Our work to date has addressed dozens of challenges in the U.S., Haiti, China, Rwanda, Congo, Syria, Turkey and other nations, involving human health, shelter, safety and connectivity. Solutions usually have involved helping to design, find funding for, and build health clinics and other community-serving facilities for communities in desperate straits. These experiences birthed our inquiry values as:
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Human-centered – we’re qualitative researchers, highly valuing the insights available from the people who live in the environment being addressed;
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Exploratory – we hold off on imposing theories until human-centered inquiry has occurred;
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Interprofessional – we value the exponential gains that come from bringing together professionals from diverse fields as equal partners in our work. For example, past projects have integrated medical, planning, architectural, social work, storytelling and security experts into the inquiry process, working closely with the general populations we are serving; and
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Multi-dimensional – we look at issues from more than one perspective, such as the views of children and the elderly, men and women, power brokers and the powerless, individuals and the community, to add depth to our understanding.