Yida Zhai has shared a tremendously interesting perspective on research into "democracy" without using the so-called "d-word". Zhai's argument is that the term can mean so many things, it is so ideologically loaded, that its use inevitably risks generating skewed or unreliable results.
But how do we study "democracy" without using the word?
https://theloop.ecpr.eu/government-in-china-and-understanding-democracy-without-the-d-word/