Social Justice is the Spirit and Aim of an Applied Science of Human Behavior: Moving from Colonial to Participatory Research Practices
ABA research must share power with participants or risk repeating colonial harm.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Pritchett et al. (2022) reviewed how ABA research has worked in the past. They say the field often acts like a colonial power. Researchers set the questions, run the studies, and leave the community with no voice.
The paper calls for a new way. It wants participatory research where marginalized people help shape every step. The goal is social justice, not just data points.
What they found
The review finds that top-down research can harm the very people we aim to help. Power stays with the scientist, not the participant.
The authors offer no new numbers. Instead, they give a roadmap. Share power. Ask the community what outcomes matter. Keep asking throughout the project.
How this fits with other research
Leaf et al. (2021) came first. They listed stakeholder worries about ABA power plays. Pritchett et al. (2022) builds on that list and names the problem colonial.
Jimenez-Gomez et al. (2022) re-package the same idea using a cultural-responsiveness frame. Same aim, different words.
Uher et al. (2024) take the broad call and turn it into small, doable steps. They show how to meet BACB Standard 1.07 this week.
Jimenez-Gomez (2025) extends the fight into the culture-war era. It tells BCBAs to guard their verbal behavior when politics heat up.
Why it matters
You can start today. Ask your client or caregiver what goals matter most to them. Write their words into the behavior plan before you add your own targets. This simple flip moves power from you to the community and begins the shift from colonial to participatory practice.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add one client-chosen goal to the current behavior plan.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
It is time for a paradigm shift in the science of applied behavior analysis. Our current approach to applied research perpetuates power imbalances. We posit that the purpose of applied behavior analysis is to enable and expand human rights and to eliminate the legacies of colonial, oppressive social structures. We report the findings from our examination of the content of our flagship applied research journal. We reviewed 50 years of applied experiments from the standpoint of respect, beneficence, justice, and the participation of individuals and communities. Although there is some promise and movement toward inclusion, our findings indicate that we have not prioritized full participation across all segments of society, especially persons and communities that are marginalized. Social justice rests on the belief that human life is to be universally cherished and valued. In this article, we suggest that policies, strategies, and research practices within our field be interwoven with a commitment to social justice, including racial justice, for all. We offer recommendations to neutralize and diffuse power imbalances and to work toward a shift from colonial to participatory practices in the methods and aims of our applied science.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00591-7