Research Strategy

Durham Workforce Authority Research Strategy

Our research strategy is founded on principles of transparency, fairness and accountability. Our emphasis on communities means positioning our research activities to be responsive to identified community needs, building connections, and promoting system-wide leadership. Research is conducted in partnership with the broader community to foster a culture of inquiry and provide support for development.

The DWA aims to maximize the benefits of research by advancing knowledge and contributing to better labour market information, which results in economic prosperity and a higher quality of life in Durham Region.

Mission
  • To improve Durham Region’s local labour market information, knowledge and data dissemination through research and education to benefit the communities we serve.
  • To share our knowledge through local collaborations and development of best practices in labour market research regionally, provincially, and nationally.
Research Vision

The Durham Workforce Authority will be a leader in advancing and creating new knowledge that informs labour market partners through community identified need by evidence-based research and dissemination.

The Durham Workforce Authority will lead and as capable, fund projects or programs of research that are aimed at:

  • Aging workforce
  • Current and projected labour shortages
  • Increase productivity
  • Technology and tools
  • Positions employers are trying to fill
  • Skills and education in demand
  • Regional and community variations
  • Outcomes of PSE graduates and apprenticeship completions
  • Information on vulnerable groups in the labour market
  • Other research as identified through community consultation and supported by the DWA Board of Directors

The DWA goals are to:

  • Providing authoritative research
  • Identifying employment trends
  • Bringing people together
  • Building effective industry, community-based agencies and organizations partnerships
  • Allowing flexibility in decision-making to react to opportunities
  • Enabling the DWA and its community to become leaders and innovators
Research and Promotion of Evidence-Based Practices

The DWA will work to develop and deliver:

  • accurate and timely labour market information for use by economic development, education, employers, community service providers and others.
  • workforce system data to develop community plans and progress.
  • findings based on evidence-based research.
  • customized project reports that add to community knowledge which can be adapted for use by other partners in the Durham Region workforce system.
Promoting Research Integrity

The following is adapted from the Tri Agency Framework, Responsible Conduct of Research (Canadian Institute of Health Research Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2016)

The DWA and those funded by the DWA shall strive to follow the best research practices honestly, accountably, openly and fairly in the search for and in the dissemination of knowledge.

Responsive Information Exchange

It is important that the results, outcomes and impacts of the research that the DWA generates itself or funds are available to share with everyone in Durham Region who desires local labour market information. The DWA will make ongoing efforts to share its research in ways and means as identified desirable by the community.

Research Services

The DWA will strive to be the preferred source of labour market trends. The DWA’s expertise, intelligence and technical assistance role are vital for development strategies that boost the economic well-being of the Durham Region

Research Strategy Addendum 2023

Introduction

In 2017, the DWA released its research strategy. The strategy has served as the foundation and guiding principle for all research undertaken by the organization since then. Since 2017, several of our research projects have revealed important gaps in our work. The Skilled Trade report noted that the racialized individuals, newcomers, immigrants, and persons with disabilities had challenges attaching and remaining employed in skilled trades in Durham Region. The DWA’s Post-Pandemic Recovery Report noted that the same job seekers fared poorly during the pandemic’s darkest days and continue to struggle in the labour market. A review of the DWA’s existing research strategy revealed a weakness that did not include an EDI lens.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion in research is a continuous process of cultural transformation that requires leadership in communication, awareness-building (creating inspiring conversations) and recognizing excellence.

Other larger research bodies have recently updated their research strategy, and the DWA reviewed them, taking inspiration from Dalhousie University, the University of Ottawa and Qualtrics. The revised research strategy is built on these sources. It takes much of our research strategy from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) EDI research strategy committed to increasing equitable and inclusive participation in the research.

The DWA believes a research strategy is a living document and wants to create an inclusive research strategy, ensuring all Durham Region residents are included in the Labour Market Information (LMI) collected, viewed, actioned and future research is collected without unconscious bias. Barriers faced by underrepresented and marginalized groups are reduced or removed.

This plan includes the following:

  • Removes as much as possible biased norms and stereotypes
  • Options for consulting an EDI expert to review materials
  • Expands the applicability of research findings and new technologies across a broader segment of society
  • Strategies to mitigate biases by conducting inclusive research and improving technologies
  • Research outcomes that fairly benefit communities most impacted by the research
  • A formal complaints management process
Values
  • Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness celebrate diversity in culture, language, gender, race, ethnicity and other forms of identity and experience in research.
  • Equality of rights and non-discrimination against people based on racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ageism, or other grounds established by the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Best Practices/Strategies

Consider the use of EDI approaches in the overall design of the research projects; follow the lead of Indigenous, Black-led, and ethnocultural organizations in developing best practices for data use, as the potential collection, sharing, and use of administrative data disproportionately impact these communities.

Support Community-Based Research and Other Research Initiatives

The DWA will examine LMI, work with underrepresented groups, and engage underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in research to reduce disparities and make research relevant to their needs.

Common Language

The DWA research strategy will use the following definitions:

  • EQUITY people of all identities are treated fairly. Equity is removing systemic barriers and biases, ensuring all individuals have equal opportunity to access and benefit.
  • DIVERSITY is the conditions, expressions, and experiences of different groups.
  • INCLUSION ensures that all individuals are valued and respected for their contributions and equally supported. Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Underrepresented Groups
  • Women
  • Indigenous peoples
  • Visible minorities /racialized persons
  • 2SLGBTQI+ community
  • Persons with disabilities
Unconscious bias

An implicit attitude, stereotype, motivation, or assumption that can occur without knowledge, control or intention. Unconscious bias results from one’s life experiences and affects everyone. Everyone carries implicit or unconscious biases. Examples of unconscious bias include gender, culture, race/ethnicity, age, language, and institutional biases. Decisions based on unconscious bias can compound over time to significantly impact the lives and opportunities of others affected by the decisions one makes.  Anti-racist approaches that consider systemic racism and the intersectionality of different identities in the conceptualization of the research (e.g., age, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, gender expression and gender identity, immigration and newcomer status, Indigenous identity, language, neurodiversity, parental status/responsibility, place of origin, religion, race, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status)

The following are steps that can be practiced to mitigate bias:

  • Stereotype replacement: Think about a stereotype you hold and consciously replace it with accurate information.
  • Positive counterstereotype imaging: Picture someone who counters a traditionally stereotyped role.
  • Perspective taking: Take the perspective of someone in a stereotyped group.
  • Individuation: Gather specific information about an applicant to prevent group stereotypes from leading to potentially inaccurate assumptions.
Complaints Management

It is the policy of the Durham Workforce Authority to settle all complaints or disputes in a civil and timely manner. All DWA surveys include a preamble with an opt-out option and an email link to the Executive Director to express concerns. At that point, the DWA complaints policy will take over:

Any individual, survey respondent, or research respondent must provide a written complaint to the Executive Director within five business days. The Executive Director will endeavour to provide a written response within three business days of submitting the complaint. If unresolved, a written complaint must be sent to the DWA Board of Directors within five business days of receiving the Executive Director’s response. The Board will meet with the Executive Director before responding to the complainant. The Board of Directors will endeavour to provide a written response within ten business days of receiving the complaint. The Board’s decision shall be final.

Outcomes

An equitable, diverse, and inclusive research environment that supports excellent, innovative, and impactful research. All Durham Region community members can participate in the study, regardless of their situation. Diversity allows for differing information and perspectives. Inclusion creates an environment for open discussion and debate.

The EDI research strategy will be equitable, diverse, and inclusive research, critical for research excellence, ensuring it is locally relevant and impactful to advance knowledge and understanding and to respond to Durham Region’s LMI needs.