Community Engaged Methods

Community engaged methods recognizes and centers the expertise of the people and communities at the heart of the issues we study by intentionally including their input, participation, and priorities into research, policy, or technical assistance. These research methods can be applied from the design stage to the development of insights and recommendations, and they can range in engagement intensity from the most rigorous forms, community-based participatory research and participatory action research, where community representatives are full decision making partners, to the more modest approach of community consultation, where stakeholders and residents provide input at different points.

Community engaged methods nurture a community’s assets and strengths, and ensures policy recommendations are more effective and sustainable. As such, Urban researchers are increasingly engaging the community to strengthen research designs, advance equity and inclusion, and improve policy impact.

Read more about the important role that community engaged methods play in our research.