Community-engaged research
Our philosophy: Research WITH communities for the betterment of society, not merely research ON communities for the betterment of science.
At VCU, community-engaged research is a collaborative process between the researcher and community partner that creates and disseminates knowledge and creative expression with the goal of contributing to the discipline and strengthening the well-being of the community.
As a high-impact practice, CEnR increases representation among first generation, Pell-eligible and underrepresented students, along with junior and underrepresented faculty and community partners as co-researchers.
Advocates assert that community-engaged research promotes better research and translation of findings. Other benefits of community-engaged research include development of research that is responsive to community need, increased capacity built through partnerships, expanded funding opportunities, and greater opportunities to translate findings into practice (Adapted from Carnegie and CDC, 2015).
ONE VCU Research Strategic Plan
As a public-serving R1 institution, VCU has developed the ONE VCU Research Strategic Plan “to enrich the human experience and advance human health and well-being through exceptionally creative, collaborative and community-engaged research. VCU focuses on achieving social impact through a culture of research collaboration, as set forth in the university’s strategic plan "Quest 2025: Together We Transform.”
What methods are used in community-engaged research?
Community-engaged research can be quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods:
- Community-based, participatory research
- Applied research
- Contractual research (funded by government, non-governmental organizations or business)
- Demonstration projects
- Needs and assets assessments
- Program evaluations
What does community-engaged research look like?
- Community stakeholders on project steering committees and other deliberative and decision-making bodies
- Community advisory boards
- Compensation for the community’s time and other contributions
- Dissemination of results back out to the community
- Takes time, collaboration and flexibility
What is community-engaged research NOT?
- Focus groups or interviews
- A research methodology
- An add-on
- A one-size fits all approach
- Appropriate for all research
- Recruitment of minority research participants
- A relinquishing of all insight or control by researchers
CEnR Resources
Below are resources sourced from the former CEnR Resource Hub. The following categories are included:
- Presentations – Powerpoint presentations that provide an overview of the topic.
- Readings – Selected journal articles, organization/institution briefs, literature reviews, etc. to be used as student readings.
- Videos – Range from brief clips to highlight an aspect of a topic to longer talks/speaker and panel sessions offering a more in depth focus on a topic or aspect of a topic.
- CEnR Examples – Student reflections on a CEnR research project, case studies, CEnR project summaries/outlines.
- Reflection Activities – Activities that relate to a specific topic and may be used in class or as out of class assignments in conjunction with other resources or as stand-alone activities.
*Please use a proper citation format when sharing resources, rather than just providing a link, to ensure the author, institution, or organization receives proper credit.
Resources on "What is CEnR?"
Presentations (ppt)
- Hall, A. (2018). Introduction to Community-engaged Research: Overview Presentation for Students. Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, VA.
*PPT includes Benefits to Community and Academic Partnerships video and reflection activities listed below.Readings
- Fitzgerald, H., Bruns, K., Sonka, S., Furco, A., and Swanson, L. (2012). The Centrality of Engagement in Higher Education. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 16 (3): 7.
- Strand, K., Marullo, S., Cutforth, N., Stoecker, R., & Donohue, P. (2003). Principles of Best Practice for Community-Based Research. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 9(3): 5-15.
- Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium Community Engagement Key Function Committee Task Force on the Principles of Community Engagement. (2011). Principles of Community Engagement (2nd Ed.). NIH Publication No. 11-7782, Department of Health & Human Services: Washington, DC.
Videos
- Holland, B. (2016). What is the Role of Community Engagement in Higher Education? VCU Community Engagement, Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, VA. (video 3:24min) *Barbara Holland discusses community engagement in higher-ed in a Curios CoLab Google Hangout.
- Laqua, K. (2016). What is Community Engaged Research? Project498,University of Toronto: Ontario, Canada. (video 5:05min). *Brief introduction to CEnR video.
- Vanderbilt University. (2015). Academics in Action! A Model for Community-engaged Research, Teaching & Service. Filmed and edited by CinematicFocus. (video 10:16min) *Community-engaged researchers from a variety of disciplines discuss CEnR.
- Haley, A., Walker, A., & Holton, V. (Producers) & Polk, J. C. (Principal) (2014). Community-Engaged Research: Benefits to Community and Academic Partnerships. Vicissitude Productions: Richmond, VA. (video 5:37min). *VCU researchers (from a variety of disciplines) and community partners share the benefits of CEnR.
- Haley, A., Walker, A., & Holton, V. (Producers) & Polk, J. C. (Principal) (2014). Community-Engaged Research: Trust, Respect, Conflict, and Honesty. Vicissitude Productions: Richmond, VA. (video 3:43min). *VCU researchers (from a variety of disciplines) and community partners share the importance of trust and respect within CEnR.
CEnR Examples
- CEnR Cases @ VCU: Examples of CEnR Research at VCU from a variety of disciplines. *Summaries of CEnR studies by VCU faculty and community partners.
- Project 498: Independent Community Engaged Research Seminar, University of Toronto (2016). *Reflections from students participating in this research seminar – includes a variety of disciplines and research methods.
Reflection Activities
(Created by A. Hall, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2018)
What is the Democratic Purpose of your Discipline? Parts I and II.
I. (Pre-introduction Reflection) *Individual OR Think-Pair-Share
After reading The Centrality of Community Engagement in Higher Education, reflect on and discuss:
- Where does Community-Engaged Scholarship “fit” within your field?
Bringle & Hatcher (2011) identify key characteristics of CEnR as:
It must be scholarly. A scholarship-based model of engagement embraces both the act of engaging (bringing universities and communities together) and the product of engagement (the spread of scholarship focused, evidence-based practices in communities).
It must cut across the missions of teaching, research, and service; rather than being a separate activity, engaged scholarship is a particular approach to campus-community collaboration.
It must be reciprocal and mutually beneficial; university and community partners engage in mutual planning, implementation, and assessment of programs and activities. It must embrace the processes and values of a civil democracy.
1. Given this description, broadly, does your field of study promote community engaged scholarship? Provide examples of if yes, how and if no, why?
2. More specifically, think about your course of study at VCU…do the departments and faculty within your school incorporate community engaged scholarship? Provide examples of if yes, how and if no, why?
II. (Post-Introduction Reflection) *Breakout & Brainstorm
What is the democratic purpose of your discipline? Reflecting on this purpose, how might you incorporate community-engaged research into your current and/or future research agenda? Why would you?
Resources on Collaborative Partnerships
Presentations (ppt)
- Lee, K. (2019). Community science: What can you do to engage the community? Accessed from communityscience.com
Readings
- Southern California Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Community Engagement. Toolkit for developing community partnerships. Accessed from: https://sc-ctsi.org/resources/developing-community-partnerships-toolkit
- Goodman, L.A., Thomas, K.A., Serrata, J.V., Lippy, C., Nnawulezi, N., Ghanbarpour, S., Macy, R., Sullivan, C. & Bair-Merritt, M.A. (2017). Power through partnerships: A CBPR toolkit for domestic violence researchers. National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, Harrisburg, PA. Retrieved from cbprtoolkit.org
- Sadler, L., Larson, J., Bouregy, S., LaPaglia, D., Bridger, L., McCaslin, C., and Rockwell, S. (2012). Community–University Partnerships in Community-Based Research: National Institute of Health Public Access Author Manuscript. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD. *Published in final edited form as:
Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2012; 6(4): 463–469. doi:10.1353/cpr.2012.0053. - Andrews, J., Newman, S., Meadows, O., Cox, M. and Bunting, S. (2012). Partnership readiness for community-based participatory research. Health Education Research, 27(4): 555-571.
- Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services (2011). Community-Based Research Toolkit: Resource for Doing Research with Community for Social Change. Toronto, Canada.
- Newman, SD., Andrews, JO., Magwood, GS., Jenkins, C., Cox, MJ., and Williamson DC. (2011). Community advisory boards in community-based participatory research: a synthesis of best processes. Preventing Chronic Disease, 8(3): 1-12. http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2011/may/10_0045.htm.
- Pasick R, Oliva G, Goldstein E, Nguyen T. (2010). Community-Engaged Research with Community-Based Organizations: A Resource Manual for UCSF Researchers. From the Series: UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Resource Manuals and Guides to Community-Engaged Research, P. Fleisher, ed. Published by Clinical Translational Science Institute Community Engagement Program, University of
California San Francisco. http://ctsi.ucsf.edu/files/CE/manual_for_researchers_agencies.pdf - Ross, L., Loup, A., Nelson, R., Botkin, J., Kost, R., Smith, G., and Gehlert, S. (2010). The Challenges of Collaboration for Academic and Community Partners in a Research Partnership: Points to Consider. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics: 19–31. Print issn 1556-2646, online issn 1556-2654.
- Sandy, M. and Holland, B. (Fall 2006). Different Worlds and Common Ground: Community Partner Perspectives on Campus-Community Partnerships. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. p. 30-43.
- Srinivasan, S. and Collman, G. (2005). Evolving Partnerships in Community. Environmental Health Perspectives, 13(12): 1814-1816.
Videos
- Chavez, V. (2012). Cultural Humility in Community Based Participatory Research and Education. *Part 3 of 4 in “Cultural Humility: People, Principles and Practices“, a 30-minute documentary by San Francisco State professor Vivian Chávez.
*The following videos retrieved from Section III of Power through partnerships: A CBPR toolkit for domestic violence researchers, as cited within the Readings section of the “CEnR Approaches and Design” page.
- Strategies for establishing and sustaining relationships with CBPR community partners by Nkiru Nnawulezi, PhD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Transparency is critical in CBPR by Shanti Kulkarni, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Anticipating ways researchers can harm community collaborators by Susan Ghanbarpour, PhD, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
- Strengths and resources that community partners bring to CBPR by Amanda Stylianou, PhD, Safe Horizon
- How structural oppression manifests and functions within a CBPR partnership by Carrie Lippy, PhD, The National LGBTQ Institute on IPV
- Strategies for collaborative and transparent decision-making in CBPR by Rebecca J. Macy, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CEnR Examples
- University of South Carolina and Columbia Housing Authority. (2011). Photovoice: From Snapshots to Civic Action. (video 3:06min)
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. (2017). Collaborations with Native American Nations. (video 3:42min)
- Garcia-Acosta, R., Vargas, R. and Wortis, N. (2010). Community-university partnerships to prevent street violence and promote resiliency. School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. Accessed from: partnerships.ucsf.edu/publications/reports
- LearnRVA. (2016). Course Projects. Retrieved February 12, 2020, from https://learnrva.org/course-projects/
Reflection Activities
(Adapted by A. Hall from course CMST691: Collaborative Curiosity, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019)
- REFLECTION OPTION 1:
- I. Take a few minutes to personally reflect on your own research interests. Spend five minutes on a quick internet search to identify ONE potential (local) community partner – a person, group of people, or organization that is working, living, going to school, etc. “on the ground” in your research interest area. Reflect on WHY you chose this potential partner by answering these three questions:
-
- What role does this potential partner already play in the ‘Big Issue’ associated with your research interest?
- What assets might this potential partner bring to the research relationship?
- What assets might you bring to the research relationship?
- What challenges do you foresee that might impact the partnership?
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- II. Thinking of your potential partner and research interest (and your responses to the questions above), turn to the person next to you and discuss key characteristics of your potential community partner(s) that are likely to impact the dynamics of the relationship (e.g. culture, history, power, resources, stigma, politics, legal issues).
-
- Which characteristic(s) do you think would impact the relationship the most? Why?
- Which characteristic(s) do you think would impact the relationship the least?
-
- I. Take a few minutes to personally reflect on your own research interests. Spend five minutes on a quick internet search to identify ONE potential (local) community partner – a person, group of people, or organization that is working, living, going to school, etc. “on the ground” in your research interest area. Reflect on WHY you chose this potential partner by answering these three questions:
- REFLECTION OPTION 2:
- I. How you make your presence felt within a community and initiate/sustain relationships with community partners varies by your community’s characteristics, your established presence (or lack thereof) within the community, your level of collaboration with members of the community, and the research questions and methods you hope to pursue.
- Thinking back to your identified community partner, reflect on your proposed approach(es) to developing a collaborative, working relationship with that community/community partner.
- For example, are you hoping to create an executive or working board? If so, explain the general structure and purpose of the group, your ideal membership, etc. Host a meet-and-greet event with the community? If so, explain how that would look – who would be invited, what would be the format of the event, etc.
- I. How you make your presence felt within a community and initiate/sustain relationships with community partners varies by your community’s characteristics, your established presence (or lack thereof) within the community, your level of collaboration with members of the community, and the research questions and methods you hope to pursue.
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- II. Demonstrate how you propose to address the practical issues you will face in establishing a formal, trust-based working relationship with the community/community partner. Some examples (which are by no means exhaustive) include:
- Design a handout or PowerPoint slide that explains how you plan to describe the purpose and value of a proposed community advisory board to potential community partners.
- Create a web-based invitation to a meeting at which you hope to share your research interests to the community.
- Create a blog post that introduces you to the community as a community researcher and explains how you plan to make yourself and your interests available for their consideration.
- II. Demonstrate how you propose to address the practical issues you will face in establishing a formal, trust-based working relationship with the community/community partner. Some examples (which are by no means exhaustive) include:
*Remember, you want to not only hear community voices, but encourage the community to be a collaborative, valued part of the process. This may mean changing the research design to reflect the interests of the community. Remember, RECIPROCITY! CEnR is research with, not on or for.
Resources on CEnR Approaches & Design
Presentations (ppt)
- Heaney, C. (2014). What is community-based participatory research? And how to tell if it’s real CBPR or not. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Readings
- Horowitz, C., Robinson, M. and Seifer, S. (2019). Community-based participatory research from the margin to the mainstream: Are researchers prepared? Circulation, 119(19): 2633-2642. Accessed from: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.729863
- Philis-Tsimikas, A., Gallo, L., Hernandez, M., Ruiz, M., Fortmann, A. and Ayala, A. (2019). Toolbox for conducting community-engaged research. Scripps Translational Science Institute & Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute.
- Glandon, D., Piana, L., Alonge, O., Peters, D. and Bennett, S. (2017). 10 best resources for community-engagement in implementation research. Health Policy and Planning, 32: 1457-1465.
- Anderson, E., Solomon, S., Heitman, E., DuBois, J., Fisher, C., Kost, R., Lawless, ME., Ramsey, C., Jones, B., Ammerman, A. and Friedman-Ross, L. (2012). Research ethics education for community-engaged research: A review and research agenda. J Empir Res Hum Res Ethics, 7(2): 3-19.
- Hacker, K. and Glover, J. (2011). Community-engaged research and the institutional review board: Principles, challenges, and opportunities. Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center.
- McDonald, MA. (2006). Practicing community-engaged research. Duke Center for Community Research. Accessed from: http://www.dtmi.duke.edu/dccr/community-linked-research/
- Strand, K., Marullo, S., Cutforth, N., Stoecker, R., & Donohue, P. (2003). Principles of best practice for community-based research. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 9(3): 5-15.
Videos
- A Bridge Between Communities (2000). By Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center. (video 30:05min) *This documentary introduces viewers to the theory and practice of CBPR. The video tells the story of the history and activities of the Detroit URC and highlights the challenges and benefits of conducting CBPR.
- Vera Institute of Justice. (2016). Participatory Action Research: Young Women’s Empowerment Project. (video 4:45min) This video is part of the Neil A. Weiner Research Speaker series. *In this video, Shira Hassan of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, a community-based, youth-led project that was founded in 2001, discusses the use of participatory action research in the project’s recent report, “Girls Do What They Have To Do To Survive.”
CEnR Examples
- Center on Society and Health. (2014). Engaging Richmond. Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, VA.
- Martin del Campo, F., Casado, J., Spencer, P., & Strelnick, H. (2013). The development of the Bronx Community Research Review Board: a pilot feasibility project for a model of community consultation. Progress in community health partnerships : research, education, and action, 7(3): 341–352. doi:10.1353/cpr.2013.0037
- Koster, R., Baccar, K. and Lemelin, RH. (2012). Moving from research on, to research with and for indigenous communities: A critical reflection on community-based participatory research. The Canadian Geographer, 56(2): 195-210.
Reflection Activities
(Adapted by A. Hall from course CMST 691: Collaborative Curiosity, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019)
- Reflection Option 1:
- Imagine your community partner has invited you to deliver a 30 minute presentation to the community about a research method that you think would be appropriate for the proposed project.
- Prepare a presentation that you would use in a meeting with your community partners (and any other community stakeholders, including general community members) to describe the research method and show its connection to the proposed research project. This presentation should provide sufficient detail about the method, but be useful as a handout for a general audience.
- Prepare approximately 10 to 15 slides.
- Use any presentation application (e.g. PowerPoint, Google slides, Prezi, etc). If you use Prezi, beware of motion sickness from too much zooming around!
- Reflection Discussion: What are 3-5 critical decisions you and your community partners will need to make in order to move forward with using this method for the project?
- Reflection Option 2:
- Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be a powerful tool in community-engaged research (CEnR). It is a technique that is used to picture a community and to understand the relationships within it. SNA can also be used to identify and document how information is disseminated within the community.
- Watch the video, What is Social Network Analysis? (3:45min). Next, choose one of the following to view:
- Check your own personal Facebook social network with Touchgraph: http://www.touchgraph.com/facebook
- Check your own personal Twitter social network with Mentionmapp: http://mentionmapp.com/
- Looking at the social network cloud from afar, zoom in, and spend a few minutes clicking on individual nodes.
- Watch the video, What is Social Network Analysis? (3:45min). Next, choose one of the following to view:
- Answer the following:
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- Describe the cloud from a broad analytical perspective on connections and relationships.
- Describe your personal contribution to the cloud. Now, summarize your connections within the context of the larger cloud.
- Reflect on how you could use Social Network Analysis in your community-engaged research agenda.
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- Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be a powerful tool in community-engaged research (CEnR). It is a technique that is used to picture a community and to understand the relationships within it. SNA can also be used to identify and document how information is disseminated within the community.
Resources on Dissemination & Translation of Findings
Presentations (ppt)
- Hall, A. (2019). CEnR: An overview of community dissemination & translation of findings. Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, VA.
Readings
- CARE: Community Alliance for Research and Engagement. Beyond scientific publication: Strategies for disseminating research findings. Yale Center for Clinical Investigation.
- Marple-Cantrell, K. (2018). Sharing evaluation findings with community stakeholders. 2018 World Bank Conference on land and poverty. The World Bank: Washington DC.
- McDavitt, B., Bogart, L., Mutchler, M., Wagner, G., Green, H., Lawrence, SJ., Mutepfa, K. and Nogg, K. (2016). Dissemination as dialogue: Building trust and sharing research findings through community engagement. Preventing Chronic Disease, 12(38).
- Dissemination Planning Tool: Exhibit A from Volume 4. [Website Module]. Content last reviewed/updated October 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
- Balazs, C. and Morello-Frosch, R. (2013). The three Rs: How community-based participatory research strengthens rigor, relevance, and reach of science. Environmental Justice, 6(1): 9-16.
- Faculty of Arts. (2011). Exchanging knowledge: A research dissemination toolkit. University of Regina, Community Research Unit.
- Schillinger, D. (2010). An introduction to effectiveness, dissemination and implementation research: A resource manual for community engaged research. P. Fleisher and E. Goldstein, eds. From the Series: UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Resource Manuals and Guides to Community-Engaged Research, P. Fleisher, ed. Published by Clinical Translational Science Institute Community Engagement Program, University of California San Francisco.
Videos
- Jenkins, C. (2016). Translational research: Where are our communities? Medical University of South Carolina. (1 hour 21 min).
CEnR Examples
- Wallerstein, N. and Duran, B. (2016). CBPR and CEnR: Facilitating implementation science outcomes. NCI Advanced Topics in Implementation Science Webinar Series. (Webinar 55:06min).
- Wilkins, C. (2011). Communicating results of community-based participatory research. Virtual Mentor, AMA Journal of Ethics, 13(2): 81-85. Accessed from: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/communicating-results-community-based-participatory-research/2011-02
- Lichtveld, M., Kennedy, S., Krouse, R. Z., Grimsley, F., El-Dahr, J., Bordelon, K., … Cohn, R. D. (2016). From design to dissemination: Implementing community-based participatory research in post-disaster communities. American Journal of Public Health, 106(7): 1235–1242. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303169
Reflection Activities
(Adapted by A. Hall from course CMST 691: Collaborative Curiosity, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019)
- Create a CEnR Dissemination Plan
- Clearly identify a target audience. (e.g. policy makers, community members, research participants, service providers, etc.). NOTE: In CEnR, your target audience is generally not academic researchers.
- Write a summary that outlines a basic dissemination plan for your identified audience based on this structure under “Developing a Summary” in Section V.
- Next, develop a sample document that could be distributed to your target audience as part of your dissemination plan. For examples and templates of a “dissemination document”, see here, or here, or the VCU Research Dissemination Guide. However, you are not limited to those formats – you also may consider a webpage, blog, series of Tweets, Facebook page, etc. – Remember, your dissemination strategy should be aligned with your identified target audience.
- Lastly, consider and discuss how you plan to engage your community-partners in the development of this plan.
Share Additional Resources
Please feel free to recommend CEnR resources and/or provide feedback by emailing engage@vcu.edu or wellingtonc@vcu.edu.
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