Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning Fall 2000, pp. 85-96 Community-Based Research as Pedagogy Kerry J. Strand Hood College This paper focuses on the value of community-based research (CBR) as a pedagogical strategy for cours- es in social science research in an effort to show how service-learning can enrich discipline-based learn- ing. Community-based research introduces an experiential component that helps students acquire research skills and makes research more appealing and accessible to students, especially those who prefer “con- nected” modes of knowing. But the more distinctive value of CBR is that it engages students with some important epistemological debates surrounding the production of knowledge in the social sciences by mod- eling alternatives to conventional assumptions about why we do social research, how best to study humans and society, and who should control the research process and the knowledge that is produced. Recently, advocates and practitioners of service- research in two substantial ways. The first is that learning have proposed that we explore ways of CBR is done with rather than on the community. describing and promoting it so as to broaden its Instead of treating communities as “laboratories” appeal to the higher education community. Edward and community members as convenient samples, as Zlotkowski (1995) and others (e.g., Lenk, 1997) is more typical in conventional research, CBR holds suggest that one way to do this is to make clear how as a central tenet the involvement of community the pedagogical value of service-learning lies not members in every stage of the research process, only in its capacity for reinforcing moral and civic from identifying the research question to formulat- values, but also in its potential for enriching more ing action proposals that derive from the research traditional, discipline-based learning. Our general results. In practice, and for different reasons, com- failure to make clear how and why service-learning munity members’ actual involvement in the research can serve the pedagogical needs of our discipline- may be somewhat limited. However, the goal of based courses might help to explain why “so many CBR is to carry out a project that meets some com- faculty members have adopted a posture of general munity need as it is defined by that community—not approval but personal indifference” (Zlotkowski, by the researcher or other “experts”—and, on a 1995:16) toward service-learning in the academy. broader scale, to democratize the production and I aim to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about control of knowledge. This is achieved by recogniz- how and why to incorporate service-learning into ing the legitimacy of the knowledge and world views discipline-based courses by demonstrating how of powerless people and by sharing authority wher- some important pedagogical goals of my basic and ever possible in every stage of the research process advanced undergraduate courses in social science (Ansley & Gaventa, 1997;. Stoecker & Bonacich, research methods are achieved by means of one kind 1992). of service-learning—community-based research The second essential difference between CBR and (CBR). First I will briefly explain what CBR is and traditional academic research is that an explicit goal describe how I incorporate it into my teaching. Then of CBR—indeed, the central purpose for doing such I will explain how the acquisition of practical research—is to contribute in some way to improving research skills, as well as an understanding of epis- the lives of those living in the community. In other temological issues surrounding knowledge produc- words, CBR has a critical action component such tion in the social sciences, are greatly enhanced by that the knowledge produced has the potential to students’ experience of doing research with and for bring about some positive social change. Typically, the community. CBR practitioners work in the interest of social, eco- Community-Based Research nomic or environmental justice and their communi- ty consists of the powerless and oppressed, or those Community-based research involves collaboration working on their behalf. Community-based between trained researchers and community mem- research, carried out to help the community acquire bers in the design and implementation of research some information that they see as important to their projects aimed at meeting community-identified ongoing work, is typically (though not always) one needs. CBR differs from traditional academic part of the community’s larger action agenda. This 85 Strand social change goal of CBR even more dramatically teen years, for the social research methods courses distinguishes it from conventional academic offered at the small women’s liberal arts college research, whose purpose is “understanding for its where I teach. The first level research course, “The own sake,” or to test hypotheses and develop theory Philosophy and Methods of Social Research,” is a in a discipline, and whose rationales are rarely cast sociology course that is designed to meet the in explicit political and ideological terms (Hall, research requirement for majors in sociology, social 1992; Murphy, Scammell & Sclove, 1997; Porpora, work, law and society, and political science. 1999; Stoecker & Bonacich, 1992). Students from other fields, including psychology Community-based research has a rich history and and education, also occasionally enroll in the course diverse roots. In Latin America, Paulo Freire (1970), on an elective basis. The beginning research meth- Orlando Fals-Borda (1984) and other activist educa- ods course enrolls about 30 students each fall, about tors and researchers used what they called “partici- half of whom go on to take a course in basic statis- patory research” as an organizing and transformative tics. Both the basic research course and statistics are strategy for the disenfranchised. Participatory prerequisites for the advanced-level Practicum in research emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in Europe Social Research, a two-semester course in which and North America during an era of challenge to the students work on collaborative research projects dominant positivist paradigm, as critiques posed with agencies and organizations in the community. important questions about the purposes of research, The year long advanced course is required of sociol- the role of values, the distinction between researcher ogy majors, but also enrolls students from a variety and researched, and the relationship of knowledge of majors who elect a minor in social science creation to social power (Green et al., 1997; Hall, research. 1992). In the United States, different versions of Although the advanced-level practicum is the “action-oriented” research-participatory action “centerpiece” of my CBR teaching, students in the research (PAR), action research, empowerment basic research methods course have the option of research-evolved somewhat independently in meeting the course’s independent research require- response to dissatisfaction with the inability of tradi- ment with a smaller-scale CBR project. Students tional social science methods to inform policy and from both the basic and advanced courses have com- practice and lead to social action (Small, 1995). pleted over a half dozen projects in the two years Academics engaged in CBR argue eloquently for its that I have used CBR in my teaching. Following are contributions to forging critical partnerships short descriptions of the student projects to which I between colleges and universities and the communi- will refer: ties in which they are located. For too long, they An Assessment of Child Care Needs of Low- maintain, universities have neglected their civic mis- Income Mothers, a project undertaken by five sion, and CBR is an effective way to share resources advanced-level students with the Department of in a common effort to produce relevant information Social Services. This research involved focus and identify solutions to pressing community and groups, followed by semi-structured interviews with societal problems (Nyden, Figert, Shibley, & about 65 mothers of children under 12. The purpose Burrows, 1997; Porpora, 1999). was to ascertain the unmet child care needs of Although scholars and activists inside and outside women in light of recent concerns about the impact the academy have long engaged in various forms of of welfare reform; and to help the D.S.S. action-oriented research with communities, CBR’s Business/Child Care Liaison work with local busi- iteration as a form of service-learning in higher edu- nesses to better meet the child care needs of area cation is a relatively recent one. As a result, little has workers. been written detailing the “how to’s” and distinctive An Exploration of Reasons for the Low challenges of involving students—especially under- Participation Rates of African-American Women in graduates—in this kind of experiential education Breast Cancer Screening Programs, undertaken by (for an excellent recent exception, see McNicoll, five advanced-level students with the Breast and 1999). And although a fair amount has been written Cervical Cancer Unit of the local Health about the benefits of CBR for communities and their Department. Respondents were identified through university partners (e.g., Stoecker & Bonacich, pastors and health care liaisons at local churches 1992; Nyden, Figert, Shibley, & Burrows, 1997), lit- with sizable African-American memberships. tle attention has been given to how and why involv- Women participated in focus groups and completed ing students in CBR can also be a highly effective self-administered questionnaires about behavior and teaching strategy, particularly in courses in social attitudes connected with breast cancer and mammo- science research. grams with the aim of finding out why Black women I have held major responsibility, over the past fif- in the county seem to utilize free mammography 86 Community-Based Research as Pedagogy screening in lower numbers than White women in based research projects are one form of this very the area, and how the Health Department might common experiential teaching strategy. increase their participation in these programs.