Teaching Paper: Terminology Review Guide for Research with Vulnerable Communities
Author: Dr. Anna Neya Kazanskaia
Publisher: NEYA Global Publishing
Journal: NEYA Global Journal of Non-Profit Studies
Publication Type: Teaching Paper
Series: Safeguarding Tools for Preventing Research Harm
Year: 2026
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5669-1676
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64357/neya-gjnps-cgsnf-tp-05
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Abstract
Teaching Paper: Terminology Review Guide for Research with Vulnerable Communities provides a practical safeguarding tool for reviewing the language used in research involving vulnerable communities, non-profit field sites, service users, and socially sensitive contexts. It is designed to help researchers, supervisors, ethics reviewers, journal editors, and host organisations identify terminology that may stigmatise, expose, misrepresent, or reduce communities to a single vulnerability frame.
The guide addresses a recurring ethical risk in research publication: terms that appear academically acceptable may carry reputational, cultural, social, or safeguarding consequences for the people and organisations described. This teaching paper supports the review of titles, abstracts, keywords, participant descriptions, community labels, institutional descriptions, and analytical categories before publication or public dissemination.
It strengthens ethical research communication by encouraging language that is accurate, proportionate, context-sensitive, and protective of vulnerable communities.
About This Teaching Paper
This teaching paper forms part of the Safeguarding Tools for Preventing Research Harm series. It is intended to support terminology review before research is published, presented, archived, or circulated, especially when language choices may shape how vulnerable communities, host organisations, or participant groups are perceived by external audiences.
This Tool Supports
- reviewing terminology used in titles, abstracts, keywords, and analysis
- identifying language that may stigmatise or overexpose vulnerability
- checking whether labels are proportionate to the research context
- distinguishing protective terminology from sensationalising language
- assessing whether community descriptions create reputational risk
- strengthening safeguarding-sensitive publication review
Intended Users
This teaching paper is intended for researchers, supervisors, ethics committees, journal editors, safeguarding officers, non-profit leaders, programme directors, communication teams, and host organisations reviewing research involving vulnerable communities.
Citation
Kazanskaia, A. N. (2026). Teaching Paper: Terminology Review Guide for Research with Vulnerable Communities. NEYA Global Journal of Non-Profit Studies. NEYA Global Publishing. https://doi.org/10.64357/neya-gjnps-cgsnf-tp-05
Institutional Use Notice
This teaching paper forms part of the NEYA Global knowledge architecture. Institutional, organisational, professional, training, consulting, curriculum, programme design, research supervision, safeguarding review, communication review, or implementation use requires an active license from NEYA Global
