Doing community research: Involving the community

This reflection is on Chapter 23, "Asset Building in Rural Communities through Participatory Research" from our textbook Rural Social Work: Building and Sustaining Community Assets by Scales and Streeter (2004).

I choose to write about this chapter because it spoke to me regarding the work I am doing with Former Foster Students on campus at Humboldt State University.

According to Scales and Streeter (2004), participatory research "places a community's greatest asset, its people, in control of the knowledge building work" (p. 290). What a novel idea!

I have been getting to know a small portion of students on campus who came through the Foster Care system. I helped to resurrect the Former Foster Youth Club which we recently renamed E.L.I.T.E. (Excelling & Living Independently Through Education). I have been spending time with them doing various activities and traveling to conferences which has helped us to build a relationship built on trust. Our common goal is to be part of the process of building support on campus to address this particular populations needs.

Back to this chapter: The classic model (positivist) of community development is contrasted with participatory research. The positivist model separates the experts from the community and the relationship is vertical or top-down. This is not only based on dominance and colonialism thinking; it isn't very effective for several reasons. The needs are defined by the experts and not by the people affected. Interviewers are placed from outside the community, so trust issues interfere with any feedback. And, this kind of research process fails to include the very people who the research was being conducted on. Doesn't sound very effective does it?

First and foremost in contrast, the participatory model views dialogue as important between experts and the community. This requires a horizontal relationship. This takes time to build, especially in rural communities. According to Scales and Streeter (2004), The relationship is based on "love" "humility" "mutual trust" and "faith" (p. 291-Freirr, 2000). Essential is the understanding that community needs to design it's own future and is capable. It is the job of the expert to build trust over time and empower the people in what ever way is needed. Sometimes experts will include training, promotion of the shared overarching purpose, aim and objectives. In a focus group, "sessions [are] conducted in a semi structured and open-ended manner intended to elicit the greatest degree of input form the focus group participants" (p. 298). Sounds empowering right?!

"Participatory research was designed to invest ordinary people with the power to create knowledge by using their own assets and participating as researchers" (p. 300-301). Anyone who is reading this and conducting research about a community--I challenge you to look closely at your process and make sure that you are working from a participatory model!