Community-Based Research (CBR)
Community-Based Research (CBR) involves faculty and students working collaboratively with community partners to research issues of common concern. Ideal partnerships increase understanding and give insight to the complexity of social issues and identify strategies for addressing them. Research, in partnership with communities, serves to identify appropriate questions, design studies and conduct investigation that will be mutually enhancing to all through shared learning. Community-based research uses the information gathered and the relationships established to bring about transformational change.
Examples of Community-Based Research projects include: feasibility studies, program evaluation, community educational modules, marketing plans, needs assessment, and strategic plan consultation. CBR may also involve program delivery combined with a research study such as conducting focus groups or interviews.
Small CBR grants are available from the Office of Leadership and Service-Learning to assist those who see the benefit of using research technologies for community development and change. Each semester a call for proposals goes out to the campus community. The OLSL community partners are invited year-round to submit ideas for research.
Community-Based Research Grants
Two grants are available:
More CBR Resources
- Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative: FAQ
- Ensuring Community-Level Research Protections
Proceedings of the 2007 Educational Conference Call Series on Institutional Review Boards and Ethical Issues in Research
Research Funded by the Office of Leadership and Service-Learning:
2008-2009 CBR Grant Recipients
Community-Based Research Grant History 2006-2008
Information about our past rounds of grantees.
- Final Reports from past CBR Grantees
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association
2008 David Pego Community Service Award
The News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., and NIE Project Manager Jackie Pierce received this year's David Pego Community Service Award, which honors the memory of David Pego, a national leader for Newspapers in Education. This award is presented annually to a newspaper that is "doing the right thing" in its community.
The News & Record was honored for a project designed to partner with a local university to engage college students in "adopting" a low-performing high school in an economically challenged and crime-ridden neighborhood. The college students worked with the freshman class during the fall of 2007, with another set of visits being conducted this spring.
The program was aimed at getting area high school and college students to utilize the paper to develop civic engagement and citizenship skills. The paper's NIE department wanted to create a forum for area teens to provide their thoughts and reflections about the community utilizing a "point-of-view" or "man on the street" format. This effort required the support of the News & Record in terms of newspaper delivery to the schools as well as the homes of the student population.
As part of the program, students from the University of North Carolina Greensboro made weekly visits to Dudley High School and focused heavily on the 300+ freshmen students. One aspect of the program was designed to introduce the high school students to public speaking. Ultimately, 12 students from the class were selected by their teachers, peers and UNCG students to speak on a variety of topics related to current events. The forum - "What's REALLY Going On In the World Today?" - was moderated by Allen Johnson, editorial page editor of the News & Record and a Dudley High School graduate.
Pierce said the paper's relationship with Dudley High School "has been rather tenuous over the years, primarily due to issues related to news content about the school." She said the project had a significant impact on improving the relationship with the school, but the "real win" has been for the students at Dudley High School and UNC Greensboro.
With its mission to use the newspaper to impact civic literacy and connect with a community education organization, the News & Record's project would have made an honorable difference, contest judges said. But, they said the paper's efforts to partner with a local university to engage college students in community service to "adopt" a high school makes this project especially worthy.
Judges said that, as these students progress through their high school careers, this project will provide industry-wide data about the value of NIE.