Intro to Methods

Researchers from the 2S/LGBTQ+ Health Hub network use many different methods in their work. Research methods are the strategies, processes or techniques used in the collection of data or evidence for analysis in order to uncover new information or create better understanding of a topic. 

There are many types of research methods, some can be categorized and some fit into multiple categories. Generally, research methods fit into three categories: 

Quantitative Research collects number-based information from a group and testing it with statistical analysis. This can show whether the results would likely be the same for a larger population. 
Examples: Surveys, experiments, statistical analyses.

Qualitative Research collects different people's opinions and experiences about a topic. Every person's answer is important, whether it's similar to others' responses or completely unique.
Examples: Focus groups, individual observations, in-depth interviews, or documentary accounts

Mixed Methods Research integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to provide a comprehensive analysis by combining numerical data with contextual understanding.
Examples: Sequential explanatory designs, concurrent triangulation. 

You can see more examples of specific research methods by clicking the search icon in the top left corner of this page. Below we highlight a few methods that are foundational to our platform.

Definitions from  CIHR's Jargon Buster Glossary and University of Essex Library and Cultural Services: Health and Social Care

Community-Based Research (CBR) is a research approach that involves the community as active partners throughout the study, rather than just as subjects. Methodologically, this means that community members help define the research questions, decide how data will be collected, participate in analyzing the findings, and help share the results. By working collaboratively at every step, the methods of CBR ensure that the research is grounded in the community’s real experiences and priorities.

CBR is especially useful in areas like HIV/AIDS, where understanding the social, cultural, and economic context is important. It helps make research more relevant, encourages more people to participate, builds skills and knowledge within the community, and can influence policies and programs in ways that truly benefit those involved. In short, CBR is research “with” the community, not “on” the community.

Summarized from PAN in BC. 

An intersectional approach to research methods means analyzing each group you’re interested in directly, rather than combining averages from separate categories. For example, to study Black women’s health, you look at Black women specifically, not just Black people plus women. This is because the effects of different social identities can interact in unique ways.

It also means that factors like discrimination, power, or policies might affect different groups differently, and the analysis should account for that. Importantly, statistical tools alone don’t make an analysis intersectional. Researchers need to design the study and interpret the results with an intersectional framework in mind at every step.

Summarized from Greta Bauer for CIHR.

Decolonial and anti-colonial research methods work to break down the lasting effects of colonialism by critiquing existing social structures and processes, and lifting up community voices. This means placing communities at the centre of research from start to finish, and being critically aware that everyday research practices can reinforce colonization if researchers aren't careful. 

Decolonial approaches prioritize reciprocity and relational accountability, where researchers give back to communities rather than just extracting information. For researchers, this requires critical self-reflection about their own social location and complicity in colonial systems, as well as bringing together different ways of understanding research beyond colonial frameworks alone. The goal is to develop research projects with communities that end up supporting communities in ways they define as beneficial. 

Key characteristics of Decolonial/Anti-Colonial research methods 

• Centring Indigenous voices and ways of knowing, non-colonial ways of knowing and being
• Deconstructing colonial canons of thought, undoing or reimagining colonial research
• Positionality awareness, and the recognition that positionality can both limit and/or facilitate decolonizing efforts
• Community-involved, community-partnered, community-driven
• Collaboration and accessibility as foundational, not add-ons or extras
• Challenging structural and social power imbalances

Synthesized from the overlapping themes found in:

• Decolonizing Approaches to Research at uAlberta (DARA): A collaborative inquiry
• Maya Stevens-Uninsky et al.'s Re-drawing the map: a case study of decolonized research methods & methodologies
• Elizabeth Carlson's Anti-colonial Methodologies and Practices for Settler Colonial Studies
• Jacqueline M. Quinless's Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods
• Linda Tuhiwai Smith on Decolonizing Methodologies

Bauer, G. R. (2021). Questions to guide quantitative intersectional analyses. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Carlson, E. (2016). Anti-colonial Methodologies and Practices for Settler Colonial Studies. Manitoba Research Alliance.  

CIHR. (2022). CIHR Jargon Buster Glossary.

DARA Project. (2024). Decolonizing Approaches to Research at uAlberta (DARA): A collaborative inquiry. International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. 

Pacific AIDS Network. What is community-based research?

Quinless, J. M. (2022). Decolonizing data: Unsettling conversations about social research methods. University of Toronto Press.

Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Stevens-Uninsky, M., Gallant, N., Chatting, T. et al. (2025). Re-drawing the map: a case study of decolonized research methods & methodologies. Int J Equity Health 24 (165).

University of Essex Library. Research methods.