Perceptions, Barriers and Facilitating Strategies of Inclusive Research: A Qualitative Study with Expert Interviews

Scientific research should be relevant to and include those considered to be disadvantaged and underrepresented. Investigating perceptions, barriers and strategies of inclusive research experienced by researchers can help address some of the challenges to inclusive research. This study explores what inclusive research is, why inclusive research is important, which barriers researchers experience, and which strategies they propose and deploy to address these barriers. We interviewed 15 researchers from the health sciences, (bio)medical sciences, and social sciences who have experience with inclusive research and conducted qualitative content analysis. We identified four important aspects of inclusive research: involvement of researched groups, accessibility, diversity and representativeness and enabling positive change. Societal, methodological, educational and ethical arguments were provided as reasons for why inclusive research is important. Main barriers were researchers’ lack of skills, lack of time and budget, and non-inclusive research materials. This study provides strategies for conducting inclusive research throughout the research cycle, applicable to a wide range of academic fields. We conclude that there is not one correct way to conduct inclusive research. Rather, the strategies can increase inclusivity in qualitative and quantitative studies.