COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH

1. COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH An Introduction for Faculty Presented by Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski Community Involvement Center, Co-Director Weber State University for CBR Faculty Fellows Program September 9, 2009 A presentation developed by the National Community-Based Research Networking Initiative

2. CBR: AN OVERVIEW • What is CBR? • Principles of Practice • How does it differ from traditional research? • Why do CBR? • Pedagogical Methods • Benefits & Challenges • What It Takes • Resources

3. CBR: WHAT IS IT? • A collaborative, participatory research process that embraces: • Research • Community has information needs • Campus partners have research tools and resources • Education • Community has valuable local knowledge & experience • Campus partners have theoretical and large scale perspectives • Action • Build organizational and community capacity • Effect policy change

4. CBR: Definition • “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 affecting social change” (Strand, et al., 2003).

5. CBR: Principles of CBR • CBR is a collaborative enterprise between researchers and community members. • CBR involves the democratization of knowledge • CBR has as its goal social action and social change for the purpose of achieving social justice (Strand et al., 2003: p. 8).

6. CBR: Collaboration • research with andfor the community. • community partners should be working with students and professors at every stage in the research process.

7. CBR: Democratization of Knowledge • knowledge brought to the project by all partners involved is equally valued • multiple research methods are used • user friendly approaches to the dissemination of knowledge are provided • conventional assumptions about knowledge itself are challenged

8. CBR: Social Change for Social Justice • produce information that can be used to bring about needed change • findings of the research or the process itself might contribute to social change

9. CBR: Vs. Traditional Research See handout. Table: Traditional Research vs. CBR See page 9 in text.

10. CBR: WHY DO IT? • Complex social problems ill-suited to “outside expert” research alone • Impact community capacity • Build long-term relationship with community partners • Effective method of teaching and learning for all participants • The ultimate form of service-learning?

11. CBR: Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach (Furco, 2006) FOCUS Service Learning PRIMARY INTENDED BENEFICIARY Recipient Provider Service-Learning Community Service Field Education Volunteerism Internships

12. CBR: Ultimate S-L Experience • The quality of service-learning is enhanced through CBR in that it offers the most opportunities for: • collaboration • direct application of course content • potential for social change

13. CBR: PEDAGOGICAL METHODS • Course-based options model • CBR-based semester courses • Long-term, course-based projects • Interdisciplinary, multi-course collaborative projects

14. CBR: BENEFITS • Community • Access to faculty expertise • Organizational capacity building • Policy change • Students • Develop new skills • Improve existing skills • Connect classroom learning with real-world application • Faculty • Enhanced teaching credentials • New venues for publishing and presenting • Positively impact students and community

15. CBR: CHALLENGES • Unpredictability • Calendar conflicts • Role confusion • Participant compensation/ recognition

16. CBR: WHAT DOES IT TAKE? • Time • Long-term vision • Communication • Flexibility • Willingness to develop research process with community input

17. CBR: RESOURCES • National Community-Based Research Networking Initiativewww.cbrnet.org • CBR Course and Project Databasewww.bonner.org/campus/cbr/profiles.taf • Campus-Community Partnerships for Healthwww.ccph.info • Community-Based Research & Higher Education: Principles & PracticesStrand, Marullo, Cutforth, et. al.