UCLA

This thesis seeks to understand how community-researcher partnerships negotiate ownership and control of data within community-based public health research projects conducted in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants, 6 researchers and 5 community members. While the literature generally centers the academic perspective, this project, rooted in Asian American Studies, strays away from the literature and centers the community’s voice. The interviews reveal that community members define data ownership as possessing access to and control over data. In the various models of data ownership, these partnerships reveal data’s ability to empower the community to (re)claim narratives and legitimize the community’s voice. Additionally, this project concludes that community-researcher partnerships must build trust and recognize the community’s value through proper compensation. Ultimately, the community must “be selfish” in order to work towards an equitable community-researcher partnership and an equitable model of data ownership.