Research Methods for Community Change: A Project-Based Approach

Everyone is a member of a community, and every community is continually changing. To successfully manage that change, community members need information. Research Methods for Community Change: A Project-Based Approach is an in-depth review of all of the research methods that communities use to solve problems, develop their resources, and protect their identities.

With an engaging, friendly style and numerous real world examples, author Randy Stoecker shows readers how to use a project-based research model in the community. The four features of the model are

* Diagnosing a community condition
* Prescribing an intervention for the condition
* Implementing the prescription
* Evaluating its impact

At every stage of this model there are research tasks, from needs and assets assessments at the diagnosis stage to process and outcome studies at the evaluation stage. Readers will also learn the importance of involving community members at every stage of the project and in every aspect of the research, making the research part of the community-building process.

Research Methods for Community Change is perfectly suited as a text for undergraduate and graduate research methods courses across the social sciences, including sociology, social work, and public health. Community service workers, professional researchers, and consultants will also find this an invaluable guide to effecting change in their communities.

"At last! A concise, insightful and highly useful book on research methods for community action and social change. Drawing from his own rich experiences as well as from broader literature and examples, Stoecker demonstrates that valuable research is not the monopoly of professional researchers, but can be used by people anywhere as a tool for organizing and developing their communities.  Highly readable, grounded in analysis, and full of practical approaches, this book will be an important resource for activists, students, scholars, policy makers and community development practitioners who seek to use research for more effective and sustainable change."
―John Gaventa, Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex, U.K.

"Drawing from his own experiences and from case studies from across the nation, Stoecker offers an empowering and remarkably accessible discussion of how project-based research models build community and democracy by redistributing both power and responsibility. It is an informative and valuable text that makes a convincing case that research must become daily practice for all who are committed to working for effective social change."
―Stephen L. Fisher, Director, Appalachian Center for Community Service, Emory & Henry College

"Stoecker′s highly readable book is a great leap forward in expanding the definition and practice of research and documentation through collaboration between academics and community activists. He makes project-based research accessible to readers through lively, real examples that involve creative and strategic use of sources and resources. Stoecker shows how good quality research can make meaningful differences in people′s lives. The book is perfect for use in both classrooms and nonprofit organizations."
―Kathleen Staudt, University of Texas at El Paso

"At last, a book that demystifies research for both novice and experienced community workers who want to make a difference. Randy Stoecker presents a refreshingly innovative and accessible challenge to more conventional texts."
―Linda Briskman, Associate Professor of Social Work, RMIT University, Australia

Randy Stoecker is a Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, with a joint appointment at the University of Wisconsin Extension Center for Community and Economic Development. He is the moderator/editor of COMM-ORG: The On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development (http://comm-org.wisc.edu). His areas of expertise include community organizing and development, participatory action research/evaluation, and community information technology. He has been involved in a wide variety of community-based participatory research projects and participatory evaluations with community development corporations, community organizing groups, and community information technology programs across North America and Australia. He also helped build and evaluate university-community collaborations through the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation’s Learn and Serve America Community Research Project. Randy trains, speaks and writes extensively on community organizing and development, community-based participatory research, service learning, and community information technology. He is author of Defending Community (1994) co-author of Community-Based Research and Higher Education (2003), and co-editor of The Unheard Voices: Community Organizations and Service Learning (2009). You can find his complete curriculum vitae at http://comm-org.wisc.edu/stoeckerfolio/stoeckvita.htm. He resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and 50-pound standard poodle (his daughter is now away at college), and wishes he lived in a society where research has become such an integral part of the culture that people are no longer fooled into making self-destructive political choices.