Defining and Understanding Community Research Collaboratives

• In Event: The Power and Possibilities of Research Practice Partnerships and Community Research Collaboratives for Advancing Education Equity

Abstract

This paper investigates Community Research Collaboratives (CRCs) as a sub-field of public scholarship, defined as joint efforts among community-based organizations to utilize systematic methods and analyses to address education injustice. In CRCs, community based organizations and researchers are mutually engaged in the entire research process-- all parties have significant roles defining focal problems and research questions, deciding the scope of the study, collecting and analyzing data or sharing project results.

The term “community” is invoked often in research where university researchers partner with people outside of the university, and a lack of clarity around what constitutes a “community” partner has led to debate over differences between various forms of partnership work (Jacquez, Vaughn & Wagner, 2012). Members of historically marginalized communities are best situated to understand and define problems of practice, yet they are often viewed from a deficit perspective and their participation is often in service of the goals of those who already hold power in education systems (Baqueando-Lopez, Alexander & Hernandez, 2013, Booker & Goldman, 2016). This study focuses on collaboratives where students, their families, and closely affiliated individuals themselves guide the inquiry into issues that impact their experiences in education systems (Mirra & Rogers, 2016, Dyrness, 2009).

Our methodology included a focused literature review of research projects that enacted collaborative methods in partnership with community organizations. The literature review led to an initial definition of CRCs which we used to identify 8 collaboratives that overlapped with our definition. We then conducted structured interviews with 24 people working in community organizations, education systems and research institutions across those 8 collaboratives. We utilized a grounded research analysis to identify themes across the data (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

The review of literature showed significant diversity in types of community organizations engaged with researchers including: advocacy groups, organizing groups, service providers, and civic engagement groups. Similarly there is diversity among the types of research designs, including: policy analysis, (youth) participatory action research, participatory design, and community engaged research.

In interviews we learned more about the goals and structures of CRCs. CRCs include a definition of educational equity that goes well beyond access and is concerned with transformation of systems with an explicit intent of historically marginalized people occupying leadership roles. CRCs are context specific— the organizational structure, focus of the work and leadership responsibilities reflect the geography, politics, concerns of the communities in which they are nested.

Implications for collaborative focused research efforts include: CRCs are similar to RPPs in some features of collaborative work, but CRCs significantly expand the groups of people involved and reorganize power structures within change efforts. CRCs are being defined in the current moment through the work of many collaboratives, and this paper is a starting point for a national conversation to encourage connection and learning, drive practical support within institutions, and draw funding. CRCs demonstrate how context specific collaborative work complicates traditional problem focused notions of “scaling up.” We envision opportunities to “scale up” practices that would foreground local histories, politics, and culture in inquiry work toward systemic transformation.

Authors

• Adam J. York, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Siomara Valladares, CU Boulder

• Michelle Renée Valladares, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Jon D. Snyder, Stanford University

• Matt Garcia, University of Colorado - Boulder