Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Learnings from Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to the Research Process
Gold
Thursday, March 10, 2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Share the love for this talk
Learnings from Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to the Research Process
Speakers: Matt Bernius , Rachael Dietkus, LCSW , Aditi Joshi and Alba Villamil
Link:

Summary

The last two years of crises demonstrate why researchers and designers must anticipate and plan for trauma as it emerges in our work (and our lives). But how do you move your practice and your organization in a trauma-informed direction? This panel will draw upon our experiences researching sensitive topics and working with marginalized communities to discuss implementing trauma-informed practices in research and design engagements. We will explore the different ways we’ve used trauma-informed concepts to work with, and protect the mental and emotional safety of, the communities we serve. Panelists will also discuss self and team care and ways we’ve advocated for trauma-informed approaches in organizations like Code for America and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Key Insights

  • Trauma is stored in the body as sensations or disassociation, affecting how it manifests across individuals and cultures.

  • Language in research, especially demographic questions, can cause harm if it enforces narrow binaries or excludes identities.

  • Offering participants choice in answering and question format promotes safety and reduces retraumatization risk.

  • Recognizing that some harm is inevitable in research shifts focus to harm reduction and participant autonomy.

  • Compensation should be culturally relevant, flexible, and reflect participants’ lived realities beyond a flat monetary amount.

  • Participatory research within communities builds deeper trust and produces richer, safer insights than outsider-led inquiries.

  • Researchers themselves face trauma risks and need trauma-informed team practices and organizational care to sustain their work.

  • Intersectionality influences how trauma is experienced by researchers and participants, requiring protocols that acknowledge differential burdens.

  • Trauma-informed practices extend beyond data collection to consent processes, research necessity evaluation, and post-interview support.

  • Organizational change—including power sharing, work environment design, and accessible mental health supports—is essential to sustain trauma-informed research.

Notable Quotes

"Trauma lives in the body as sensation or lack of sensation like numbness or disassociation."

"Questions can be weapons; forcing participants into narrow binaries can be exclusionary and triggering."

"We have to acknowledge harm is inevitable in research and focus on reducing it as much as possible."

"Compensation is not just about money, it’s about supporting the participant holistically."

"Sometimes the best researcher is someone from within the community rather than an outsider."

"True consent means consent forms should be human readable and designed for participant understanding, not just organizational protection."

"Recognizing when a participant is uncomfortable and knowing when to soften or pause is critical in trauma-informed interviewing."

"Organizational structures themselves can traumatize people and need to be changed to be trauma-informed."

"If you’ve not read the Humanity Center Organizational Trauma Playbook, you should."

"Doing trauma-informed research requires showing up every day with a trauma-informed daily practice."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sean Fitzell
Craft of User Research: Building Out Jobs to be Done Maps
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
John Calhoun
Meters, Miles, and Madness: New Frameworks to Measure the (Elusive) Value of DesignOps
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Etienne Fang
Power of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform (Videoconference)
2019 • Advancing Research Community
Maria Skaaden
Continuous Design: One eye on the horizon and the other on the next wave
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Amy Brana Stuart
Rest in Peace Fly-in-fly-out Design
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Megan Kierstead
You Are a Badass at UX: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Steve Baty
Discussion
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
John Calhoun
Have we Reached Our Peak? Spotting the Next Mountain For DesignOps to Climb
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Mac Smith
Measuring Up: Using Product Research for Organizational Impact
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Theresa Neil
Designing for Wellness: Specializing in Healthcare (Videoconference)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Davis Neable
How to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Frank Duran
Partnership Playbook: Lessons Learned in Effective Partnership
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Dan Willis
Enterprise Storytelling Sessions
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
JP Allen
Navigating the UX Tool Landscape
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Brad Orego
Bringing Customer Research to More Internal Teams
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Todd Healy
Driving Change with CX Metrics
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold

More Videos

Alex Hurworth

"When communities are engaged, conservation succeeds dramatically."

Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine Marin

Designing a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access

October 23, 2020

Laine Riley Prokay

"We wanted to actively promote the Design Ops discipline to more people, especially those not familiar with our craft."

Laine Riley Prokay Lisa Gordon

Carving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners

September 9, 2022

Eniola Oluwole

"TripAdvisor is really nine major business units each thinking like sub companies instead of one end-to-end user experience."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Nathan Shedroff

"Rather than aiming for the chief strategy officer directly, build relationships with junior strategists who are more accessible."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020

Sam Proulx

"Voice control on mobile goes beyond digital assistants and can fully control the device for users who cannot use touch."

Sam Proulx

Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World

November 17, 2022

Feleesha Sterling

"Product and design teams are usually the best initial stakeholders to engage for rapid research programs."

Feleesha Sterling

Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)

May 18, 2023

Neil Barrie

"Culture is the most influential factor impacting people's perceptions and values today."

Neil Barrie

Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture

March 25, 2024

John Devanney

"Design systems help bridge the gap between design and development, but collaboration remains key."

John Devanney

The Design Management Office

November 6, 2017

Katy Mogal

"Small experiments that fit into existing structures make it easier to involve collaborators and reduce resistance."

Katy Mogal

But Do Your Insights Scale?

March 12, 2021