Open AccessChallenging institutional barriers to community-based research
Author(s) -
Randy Stoecker
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
action research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1741-2617
pISSN - 1476-7503
DOI - 10.1177/1476750307083721
Subject(s) - control (management) , public relations , product (mathematics) , quality (philosophy) , schedule , process (computing) , community organization , political science , sociology , business , management , economics , computer science , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , operating system
Those of us attempting to develop truly equal partnerships with communities and community organizations, using the method of community-based research, encounter many barriers. These barriers revolve around who sets the schedule, who determines the labor pool, who controls the product, and who gets the funding. In this article, a case study shows how those barriers exert themselves, and evaluates the success of strategies to challenge those barriers. It ends with a set of recommendations for changing university overhead policies, developing university quality control practices, refining the university IRB process, institutionalizing a flash seminar structure, and training community members to control the research relationship.