Research as community-building: Perspectives on the scholarship of engagement

Main Article Content

Barry Checkoway

Abstract

If research were a form of community-building, what would it be? This article addresses this question, as well as some of the personal, professional and institutional issues that it raises for me, as a community worker and university professor. It draws upon a program in a metropolitan area that is simultaneously segregated and diverse, and examines ways of defining the problem, gathering the information and using the results – all the while working with community partners, without whom the work would not be.

Keywords: Research, community-building, university-community collaboration

Article Details

Section
Practice-based articles (Non-refereed)
Author Biography

Barry Checkoway, University of Michigan

Barry Checkoway is professor of social work and urban planning at the University of Michigan.  He was the recipient of the Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award which recognizes one faculty member each year for exemplary engaged scholarship.