid a small stipend and is able to conduct her research with the parents who opt in. She gives everyone a $25 Target gift card for their participation and successfully writes her dissertation.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
She found that parents who enrolled theirchildren in camp during the summer and in activities like sports, music, and tutoring during the school year,were more likely to have had access to those experiences themselves growing up. She also found thatcommunication about additional opportunities for children varied based on the racial make-up of the schoolthey attended. Kelly published a few academic papers and was able to land a prestigious post-doc at UCLA.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Which of Kelly's actions were in service to the community? Which of her actions were extractive? What opportunities were available for the trio to contribute to families or the broader community that was a part of the research? In what ways did Kelly exercise power that others in this process didn't have?
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
This vingnette is a common experience for many graduate students conducting their own research. They have a goal and they figure out how that goal can be met by utilizing the knowledge, opinions, stories, and experiences of research participants (that they engage or whom another researcher has engaged). Often students are encouraged to look for a gap in the literature or to hop onto another study that a professor is already doing to increase their likelihood of graduation and successful job placement. Students who want to do participatory projects or who are interested in social justice are often discouraged.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
This vignette is a common experience for many graduate students conducting their own research. They have a goal and they figure out how that goal can be met by utilizing the knowledge, opinions, stories, and experiences of research participants (that they engage or whom another researcher has engaged). Often students are encouraged to look for a gap in the literature or to hop onto another study that a professor is already doing to increase their likelihood of graduation and successful job placement. Students who want to do participatory projects or who are interested in social justice are often discouraged.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
Thomas, Jamil and Tanya have been hired to conduct an evaluation of a drug and alcohol prevention program being implemented across the state. They all have some experience in this area including a previous 3-year evaluation of a drunk driving prevention program evaluation. Jamil and Thomas have an MPH and Tanya used to work as a therapist at a youth rehabilitation center. They decide to center their evaluation around an evidence-based assessment of youth risk. They also conducted several focus groups with youth. They designed their focus group protocol to determine if the program outcomes for knowledge on 5 specific domains were met.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
By Zuri Tau | www.LiberatoryResearch.com
CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF OUR ROLES IN RESEARCH
APPROACH: EXTRACTIVE
APPROACH: LIBERATORY
The trio enjoyed talking to the youth and found that the teens really opened up. They decided to hold their tongues when the participants shared inaccurate stories about which type of alcohol would get you drunker and how marijuana would balance the effects of alcohol. After the focus group concluded, they shared a few drug awareness tiktoks and some YouTube prevention videos created by teens. Their research concluded that one, the ability of the instructor to connect with the participants was a determining factor in how much the youth retained, and two, 45% of students still believed unreliable information about drugs and alcohol after the program intervention.
Community Servant
Community Drain
Compassionate Witness
Detached Observer
RESEARCHERROLE
Accomplice
Authority
Accomplice
Accomplice
Learner
Expert
Accomplice
Accomplice
COLONIZING
DECOLONIZING
Accomplice
The Accomplice is personified when we: …seek to understand the people’s agenda as well as we understand our institutional and personal agendas. …seek to implement the people’s agenda alongside our institutional and personal agendas.
Learner
The Learner is personified when we: …accept that our expertise is limited. …ask for guidance on context, background, and history in designing, implementation, and interpretation phases.
Expert
The Expert is personified when we: …see our knowledge as superior to the knowledge of our research/evaluation participants. …utilize our knowledge while excluding other ways of knowing. …don’t surface the assumptions we’re bring to our work.
Compassionate Witness
The Compassionate Witness is personified when we: …recognize our shared humanity with those who we’re interviewing/surveying/ researching. …acknowledge that data collection creates interactions that may hold meaning beyond the actual event. …are attentive and flexible in the research process, aware and responding to cues of distress, confusion, or curiosity in participants.
Authority
The Authority is personified when we: …believe we know best. …act without consulting team members and participants. …have little interest in the ideas or needs of team members and participants.
Community Servant
The Community Servant role is personified when we: …see our projects as an opportunity to benefit both us and those who participate. …share our results in ways that are accessible and meaningful to research and evaluation participants. …advocate for community & grantee needs/preferences/benefits to our boards, supervisors, and PI’s.
Detached Observer
Detached Observer is personified when we: …see ourselves as observing whats happening but not in relationship with those who we’re interviewing/surveying/researching. …are distant and inflexible in the research process, not aware or responding to cues of distress, confusion, or curiosity in participants.
Community Drain
The Community Drain role is personified when we: …prioritize what we can get from participants without considering what we can offer. … ask people to participate in surveys and they never see the results. …utilize people’s stories for our own gain.