A humanizing approach to race-focused research in educational psychology

Following the racial reckoning of summer 2020, the American Psychological Association charged all psychologists to actively engage in antiracist efforts and promote racial justice through research. It is a call for change and an unlearning of discriminatory and marginalizing research practices, and instead, engage in work that humanizes. This charge also aligns with the growing interest and motivation among educational psychologists to engage in race-focused research. However, to conduct race-focused research well necessitates a rethinking of research intentions and processes such that they elevate the foci beyond the mere absence of explicit adverse outcomes, and adopt a humanizing approach to research. In the introduction, we describe our conceptualization of humanizing research, making clear the need for prerequisite work, including reflection and reflexivity about inquiry worldviews, advancing knowledge about the racist roots of methods central to educational psychology, and the development of critical consciousness. To ground these ideas in educational psychology, we describe situated expectancy value theory (SEVT) as one prominent motivation theory well-poised to promote humanizing principles; yet, although the model explicitly includes cultural and social influences on individuals’ motivational choices, these factors remain under-theorized. The conclusion provides summaries of the articles in the special issue, highlighting how the content provides explicit ways to reframe constructs, research design, and methods to honor and respect the humanity of People of Color.