by Barry Tinkler

Abstract: Traditionally, academic researchers have not involved underserved communities when dealing with and researching difficult social problems. Many universities are now feeling pressure to find ways to work closely with local, disadvantaged communities. Community-based research (CBR) is a new movement in higher education that combines practices from other participatory research models as well as service-learning. CBR requires researchers to work closely with the community to determine a research agenda and to carry out the research to affect change. The goal is to empower disenfranchised and marginalized groups.

The purpose of this study is to explore the process of conducting community-based research from the researcher's perspective. This process study presents contrasting cases of two CBR experiences. One collaboration was conducted with a non-profit educationally oriented organization in a large western city; the other, with community members who provide services to the growing immigrant population in a small, mountain town. The considered issues in both collaborations centered around access to the community, power, communication, shifting research plans, timelines, scope, and the required range of knowledge. There were factors that facilitated or hindered these collaborations-shared goals, defining roles and responsibilities, trust, views about research, rapport, and hidden or fluctuating agendas. Despite these factors, the community benefited from the research process, as did I. The community gained research skills, useful research results, and access to resources. While I gained a sense of purpose, a feeling of engagement, and an expanded knowledge base in relation to research and other peoples.

Based on the findings, I developed a conceptual model organized around the four categories of community, collaboration, knowledge creation, and change. The model presents a way to consider how to increase the value of CBR. In this model, the form of CBR that has the greatest value is radical CBR. Radical CBR requires that the researcher work with grassroots community organizations, share all decision making with community partners, involve community partners in all aspects of the research process, and seek to create change that challenges existing power structures. The model also demonstrates how to add value to more mainstream versions of CBR.

link to full article: http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2004/tinkler/