Using Mixed Methods to Build Research Capacity within the Spinal Cord Injured Population of New Zealand

In 2007, a 4-year longitudinal study of all people admitted to the two New Zealand spinal units commenced. It aims to (a) explore interrelationship(s) of body, self, and society for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and (b) investigate how entitlement to rehabilitation and compensation through New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation affects socioeconomic and health outcomes. Working within the emancipatory-transformative research paradigm, an underlying aim was to build research capacity among people with SCI by recruiting them onto the research team (in addition to the principal investigator who has a SCI). The primary focus of this article is not on the findings of the study but on building research capacity in the SCI population of New Zealand, which emerged from our commitment to the study being ethical and emancipatory. This will involve a consideration of what constitutes ethical disability research, the research paradigm chosen, assembling the research team, and the flexibility provided by the use of mixed methods to achieve these ends.