Chapter 27: Partnerships in Research

This chapter focuses on alternative relationships between researchers and research participants. These alternatives are based on the relationships established by Ana Cecilia Bastos with human beings whom mainstream psychology refers to as “subjects” or “research participants.” Research by students of Jaan Valsiner also illustrates relational approaches to research. Generalizations to psychology and to medicine are attempted through Marinker’s (1978), article and a partnership approach to research.

This chapter is a partial acknowledgment of how professor Bastos (hereafter referred to as Bastos) has enabled me to imagine my selves in my activities as a researcher. I hope to convey that my relationship with Bastos has encouraged me to implement a long held value: that our commonalities as human beings should guide us in our activities. It is on this imaginative plane that we can prioritize our commonalities and marginalize that multitude of biological, psychological, and sociocultural differences that are taken to be “real.” The appeal to our imagination is required if this value is not to be dismissed as both counterintuitive and counterfactual.