What are community-based methodologies?

Why do communitybased research?

● Research can often not actually benefit the communities it is studying

● Giving space for the community to identify their own needs

● Empowering a community to better understand and address the issues they face

● Funneling academic resources to serve a community

Collaborative research can be generative, inspiring, and creative!

It’s important to think about…

● Unequal power dynamics between the researcher and the community (e.g. who has funding, time, or benefits from institutional power). ● Long-term impacts of a project (e.g. after the project is over, who will be responsible to maintain it? What are the afterlives of the project?) ● Who do you define as the “community”? Who is included or excluded by that definition? ● Will the research be presented in a way that it is useful for the community?

Community-based methodologies involve, are led by, or support a local community

They could include:

● Participatory research: research undertaken in close collaboration with a community or group of people.

● Community-based participatory research: a specific set of methods and ethical guidelines for research that involves a community in all aspects of the research process.

● Action research: research designed for social, transformative change.

● Community-led research: research carried out or directed by a community.

All of these research methods overlap and more broadly aim at working with a community to achieve transformative, real-world change.

Community-based methods, food insecurity and the food system

Community-based methods are especially useful for addressing issues in the local food system. Because food shapes local identity and is a significant determinant of well-being, it can be very important for a local community and inspire collaboration and action. Many different collaborative methodological tools exist specific to studying food systems, some examples include: community food assessments (see page 6), participatory mapping of food spaces, and photovoice (i.e. when a group of people documents their food habits using photography and voice).

There are many great resources on assessing food security at the community level.1 Throughout our initiative, we attempted to approach methodologies like food assessments from a participatory, bottom-up perspective, working with partner organizations to determine what information was important to them.

1 See for example: Just Food (2011). Where’s the food? Finding out about food in your community. https://bit.ly/DFJHR1 Health Canada (2013). Measuring the food environment. https://bit.ly/ DFJHR2ENG