Conducting, Citing, Disseminating: How Community-Based Organizations Use Research to Influence Policy

• In Event: Reimagining Family, School, and Community Partnerships as an Educational Change Strategy in the United States, Canada, and England

Abstract

Overview

As the number of voices vying to influence education policy grows, policy actors struggle to be heard. This paper presents findings from three qualitative case studies of community-based organizations (CBOs) in Ontario, Canada, and Massachusetts, USA, that use research to influence education policy.

Methods

Data was collected through interviews with 41 CBO leaders and members, participant observations, and from documents. Data from each case was analyzed using an iterative, open-coding process. The findings for each case were then compared.

Results

Findings from the cross case analysis demonstrate that CBOs engage with research as producers, users, and mediators (Levin, 2011). Their research activities vary in ways that reflect their organizational purposes. Finally, CBOs engage with research to realize technical, political, and transformative goals (Renee, 2006) in their efforts to influence education policy at local and provincial levels.

Authors

• Sue Winton, York University

• Michael P. Evans, Miami University - Oxford