The WE Project Partnership: The Role and Scope of Community Researchers

Maghboeba Mosavel,Dwala Ferrell,Jessica Gokee Larose,Alesha Henderson,Rachel Beck-Berman

doi:10.33596/coll.87

Abstract

Background: Academic-community partnerships form the backbone of community-based participatory research. This partnership often supports the hiring and training of community members in the role of community researcher. A community researcher’s role is extensive, ranging from specific research tasks to various planned and unplanned community outreach and engagement activities. This paper seeks to expand current insights about engaging community members in the role of community researcher within the context of an academic-community partnership. Objectives: The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore community member motivations to serve in this role and more fully understand the varied tasks, both planned and opportunistic, that may be associated with their embedded, insider role. Method: Conducted thematic qualitative data analysis using three data sources: 1) community researcher applications, 2) meetings, and 3) bi-monthly reports. Results: Community researchers (N = 24) demonstrated a strong personal passion and interest in both the research content area of obesity and improving community health outcomes. The bi-monthly report data documents their wide range of administrative, research, and outreach activities. The meeting notes provide in-depth insights into the complexities and challenges associated with research and outreach tasks. Conclusion: The role of the community researcher traverses well beyond prescribed data collection and research functions. Academic-community partnerships need to be intentional to ensure that policies and practices are inclusive and appropriately demonstrate the community researcher’s valuable role.

Highlights

Academic-community partnerships are a fundamental pillar of and conduit for community-based participatory research (CBPR) (Roche et al, 2010)
Academic-community partnerships need to be intentional to ensure that policies and practices are inclusive and appropriately demonstrate the community researcher’s valuable role
Community researchers are community members without any formal research training hired to assist with various aspects of the research, including design, data collection, and dissemination

Summary

Introduction

Academic-community partnerships are a fundamental pillar of and conduit for community-based participatory research (CBPR) (Roche et al, 2010). Within CBPR studies, the community researcher’s role is central to the research process especially within the context of academic-community partnerships (Mosavel et al, 2011). A core distinction of community researchers is their shared physical, social, and emotional proximity (Gustafson et al, 2018; Richman et al, 2012) with the study population It is precisely these shared proximities that are invaluable as social capital, especially in communities with justifiably high levels of mistrust of researchers or academic institutions (Corbie-Smith et al, 2003; Stewart et al, 2020). Academic-community partnerships form the backbone of communitybased participatory research This partnership often supports the hiring and training of community members in the role of community researcher. This paper seeks to expand current insights about engaging community members in the role of community researcher within the context of an academic-community partnership

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion