Research Note #1
Voice Is Not Enough
A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my papers had been cited in a Psychology Today article, "The Weight of Silence and the Power of Speaking Up". I clicked because I was curious about the citation.
I left thinking about a different question altogether.
Is having a voice the same as having agency?
I do not think so.
The two ideas are closely related, but they are not interchangeable.
Voice is being able to speak.
Agency is being able to shape what happens next.
This distinction has quietly shaped much of my research over the past two decades.
My interest in this question is not only academic. As someone who has lived through two heart transplants, I have experienced what it means to depend on extraordinary expertise while also fighting to remain an active participant in decisions about my own life. I have learned that having a voice does not always mean having influence.
Students experience this distinction every day.
A classroom might encourage participation, invite discussion, and value different perspectives. Yet if students have little influence over what they learn, how they learn, or how they demonstrate understanding, their voice exists within boundaries established by others.
The same is true in healthcare.
Patients are increasingly encouraged to share their stories. Their experiences matter. Their voices deserve to be heard.
Meaningful engagement asks something more.
- Do patients help shape research questions?
- Do they influence study design?
- Do they participate in interpreting findings?
- Do they help determine what success looks like?
If the answer is no, participation risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative.
This distinction became the foundation of our recent paper, "Agency in Action: Engaging Patient Participation in Research". We argue that meaningful patient engagement depends on creating conditions where patients influence decisions as research partners rather than serving only as participants or advisors.
The same question is becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence becomes woven into education and healthcare.
AI systems recommend, prioritize, summarize, and predict. They influence what we see, what we learn, and, increasingly, the decisions we make.
Access to these systems does not automatically strengthen agency.
In some cases, agency becomes harder to exercise because many of the decisions shaping our lives remain invisible. We rarely see the assumptions, data, or reasoning behind the recommendations presented to us.
Helping people understand, question, and navigate these systems has become one of the central questions driving my current research on Postdigital Learner Agency.
Looking back, I realize this question has been present throughout my work.
The Agency for Learning framework explored how intentionality, motivation, self-efficacy, and self-regulation support meaningful action.
My work on patient engagement asks how those same ideas support participation in research and healthcare.
My current work on Postdigital Learner Agency asks how agency changes when learning, decision making, and participation become increasingly mediated by algorithms and artificial intelligence.
The contexts have changed.
The question has not.
How do people remain active participants in shaping their own futures?
Perhaps that is why the Psychology Today article stayed with me.
Speaking up matters.
Being heard matters.
Agency asks something deeper.
Do we have the capacity to influence what happens next?
I suspect this will become one of the defining questions of the AI era.
Not because artificial intelligence will replace human agency.
Because it will continually test our willingness to question, participate, and choose.
The future will not belong to those who have access to the most advanced AI.
It will belong to those who retain the capacity to act with intention alongside it.
Related Reading
Code, J. (2020). "Agency for Learning: Intention, Motivation, Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation". Frontiers in Education.
Code, J., Lannon, H., & Lutrin, A. (2025). "Agency in Action: Engaging Patient Participation in Research". Patient Education and Counseling.
Psychology Today. "The Weight of Silence and the Power of Speaking Up".
