Community Engaged Research Projects

Community engaged research (CEnR) falls on a research continuum where being community-driven is at one end and being academically driven is on the other. CEnR involves various types of partnerships between the college, including its knowledge and resources, with public and private sector partners to achieve a variety of goals. Those goals, as summarized by the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, include:

• Enriching scholarship, research and creative activity
• Enhancing curriculum, teaching and learning
• Preparing educated, engaged citizens
• Strengthening democratic values and civic responsibility
• Addressing critical societal issues
• Contributing to the public good

Merrimack College encourages research in and between departments and schools and in collaboration with other educational institutions, agencies, and community organizations. Current research areas include social-behavioral, biomedical, and community-engaged research. The IRB reviews research submissions from across the Merrimack research community to ensure they adhere to basic ethical principles underlying the acceptable conduct of research involving human subjects.

Resources

For faculty, students, and others interested in pursuing community engaged research projects, the links and resources below will help to inform, guide, and enhance research efforts.

• Cambridge Health Alliance
• Campus Compact Resources
• Harvard Catalyst Community-Engaged Research (CEnR)
• Swearer Center at Brown University
• UCSF Accelerate
• Virginia Commonwealth University FAQ for CEnR
• Compilation of Relevant Literature on CEnR

CITI Training Modules for CEnR

Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) also provides modules for those interested or active in community engaged research. The modules can be accessed within the CITI program.

After logging in:

1. Click on the ‘Courses’ option near the top of the page.

2. Once the Social and Behavioral Research module has been completed, click on the ‘Review Course’ button.

3. Scroll down to the ‘Optional Modules’ section. Under the ‘Modules’ heading, the following three training modules pertaining to CEnR will be available:

• Introduction to Community Engaged Research (CEnR)
  This module discusses the meaning of the term “community,” the disciplines and social movements that contributed to the development of CEnR, and the principles that guide CEnR. It also identifies the differences between a traditional research approach and the CEnR approach.
• Introduction to Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)
  The module discusses the historical context for CBPR’s framework and philosophical foundation, strategies for effectively using CBPR, and the ways a CBPR approach benefits and otherwise impacts communities, as well as academic researchers and their organizations. It also identifies the ways CBPR differs from traditional approaches to research.
• Ethical and Practical Considerations in Community-Engaged Research (CEnR)
  This module identifies the ethical and practical considerations particular to the design, review, and conduct of CEnR. It also demonstrates how to apply ethical risk-benefit assessments for CEnR, the varying impacts that risks and benefits may have on individual research participants as well as on communities and groups, and strategies for training and educating community members on a research team.