As researchers, how can we better engage with communities affected by our fields of study—especially in areas like substance use or mental health—while maintaining rigorous scientific standards?
What strategies have you found effective for ensuring that community input shapes research design, implementation, or dissemination?
There may be number of ways to be connected and engaged with the community may be:
1. Rather focusing on complex issues focus may be shifted to their day to day problems of which many of the people are not aware of but it is badly affecting their lives and well-being. In such situations interventions may be applied easily.
2. Use of local language or using common/frequently used word by the population.
3. Try to understand the problem and emotions involved in such problems.
4. Get encourage the people to drive solution at their own.
5. Try to get your research work be funded by policy makers/public fund. It gives confidence to the user population/society.
How to avoid common pitfalls in engaged research
Engaged research has inherent risks. Shiwei Chen shares seven insights from the Vital Cities and Citizens initiative in Rotterdam for how researchers and their institutions can undertake responsible engaged research...
"Universities are expected to engage with their local communities. However, these engagements can have unintended consequences, especially in areas designated as ‘problem neighbourhoods,’ which are the focus of numerous academic studies...
The Wheel of Seven was our starting point to ask ourselves why we were doing engaged work and how we were doing it. But it is only a start. Moreover, it is an invitation to the community to build on our experiences and avoid a style of engaged research that repeats the mistakes of the past."
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2025/02/18/how-to-avoid-common-pitfalls-in-engaged-research/
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