The How About of... A New Breed Research Category

Community-based Research (CBR)

{This article bases its main ideas on the study on the same subject by Dr. Karnjana Keawthep (2009); and Dr. Banchorn Keawsong (2009)}

(1) How comes the CBR?

It is said that this New Breed is actually the research for People’s Emancipation!

It unlocks some important prerequisites of the conventional research methodologies…

And it emphasizes the applicability of each research finding…

Importantly one of its objectives is to transform laymen into Community Researchers, who finally would carry on the task to emancipate their own community from ignorance & poverty!

Conventional research as all research literacy already know, by names such as Theoretical research, Empirical research, Action research, Participatory – Action – Research or PAR etc., and by their procedural methodologies known such as… the development of the rationality or/and thesis statement… research design, and… data collecting & analyzing methods to come up with either qualitative or quantitative findings or in both ways.

However, as most of us also know, a new kind of research emerges or being revived all the time, like PAR which has its prominent asset of inclusive action into a normal research procedures, together with a lot of other kinds of research had just come into existence during mid 20th century. CBR itself started during late 20th century and became well known in early 21st century and gradually consolidating into a new breed in research world since then.

Community-based Research or CBR has it own Roots, Attributes and special Methodology; where it still retains some necessary / significant procedures which belong to conventional research, though.

The Roots: CBR stems from 3 important Roots:

(1) Technical procedures, eg., using Knowledge Management (KM) in place of Literature Review, by means of brain storming on topic concerning community problems among key figures in the community, known as – Learning Stage & Floor Seminar including Focus Group Discussion or Planned meeting.

(2) People & community Development, eg., using people participation process in identifying their own problems and ways or projects for solving those problems, known as – Planned Change.

(3) Layman Approaches, eg., due to its most important objective is to transform laymen themselves into community’s researchers, CBR methodologies, even though it still accepts and applies some necessary conventional research methodologies, those often are in some degrees simplified or some are newly created mechanisms; also the expected outcomes or research findings are mostly real, down-to-earth applicable for solving real problems exist in the community, which are a prove of success of this research project.

In The next “How About…” will deal with the wonderful Attributes of CBR and others.

Until then

Goodbye for now!