Nursing Associate Professor Christine Stevens and Professor Emeritus Cathy Tashiro recently returned from the 8th International Conference for Practice in Pori, Finland.  Drs. Stevens and Tashiro were joined by Associate Professors of Social Work Janice Laakso and JoDee Keller, of UW Tacoma and Pacific Lutheran University, respectively.  Their presentation title: 
"The slippery slope of evaluation: Ethics, issues, & methodological challenges using the case study of a housing
development."

Abstract: Using an evaluation of a public housing development in the United States Pacific Northwest as a case study,
the authors explore the politics of evaluation as well as ethical considerations and methodological challenges in
evaluation research. As this particular housing development was made up of a large percentage of immigrants and
refugees, the authors also discuss the importance of developing methodologies that give voice to culturally and
economically diverse populations. Notably, ethical considerations occur at multiple levels, from the broad assumptions
underlying housing policy, to the vulnerability of public housing residents, particularly with regard to health issues,
to the redevelopment process itself, to hardship faced by individual residents. The authors raise a number of questions
that are important to consider in conducting ethical research with marginalized populations.