COMMUNITYBASED RESEARCH

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COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH

• Philip J. Leaf, Ph.D.
• Johns Hopkins Blumberg School of Public Health

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Community Involvement

• Public Health research has a long history of
  involving the public in identifying and
  addressing public health problems.

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Ecological Approaches

• Ecological approaches recognize that individuals
  are embedded within social, political, and
  economic systems that shape behaviors and access
  to resources necessary to maintain health

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Alternative Inquiry Paradigms (Guba Lincoln,
1994)

• Postpositivism
• Critical Theory Perspective
• Constructivism

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Many Names

• Social Science Research Participatory Research,
  Participatory Action Research, Action Research,
  Action Science/Inquiry, Cooperative inquiry,
  Participatory Evaluation, and Empowerment
  Evaluation
• Intention is to benefit participants either
  through direct intervention or using results to
  inform action for change.

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Critical Theory Perspective

• A reality exists that is influenced by social,
  political, economic, cultural, ethnic, and gender
  factors that crystallize over time the
  researchers and the participant are interactively
  linked findings are mediated by values and the
  transactional nature of research necessitates a
  dialogue between the investigator and
  participants in the inquiry.

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House, 1994

• Choice does not have to be between a
  mechanistic science and an intentionalist
  humanism, but rather one of conceiving science as
  the social activity that it is, an activity hat
  involves considerable judgment, regardless of the
  methods employed.

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Community-based research draws upon perspectives
that address some of the criticisms of positivist
science.
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Community-based research can be viewed along the
continuum involving the extent to which the
emphasizes conducting research in a community as
a place or setting versus conducting research in
a community as a social and cultural entity with
the active engagement and influence of community
members in all aspects of the research process.
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Principals of Community-Based Research

• Recognizes community as a unit of identity
• Builds on strengths and resources within the
  community
• Facilitates collaborative partnerships in all
  phases of the research
• Integrates knowledge an action for mutual benefit
  of all partners

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Principals of Community-Based Research (cont)

• Promotes a co-learning and empowering process
  that attends to social inequalities
• Involves a cyclical and iterative process
• Addresses health from both the positive and
  ecological perspectives
• Disseminates findings and knowledge to all
  partners

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Rationale for Community-Based Research

• Enhances the relevance, usefulness, and the use
  of the research data by all
• Joins together partners with diverse skills,
  knowledge, expertise, and sensitivities to
  address problems
• Improves the quality and validity of research by
  engaging local knowledge and local theory based
  on the lived experience of the people involved

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Rationale for Community-Based Research

• Recognizes the limitations of the concept of a
  value-free science
• Recognizes that knowledge is power and gained
  can be used by all partners to direct resources
  and influence policies that will benefit the
  community
• Creates theory that will be grounded n social
  experience, and creates better informed/more
  effective practice that is guided by such theories

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Rationale for Community-Based Research

• Increases the possibility of overcoming the
  understandable distrust of research on the part
  of communities that have historically been the
  subjects of such research
• Has the potential to bridge the cultural gaps
  that may exist among the partners involved

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Lessons Learned by John and Phil

• Issues related to developing community research
  partnerships
• Methodologic issues involved in community-based
  research
• Broader social, political, economic,
  institutions, and cultural issues

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AND HERES JOHNNIE
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Power or Performance - Phil

• Lack of trust and respect
• Inequitable distribution of power and control
• Conflicts associated with differences in
  perspective, priorities, assumptions, values,
  beliefs, and language
• Conflicts over funding

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Other Issues

• Who represents the community and how is community
  defined
• Jointly developed operating norms
• Democratic leadership
• Questions of the scientific quality of research
• Inability to fully specify all aspects of
  research up-front

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Other Issues

• Risks associated with achieving tenure and
  promotion within academia
• Changing Practice and Policy