Community Engagement in the Science and Study of Gun Violence

Com­mu­ni­ties most affect­ed by gun vio­lence are often the sub­ject of research, but the peo­ple who live in these com­mu­ni­ties have lim­it­ed influ­ence over how stud­ies are designed and con­duct­ed. A new guide aims to change that by offer­ing prac­ti­cal rec­om­men­da­tions for researchers seek­ing to build mean­ing­ful part­ner­ships with com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers and practitioners.

The guide, Prac­tices for Con­duct­ing Com­mu­ni­ty-Engaged Research With Those at High­est-Risk for Gun Vio­lence, was devel­oped by the Black & Brown Col­lec­tive for Com­mu­ni­ty Solu­tions to Gun Vio­lence and fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

New Com­mu­ni­ty-Engaged Research Guide Focus­es on Gun Vio­lence Prevention

The ground­break­ing doc­u­ment details how researchers can engage safe­ly, respon­si­bly and effec­tive­ly with peo­ple who face the high­est risk from vio­lence and the prac­ti­tion­ers who work close­ly with them. It empha­sizes build­ing trust and under­stand­ing the struc­tur­al, his­tor­i­cal and pow­er dynam­ics that shape the research process.

“As far as we know, this is the first-ever guide for con­duct­ing com­mu­ni­ty-engaged research with peo­ple and com­mu­ni­ties most at risk of gun vio­lence,” said Rod Mar­tinez, a senior research asso­ciate on Casey’s Research and Eval­u­a­tion team. He and col­leagues on Casey’s Nation­al Com­mu­ni­ty Strate­gies team worked with the Black & Brown Col­lec­tive as part of an expert work­shop that also includ­ed peo­ple work­ing in their own com­mu­ni­ties to pre­vent violence.

The guide relies on the insights of com­mu­ni­ty safe­ty schol­ars, fun­ders, prac­ti­tion­ers and advo­cates, as well as a com­pre­hen­sive review of exist­ing gun vio­lence research that uses com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. The frame­work is also informed by schol­ar­ship relat­ed to com­mu­ni­ty-engaged and par­tic­i­pa­to­ry-action research, while focus­ing on prac­tices that help researchers nav­i­gate the rela­tion­al, eth­i­cal and safe­ty con­sid­er­a­tions when work­ing in com­mu­ni­ties at high-risk of gun violence.

Six Best Prac­tices for Com­mu­ni­ty-Engaged Gun Vio­lence Research

The authors iden­ti­fied six key prac­tices for researchers work­ing in com­mu­ni­ties at high risk of violence:

• Treat research as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for shared lead­er­ship with the community.
• Build and sus­tain rela­tion­ships with com­mu­ni­ties before, dur­ing and after research.
• Use research prac­tices that demon­strate the val­ue of com­mu­ni­ty accountability.
• Build research teams with the skills to eth­i­cal­ly engage com­mu­ni­ties.
• Bud­get for fair com­pen­sa­tion, par­tic­i­pant sup­port and com­mu­ni­ty co-lead­er­ship from the start.
• Design research instru­ments, process­es and dis­sem­i­na­tion strate­gies with the community.

The guide encour­ages researchers to involve com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers not only as par­tic­i­pants but also as part­ners in shap­ing research ques­tions, meth­ods and pri­or­i­ties, result­ing in more rel­e­vant data and sus­tain­able solutions.

“We con­tend that com­mu­ni­ty-engaged research prac­tices that are explic­it in their approach to those at high­est risk have greater poten­tial to inform pol­i­cy and prac­tice solu­tions that can improve com­mu­ni­ty safe­ty,” the guide states.

“We have land­ed on a set of prac­tices that we con­tend are essen­tial for researchers explor­ing issues in com­mu­ni­ties with high rates of gun vio­lence,” said Joce­lyn Fontaine, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Col­lec­tive and a co-author of the guide. ​“These are prac­ti­cal and adapt­able prac­tices that can inform a range of research approach­es and can help ensure researchers focus on the key prin­ci­ples of equi­ty and accountability.”

Com­mu­ni­ty Vio­lence Inter­ven­tion Research Library Expands Access to Evidence

The Col­lec­tive has also cre­at­ed the Com­mu­ni­ty Vio­lence Inter­ven­tion Research Library, a com­pi­la­tion of dozens of research stud­ies about com­mu­ni­ty vio­lence inter­ven­tion. This reg­u­lar­ly updat­ed library includes research focused on inter­ven­tion mod­els, sur­vivor expe­ri­ences, struc­tur­al deter­mi­nants of vio­lence and the real­i­ties fac­ing front­line practitioners.

“This research library is an impor­tant resource with some of the lat­est and most mean­ing­ful evi­dence that exists on the issue,” Mar­tinez said. ​“By mak­ing it pub­licly avail­able, the Col­lec­tive is putting that knowl­edge direct­ly in the hands of the com­mu­ni­ties and prac­ti­tion­ers who need it most.” 
Togeth­er, the guide and research library offer tools to help researchers, prac­ti­tion­ers and fun­ders strength­en com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships and pro­duce research that bet­ter informs efforts to improve safe­ty and well-being in com­mu­ni­ties across the Unit­ed States.

These guid­ing ques­tions help advance equi­ty in eval­u­a­tion and research

Under­stand com­mu­ni­ty vio­lence intervention