Challenging and Changing Discrimination Against Asian-American Cybersecurity and Engineering Employees in Information Technology Workplaces

Design, Methodology, And Approach

The focus of the study is an exploration of diversity and inclusion in a cybersecurity consulting company. An action research approach used included fact-finding interviews, barrier analysis, company policy assessments, content analysis of the problem in the literature, and recommendations based on the amalgamation of the triangulated data.

Action research is a type of qualitative research where the researcher develops actionable solutions to real-world problems (Reason & Bradbury, 2008). The approach is a problem-solving or consulting one focused on bridging theory and professional practice gap through a consulting-oriented intervention (Reason & Bradbury, 2008). This type of research is situation-based, is helpful in problem-solving, and deals with individuals or groups with a common purpose of improving practice (Reason & Bradbury, 2008). Further, exploratory qualitative research approaches help address practical problems and generate knowledge to produce change (Coakes & Elliman, 2011).