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Community‑Based Participatory Research (CBPR) 

Community‑Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a research approach that partners researchers and community members equitably throughout the study process.

Key features in plain language:

• The community helps decide the research question, not just the university or researcher.

• The community and researchers share power, resources, and decision-making rather than the researcher doing it alone.

• The research connects knowledge to action — meaning it doesn’t just collect data, it aims to create change that matters to the community.

• It builds on the community’s strengths (local knowledge, culture, networks) rather than only focusing on their deficits.

Why this matters:

• For your work (e.g., with community health, farming outreach, youth programs), CBPR offers a way to co-design programs so they are rooted in the lived experience of the community — increasing relevance, uptake, and possibility of sustained impact.

• It helps address health disparities because it recognizes communities as key partners, not just subjects of research.

• It can strengthen trust, which is especially critical if you’re working in communities that have been underserved or distrustful of research institutions.

How it differs from traditional research:

• Traditional research: The researcher frames the question, designs the study, collects data, interprets alone, then publishes.

• CBPR: Community and researcher frame the question together, design and implement together, interpret together, decide on action together.

• Action is built in — not just “what is the problem?” but “what can we do about it and how can the community be involved?”