Collaborative Research Principles
These collaborative research principles, as refined by members of the URBAN.Boston Node on March 19, 2014, are the output of multiple conversations among collaborative research partners. The initial ideas for these principles were generated from a brainstorming session held with URBAN.Boston and Mattapan United at the ABCD Family Service Center in October 2013. The principles were then distilled into bullet points and reviewed in planning team meetings and online forums. On January 30, 2014 Robert Jenkins (Mattapan United), Soo Hong (Wellesley College), Patricia Kruger-Henney (UMB) and Monica Garlick (UMB) met to further discuss ways to refine these principles. These changes were then discussed with URBAN.Boston Planning Team members on February 3, 2014.
Principles of collaborative research include:
- Must be community driven
- Academics & community members are equally involved in the process, decision making, research, design, implementation & analysis
- A priority is placed on a research agenda that is valued by the community
- Understanding & knowledge of local communities & their particularities is honored
- Creates & clarifies meaningful roles for all partners
- Attention is paid to transitions in roles & relationships as projects evolve
- Partnerships are built on mutually benefiting relationships, trust & transparency
- Respect exists for the time & effort of all partners
- Partners are held accountable to each other by creating a written collective agreement (Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/letter of partnership)
- Acknowledgement exists of what has already been done – sharing & building upon existing research & findings
- Ownership is shared of data, research, results, findings & distribution as agreed upon in the written collective agreement (Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/letter of partnership)
- All members are accessible at every stage of the research project cycle