What is Community-Based Research?

Many universities have started to question how they can invest their resources to build required social capital in the communities in which they are located. Former Harvard president, Derek Bok, commented, “Most universities continue to do their least impressive work on the very subjects where society’s need for greater knowledge and better education is most acute” (Bok, 1990, p. 122). Community organizer and activist, Saul Alinsky, was even more frank when he once stated that the word academic is synonymous for irrelevant (Alinsky, 1969).

In attempts to make research more collaborative and participatory, community-based research tends to employ an approach that embraces research, education, and action (Green, et al, 1997). Community-based research seeks to be linked to the community where data are collected and analyzed with the purpose of taking action or affecting social change.

Participants in community-based research are empowered and liberated through a process of self-development through experience. They build upon their capacities in order to find a greater sense of identity and find the courage to voice change and question their rights previously denied. A deepening awareness takes shape when social, political, economic, and environmental contradictions are seen more clearly for individuals to take action against unjust structures and power dynamics. A critical consciousness is developed to improve the lives of those involved in the research process, and to transform fundamental societal structures and relationships.

Elements of community-based research include community participation and an ongoing reciprocal relationship between the researcher and the community. Levels of involvement are balanced between informed and flexible interaction. Community-based research provides a framework in which people seeking to overcome oppressive situations can come to understand the social forces in operation and gain strength through taking collective action. Knowledge and information become the essence of power. The process is directed by the community to bring about greater equality and participation in decision-making.

For students and faculty abstract theories can come alive through practical applications. Similarly, researchers who have questions about community-based programs related to their academic interests can obtain first-hand information and insights from grassroots groups. Academics can therefore become agents of social change by reaching out to under-served communities.

In the community-based model, academic and community members work together to identify the research issue, develop the design, collect the data, write up the results, and work with policy makers and practitioners in designing programs and policies. Research is also action-oriented, in the sense that findings can be adapted for activists, non-profits and government agencies.