“Taking Care” in Intercultural Research

Methodological and ethical aspects of intercultural research are frequently discussed in the literature. However, rarely are detailed examples given or practical suggestions offered, particularly in relation to qualitative enquiry. Drawing on global health qualitative research by an international team with indigenous women in Guatemala about access to family planning, this article highlights consequences of different research designs and implementation strategies and practices. We used the constant comparison method for analysis and developed a code for portions of interviews or content which might have been omitted had the research been conducted differently. These applied examples are used to illustrate the gaps and misinterpretations possible in intercultural research and how critical it is to involve a local team early and throughout the study in such stages as: preparing research instruments, recruitment, and conducting interviews; multilingual interviewing, transcription, and team analysis; and reporting and dissemination. International research has been likened to an extractive industry due to the propensity of scholars to conduct research then publish only in English, essentially extracting knowledge in a way that is inaccessible to those in the country where research was conducted. Practical and ethical implications are highlighted for those conducting, funding, and reviewing intercultural research, to ensure that research does not become the latest extractive industry