Date de publication
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Texte disponible en version intégrale
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Évalué par des pairs
L’objectif
Who This Guide Is For
We’ve drawn inspiration from the powerful work of peer and community members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), who wrote Research 101: A Toolkit for Peer Research, but this document was written for researchers, staff, and workers. It is intentionally written for readers with lived and living experience and people who are new to research.
Why This Guide Exists
Community organizations—especially those working in harm reduction, housing, peer support, and other frontline services—are increasingly involved in research. But these services are delivered in the messy, real world.
Research can be a force for good. It can unlock funding opportunities, shift policy, amplify people’s knowledge, and lead to better services. Research often works best when communities are involved from start to finish and shape research questions, methods, and outcomes.
But research isn’t always done well. Too often, it’s shaped by institutional priorities or academic timelines, and doesn’t reflect the realities faced by people and communities. This can lead to research that does harm, extracts knowledge, and fails to give back—or even causes harm.
This dynamic is especially familiar to communities historically impacted by colonialism, racism, and systemic oppression. Research has too often treated people as subjects rather than partners. These patterns have created distrust and skepticism when it comes to the word “research.”
This guide exists to begin changing that conversation. This guide is here to support you—whether you’re deciding to engage in a research project, you have the tools to approach one thoughtfully, or you’re already involved and want to ask better questions.
Constatations/points à retenir
How to Use This Guide
Research projects unfold in stages—funding, design, ethics board approval, recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and eventually, sharing results. But for community organizations, it’s critical to think through all these stages before agreeing to take part, even if you’re being brought in after things have already started.
This guide is designed to help you do just that. It walks through the major aspects of a research partnership:
- How and when you’re involved
- What role your organization plays
- Who benefits from the work
- How information is collected, shared, and used
- How findings are returned to the community
Even if you’re approached late—after funding is secured or data collection has begun—you still have a right to ask questions, negotiate your terms, and say no. Understanding the full research pathway helps you avoid being sidelined and ensures your time, knowledge, and relationships are respected from the start.
Whether you formalize expectations through a Community Research Agreement or just want to feel more confident having these conversations, this guide offers tools to shape partnerships on your own terms.
