Community Based Research

Paralleling the growing recognition of service-learning (s-l) as an effective teaching/learning methodology has been the emergence of community-based research (CBR) as a more comprehensive and participatory approach to research. “CBR is a partnership of students, faculty and community members who collaboratively engage in research with the purpose of solving a pressing community problem or effecting social change.”  (Strand et al, Community-Based Research and Higher Education, San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass 2003).

CBR involves collaboration between academic researchers (students, faculty, research staff) and community members in the design and implementation of research projects aimed at meeting community-identified needs.  CBR differs from traditional academic research in two important ways.  The first distinction is that CBR is done with the community, not on the community.  Instead of treating communities as “laboratories” and community members as convenient samples, CBR is a collaborative process which holds as its central principle the involvement of community members in every stage of the research project.  The second important difference between CBR and traditional academic research is that an explicit goal of CBR is to make a contribution to improving the community and the lives of the people living within it.

CBR emphasizes the importance of full collaboration between community and campus, respect for multiple forms of knowledge (including community-based oral and artistic traditions), and concern for creating social change that enhances self-sufficiency and empowerment of excluded communities.

Principles of Good Practice for Community-Based Research

• Recognizes community as a unit of identity.
• Builds on strengths and resources within the community.
• Responds to needs identified by the community itself.
• Facilitates collaborative, equitable involvement of all partners in all phases of the research.
• Integrates knowledge and intervention for mutual benefit of all partners.
• Promotes a co-learning and empowering process that attends to social inequalities.
• Involves a cyclical and iterative process.
• Disseminates findings and knowledge gained to all partners
• Involves a long-term commitment by all partners.

(Barbara Israel of the University of Michigan School of Public Health)

Differences Between Community-Based Research and Traditional Academic Research

Please note: Community-based research is not intended to be the antithesis of academic research, but should rather be viewed as an extension and expansion of academic research.
(University of Michigan Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning)

Working in Partnership

• Promote an empowering process that attends to social inequalities and facilitates the reciprocal transfer of knowledge, skills, capacity, and power.
• Develop a sustained commitment by all the partners in which parties participate as equal members.
• Cultural divides: Replace academic jargon with “regular” language, remember calendar differences, etc.

Please note: Community-based research is not intended to be the antithesis of academic research, but should rather be viewed as an extension and expansion of academic research.
(University of Michigan Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning)

For more information about community based research at the UW-Madison contact Randy Wallar, jrwallar@wisc.edu or 608-262-5781.