Aims of Community Research Chapter 3 Fall 2010 The Aims of Community Research (Chapter 3) 1

Aims of Community Research

Chapter 3

Fall 2010The Aims of Community Research

(Chapter 3)1

Why else is the relationship important?

– Under what conditions do you tell the truth?

– Under what conditions do you tell the whole truth?

– Why do community psychologists care?


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Community Psychology Challenge

How to develop…

– Research problems– Research designs– Research instruments

(Culture/Environments)– Research relationships

…that reflect the values of prevention, empowerment, & diversity in communities.


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Underlying Questions

1. What phenomena?

2. What value stances?

3. How shall we promote community participation & collaboration?

4. How shall we understand the cultural & social contexts?

5. At what ecological levels of analysis?


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(1) What phenomena? Research Agenda

• What are communities like?• How do neighborhoods affect children?• What are stressors of urban life?• How do citizens cope with stress?• How do cultural norms affect ability of

women to negotiate safe sex?• How do schools affect life chances of teens?


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(2) Value Stances?

• Attending to ___________________

• Seeking out perspective of powerless within social systems– _____________________________– _____________________________ – _____________________________


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• Researcher Values

– Getting to know community– Learning how to be helpful– Engaging community diversity– Supporting underdog


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(2) Value Stances?

(3) Promoting community participation & collaboration?

• Collaboration

• Why focus on collaboration?– What’s at stake for community?– Tests of commitment/trust– Institutional history– Governmental history

– Tuskegee Syphilis Studies (1933-1972)- Penacillin in 1943


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(3) Promoting community participation & collaboration?

• Relationship affects ability to get research sample–Hard-to-reach populations– Sampling strategies – Letters vs. social networks

• Relationship affects data collected


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Limitations

• Time consuming

• May raise unrealistic community expectations for future

• Works against current norms of professional advancement

• Funding requirements complicate extent & duration of collaboration


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Methods to Participate & Collaborate

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen

• _____________________________ – Watercooler

• _____________________________– Project

• _____________________________


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1. What phenomena?






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(4) How shall we understand the cultural & social contexts?

• What is culture?

– Rules of the game in a particular society as expressed in:

• _____________________________• _____________________________• _____________________________• _____________________________


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How do we learn about culture?

– Personal history – Participant observation– Archival search (e.g., _____________)– Ethnography– Key informants


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Studying Culture: Diversity

• Diversity within cultural group– _____________________________– ____________________________– ____________________________

• Diversity between groups– Individualism/collectivism– Rites of passage


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56 Ethnic Groups in China

• http://www.chinahush.com/2009/12/06/family-portraits-of-all-56-ethnic-groups-in-china/16

Studying Culture: Research Issues

• How do cultural groups differ in concepts & measures? – Does concept mean same thing in different

communities? • ____________________________

– Are measures developed in one cultural context relevant to other cultural contexts?• ____________________________


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Studying Culture: Research Issues

• Does culture/background of researcher affect relationship with community?

– Experiential competence

– Language competence


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(5) What Ecological Levels of Analysis?

• Nested designs– Kids nested in families/schools/

neighborhoods

– Data gathered at each ecological level


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Ecological Analysis Example

• _______________________between needs of adolescents & environments

• What happens when kids make transition out of elementary school?– Lower grades– Decline in school-related motivation–WHY?


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• Greater classroom control & discipline

• Fewer opportunities for student self-management– more structured

• Less personal student-teacher relationships / more kids per teacher


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• Increased tracking or ability-grouping & public evaluation of work increases self-consciousness of comparison to others

• Teachers feel less effective, particularly with low ability students

• Teachers use higher grading standards (____________________________)


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1. What phenomena?






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Project ProposalsWrite-Up

First, your group should come up with a Community Research Group name. Make sure the write-up clearly and correctly names each group member.

1. Why does that topic interest you as a group? 2. What types of constructs comprise the issue? 3. Who are possible key stake holders?4. What groups have possibly been unheard in regards

to this issue?5. What are some of the assumptions that your group

currently hold regarding your issue?

Due Thursday, September 16th


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Documents

Aims of Community Research Chapter 3 Fall 2010 The Aims of Community Research (Chapter 3) 1