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| Strategy | Examples |
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| (i) Researchers need to make active efforts to learn about the participants and their context | (i) Attending community-organized educational sessions or going on a community tour
(ii) Arranging retreats with community members
(iii) Organizing structured workshops with community members, as well as having informal conversations with them
(iv) Conducting formal interviews with community organizations
(v) Actively involving intended users through hiring study staff from the community and utilizing a community organizer/champion
(vi) Forming advisory board for the project with representation from organizations implicated in the research |
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| (ii) Facilitate intended user involvement | (i) Be flexible with partners’ work schedules and negotiate with their employers for study-related tasks
(ii) Utilize community contacts for recruitment of marginal community members or make use of “snowball” referral
(iii) Reach out to places frequented by community members (e.g., schools)
(iv) Adopt group facilitation techniques
(v) Approach partners individually for input away from larger groups
(vi) Understand community priorities and culture
(vii) Speak frankly and agree to disagree
(viii) Include representation in the project from both those affected directly by the research and the community as a whole
(ix) Evaluate the partnership frequently to elicit partners’ feelings |
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| (iii) Establish lines of communication | (i) Take time at the beginning to get to know one another and keep frequent contact with intended users
(ii) Spend time in the community (e.g., attend significant community events)
(iii) Jointly develop a written research agreement clearly spelling out roles and responsibilities of all partners
(iv) Follow through on the agreement and any other promises
(v) Hire community members as project staff |
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| (iv) Form a community-led board | (i) Include wide representation from key community organizations where implemented
(ii) Jointly develop operating norms including decision-making, conflict resolution, and meeting facilitation
(iii) Adopt consensus decision-making
(iv) Hold monthly meetings, rotate meeting locations if possible, and circulate draft agendas and meeting minutes
(v) Include intended users in the management structure by hiring a respected community leader for their project’s primary leadership role to facilitate community connections, share perspectives, and provide project oversight |
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| (v) Group facilitation techniques; an iterative process when deciding upon research goals and grounded research question(s) | (i) Engage the project’s advisory committee in a series of discussions with the community to incorporate local knowledge
(ii) Establish working relationships early
(iii) Consider having the community apply as principal applicant for grants |
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| (vi) Build community capacity | (i) Utilize and develop community resources and support networks when conducting research
(ii) Train community members as cofacilitators of research activities
(iii) Involve the community in needs assessment and planning processes |
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| (vii) Outline community involvement in research agreements | (i) The community can be involved in all phases of research
(ii) Ensure active involvement of community members in all study tasks (e.g., reviewing all study documents to ensure they are in an understandable language)
(iii) Solicit suggestions from community partners through focus groups or meetings (e.g., on data collection approaches)
(iv) Hire and train lay community members or utilize an advisory board as field coordinators, interviewers, data collectors, intervention staff, and analysts (e.g., identification of variables, selection of measures, and questionnaire development) |
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| (viii) Community training in research | (i) Provide training to community about health issues
(ii) Use training sessions to get community perspective on these issues
(iii) Have community members critique preexisting research instruments as a way of learning about developing questionnaires and for researchers to learn about the community’s perspective
(iv) Teach community public health and research skills
(v) Conduct community workshops on research methods
(vi) Use focus groups to engage community members in discussions about research in their community |
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| (ix) Engage in early community interactions while developing the project | (i) Conduct in-depth interviews with community members and other key informants
(ii) Go on “wind-shield” tours driving around the community
(iii) Involve community in developing context-specific models
(iv) Make use of qualitative data
(v) Use theoretical, convenience, and open sampling |
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| (x) Advisory committee | (i) Set up a subcommittee of the advisory committee to review all partnership evaluation results and make recommendations to the overall advisory committee
(ii) Advisory committee can facilitate data analysis and interpret results
(iii) Present and discuss results with community partners to facilitate interpretation
(iv) Researchers and community members can analyze data independently and present their interpretations
(v) Engage in open, interactive analysis with community partners
(vi) Adopt a research agreement at the beginning outlining community involvement in results interpretation |
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| (xi) Action planning | (i) Establish action groups of community partners to develop intervention strategies and plan policy initiatives
(ii) Work with community members in deciding upon policy initiatives and action plans
(iii) Instrumental use of research results to lobby government
(iv) Work with community partners to develop community resources based upon study results
(v) Hold meetings with community partners to discuss other nonstudy-related, important issues |
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| (xii) Interpretation, data ownership, and dissemination | (i) Community partners can communicate their own interpretation of study data along with researcher study publications
(ii) Adopt a no veto rule, meaning that neither researchers nor community partners can block a publication with results
(iii) Spell out this process in a written researcher agreement before it arises
(iv) Researchers can be guardians of the data during the project, but transfer data control to community after the project ends
(v) Community obligation is to allow researchers the right to on-going data analysis
(vi) Develop dissemination strategy outlining community involvement
(vii) Include nonacademic partners as coauthors/copresenters on manuscripts/abstracts
(viii) Disseminate results through local organizations, newspapers, media, and community-based practitioners
(ix) Jointly publish a community newsletter with results included
(x) Make use of local cultural mechanisms, such as street theatre
(xi) Circulate a summary report to community members and/or have feedback/discussion sessions
(xii) Organize debriefing sessions with a luncheon or gala celebration
(xiii) Discuss publication drafts with the community before submission |
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