Terms of engagement: Understanding the role of language in research

Words matter. Language can help people feel understood and heard, but it also has the power to alienate. Language is also ever-evolving, and ‘official’ terminology – or that favoured by stakeholders – may not actually be preferred by participants themselves.

Keeping on top of best practice for inclusive research can be a challenge, and language is a key part of that. It’s an area that can often be overlooked, and is currently the subject of an exploration by a group of individuals working in the sector.

Basis Social wanted to conduct research to better understand the views and preferences of the public about the type of language used in relation to social and demographic characteristics that define individuals, such as age, ethnicity or how people self-identify.

The ‘Language Matters’ research project stemmed from a conversation with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Dan Clay, managing partner, Basis Social, explains. “DWP were asking about the choice of terminology to use when we were talking about disabled people in our contract with them. We do a lot of research around disability benefits, and they wanted to understand what was the rationale behind the use of this language, and whether we had evidence – did we have any research that we could cite to back up our choice of terminology as being appropriate to describe disabled people? And we didn't.”

This prompted Clay to think there was an opportunity to conduct primary research focused on understanding the attitudes of the public – as opposed to what stakeholders assume.

“There’s an awful lot of work that goes on with people in their ivory towers talking about how we should be talking about different protected characteristics,” says Clay. “But [we wanted] to understand a little bit more in terms of understanding members of the public themselves who have a given protected characteristic: how would they want to be spoken about in the context of research in particular, but also publications, articles, etc. If they are being represented or talked about, how would they want that to be? What terminology would they feel comfortable with?

“What sits behind that is an acknowledgement that language really does matter. It has the potential to empower and disempower people. And often you're talking about the empowerment or disempowerment of groups that have historically been disempowered, and by having a better grasp of the kind of language that they would want and feel comfortable with being employed, when talking about them, you're creating an environment whereby they feel better represented and more empowered. It gives agency, it gives validation to the way in which people think and talk about themselves, and I think that’s really important for us as research agencies, who purport to reflect the views of quite diverse groups of people, to be aware of and be mindful of.”

Purdah around the general election gave Basis Social the opportunity to carry out the work, with input from members of various MRS purpose groups, and in partnership with Yonder Data Solutions on the fieldwork.

“We took our time getting the questionnaire design right,” says Victoria Harkness, senior director at Basis Social. “We drew on lots of good practice from the MRS and others, and we socialised it with Rebecca Cole [Cobalt Sky and until recently chair of the MRS Representation in Research group], Lee Chan [UK Health Security Agency], Christine Hemphill [Open Inclusion] and others to make sure that we were asking questions about quite sensitive language in the right way. It’s really important we ask the questions in the right way.”

The other important design consideration, according to Harkness, was ensuring a sufficient sample size to be able to drill into the data. “We ended up surveying over 4,000 UK adults. It’s a big sample size and it’s been important for enabling us to move beyond the traditional cross-breaks that sometimes we get in quant research where we're looking at quite broad aggregated groups, for example, at the ethnicity level or the disability level,” says Harkness.

Opening a conversation

One of the findings to jump out to Clay related to terminology around ethnicity. There has been a shift away from using the term ‘Bame’ as an acronym representing ‘Black, Asian, minority ethnic’.

“What we found in the research is that from the perspective of people that are coming from ethnicities other than white, there is a strong preference for that term [‘Bame’]. It’s up there with amongst the most preferred terms, which is quite interesting given that there’s a big push away from using it and that we shouldn't be looking to aggregate groups in that way,” says Clay.

“I think if we had possibly disaggregated ‘Bame’ as an acronym from ‘Black, Asian, minority ethnic’, we may well have found a very different set of findings. From a sector perspective, we've moved away from using that terminology because it feels like it is lumping a lot of people with very distinct ethnic identities in together in a way that’s not particularly helpful.”

Both Clay and Harkness emphasise that the research is not about providing a prescriptive set of guidelines. “I think it’s shining a light. It’s opening a conversation,” says Clay. “It’s giving permission for us all to think more carefully about the choices that we're making around language, the assumptions that we're making and be more purposive in that language so that we're taking care – essentially, because we owe it to the people that are involved in the research to take that care over the language that we're using to describe them.”

Harkness says the work reinforced that there is “no right or wrong answer” and that views are mixed, though says it has given direction on what particular terminology and language particular groups prefer over another group and that the findings remind researchers “not to make assumptions about categorising people”.

Harkness adds: “For example, we use LGBTQ+ as an aggregate categorisation, but when you ask people who identify that way, not everybody necessarily identifies with that term. That’s just one example, but I think it reminds us to be a little bit careful and conscientious – it’s not to say ‘don’t do it’, because there can be very good reasons why we need to, particularly when we're talking in quantitative survey terms. But it’s about being a bit more conscious and reminding ourselves to show a little bit more sensitivity to how particular groups identify with certain terms and maybe don't.”

Next steps

Basis Social predominantly works within social research, and so all of its work is in the public domain and therefore subject to a high level of scrutiny; inclusion is key. However, Clay attests that this subject isn’t just relevant for social researchers, and highlights how important industry collaboration has been.

“What’s been lovely about this – and it shows the level of professionalism and camaraderie that exists in the sector – is that we've been able to work very closely across the whole market research profession and sector in developing this,” he says. “This is relevant for anyone who’s working in research because, if you think about it, from a member of the public’s perspective, they don't distinguish between market research or social research. They just get approached to ask their opinions asked about things. So, I think it’s incumbent on us all to work collaboratively in this regard, in terms of making research more inclusive.”

Graham Idehen, chair of the MRS Representation in Research steering group, a cross-industry group of practitioners, says: “Language has always been a major part of trying to conduct more representative research, from moving away from “othering”, to critically examining terms like ‘Bame’. As language and our understanding of it are constantly evolving, proper research on preferred language needs to be not only robust but regular. This highlights why the research on Language Matters is especially important at this moment, as it directly addresses the evolving expectations around inclusivity in respect to communication.”

Idehen says the Language Matters research “provides timely guidance” and highlights the terminology that resonates with the public while exploring why certain language choices “can either bridge or reinforce divides”. He adds: “For our sector, this focus on language goes beyond just meaning and interpretation; it’s about responsibly building trust and authenticity in the stories we tell.”

In terms of next steps, Representation in Research is developing additional content, such as infographics and representation checklists, to communicate key insights and provide practical guidance for adopting inclusive language in research, to add to its existing resources. A series of webinars will discuss inclusive language, including the forthcoming ‘Let’s Talk About Inclusion’ event. The data set from the research is also sitting with each of the MRS purpose groups to dig into for further detail.

Idehen says collaboration with other special interest groups under the MRS banner seeks to gain input from stakeholders and communities to ensure the group continually adapts its guidance and that it reflects real-world needs. “By referencing this research within our array of broader initiatives, the group aims to establish clear, measurable standards that support representation and help researchers incorporate inclusive practices in every stage of their work,” he adds.

For Basis Social, the agency is looking at the results of the research to review its own approaches, says Harkness. “There’s no reason when we're speaking to specific groups, knowing what we now know, that we can't adapt the language of screeners and our questionnaires to just be a little more conscientious that what might speak to one group might not speak to another. That’s something that the survey has allowed us to do – internally, that’s something we're looking at in terms of our own screening materials, for example. It’s super helpful for adding an extra dimension to the way that we that we approach management with different groups.”

 The Representation in Research webinar: Let’s talk about inclusion, takes place tomorrow ( 27th Nov 2024 ). Find out more and register.