Definition 3: Accountability

Definition

Accountability is the responsibility of individuals, organizations, or institutions to explain and justify their actions and decisions including being answerable to others, particularly those who are affected by those actions, and requires transparency and honesty. It also includes taking ownership of outcomes, addressing any failures or mistakes, and taking steps to improve the situation.

In Context

Accountability in a CER context includes fostering an environment where people feel supported in communicating their goals, needs, opinions, and expectations so that they can equitably and meaningfully engage with the project. Thus, it is important to invest time and resources into building trust and positive relationships with community partners and across your research team, such as by providing food for meetings and engaging in team-building activities. Since accountability includes meaningful collaboration and equitable distribution of labour, researchers should not consider themselves above doing “menial” and administrative tasks, nor should they offload these tasks onto research partners, e.g. picking up food or setting up meeting locations. Be willing to share in this labour and ask research partners how they want to engage with the project. 

A significant aspect of CER is also building the research capacity of community partners and peer researchers, equipping them with the technical skills needed to lead and contribute to research activities — if they are interested. Avoid imposing tasks if they choose not to participate in this way. If they do, make sure to engage them in all stages of the project i.e. research design, data collection, and analysis phases, rather than limiting them to participant recruitment. 

Being accountable to research participants also includes ensuring that they can provide informed consent. Clearly communicate project details in an accessible manner and confirm that participants understand what they are agreeing to. Make it clear to participants that they can withdraw consent from the project at any time, and can abstain from any questions or activities that they are uncomfortable with. Make sure to remind them of so before and during any questions or activities that are more likely to cause emotional distress.

Examples

• One example of accountability in action is a public health organization responding transparently to a disease outbreak. If the organization initially mismanages the situation or underestimates the severity of the outbreak, accountability means they would publicly acknowledge the situation, explain the cause, and outline steps to prevent it from happening again. They might also commit to new measures, such as enhancing surveillance, providing regular public updates, and ensuring access to medical resources for affected communities. 

Reflection Questions

• Identify at least three potential sources of tension among your research team, between your institutional research team and community partners, and/or between your research team and research participants. How do you plan on addressing these tensions or potential conflicts throughout the research process? How can you build in recurring check-ins and/or spaces for dialogue throughout the research process so that these tensions do not develop into situations that could cause distress or distrust among your team? 

• How do you plan on dividing the labour among your research team? Have you discussed with your community partners what kind of role they would like to take on in the project? Do not assume that they only want to take on a consultative or administrative role but also do not assume that they want to (or have the capacity to) participate in the technical research aspects of the task.

• Identify three main ways you can develop the research capacity of your community partners if they have indicated that they would like to participate in the technical research component of the project.