Presentation Title: The Many Benefits of Public Participation in Scientific Research Presenter: Linda Silka, Director, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and Professor, School of Economics, University of Maine

1. Community-Based Participatory
Research: A Rigorous Approach
to Science
Linda Silka
Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center
School of Economics
University of Maine
August 2012
PPSR 2012

2. Two Parallel Forms of PPSR: Citizen
Science and CBPR
• Both Rapidly Growing
• Relatively Little Cross Fertilization: Different Journals,
Different Conferences, Different Research Topics
• What Can We Learn From CBPR About:
• Strengthening Scientific Outcomes and Advancing
Knowledge
• Adding Rigor to Participatory Data Collection
• Ensuring Groups Participate in Ways that Enhance
Use of Research Findings
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3. A Brief Primer on CBPR
• Features of CBPR
• Attending to the Bus Metaphor
• Attending the Loading Dock Problem
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4. CBPR
Living and Working
Together
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5. UMaine researcher Darren Ranco joins forces with
Maine tribal members and basketmakers to address
new invasive species threat
Made from native brown ash trees, Maine Indian baskets are
functional art forms that have been passed down through
generations of the region’s tribal communities. But the future of
the art is being threatened by an invasive beetle species — the
emerald ash borer — that already has devastated the ash
populations in other states.
PPSR 2012

6. Maine Coastal
Partnerships
CBPR
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7. CBPR Growth in Journals, Grants,
Training, Cross Disciplinary Activities
Organization: Community-Campus Partnerships for Health
Journal: Progress in Community Research
Organization: Community-Based Research Canada (Recherche
partenariale du Canada)
Organization: Global Alliance for Community Engaged Research
Grants: NIH Translational Research Centers
PPSR 2012

8. Adding Rigor to Participatory Data
Collection: CBPR Successes
More Complete Vector Models: Nuclear Contamination
on Tribal Lands
Better Understanding of Fish Populations
Better Understanding of Latino Workplace Injuries
PPSR 2012

9. Strengthening Scientific Outcomes
and Advancing Knowledge
Cambodian Nutritional Studies
Environmental Air Quality Household Health Studies
Emerald Ash Borer Studies
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10. Linking Knowledge to Action: Ensuring
Groups Participate in Ways that
Enhance Implementation of Research
Findings
Maine: Sustainability Solutions Initiatives
Massachusetts: Asthma Studies
Minnesota: CBPR as a Tool for Achieving Environmental
Health Goals
PPSR 2012

11. Federal Research Agencies and
Foundations
NIH, NIEHS, CDC revising review procedures,
support for collaborative process
W.K. Kellogg Foundation revising review
procedures
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12. The Centrality of Partnership
 Partnership is Central to
CBPR Approach
 Tools can help us think
about how to strengthen
partnerships at every
stage of research (for ex:
who selects focus and
hypotheses)
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13. Tool: The Research Cycle Model
Capturing Issues That Emerge at Each Stage
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14. CBPR Tools & Resources at CCPH.info
Reports and Presentations
Examples of Funded Proposals
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Syllabi and Course Materials
Online Curriculum
Electronic Discussion Groups
Principles and Policies
MOUs/MOAs
PPSR 2012

15. But Maine Municipal Association
Findings Raises Additional Questions
Municipal officials prefer collaborative
community-university partnerships but 70% of
municipal officials indicated that they prefer a
partnership structure in which municipal
officials and university researchers
collaboratively identify the problem, but
university researchers conduct the research
and municipal officials implement the
solutions.
PPSR 2012

16. Questions
What Transferable Lessons Can We Learn from CBPR?
Under What Conditions Will the CBPR Model for PPSR Be Applicable?
Will CBPR Work for Non Face-to-Face, Scaled Up Partnerships?
What Kinds of Training Will Scientists Need?
What Kinds of Training Will Citizens Need?
How We Will Need to Change the Ways We Engage in Science?
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17. Contact Information
Linda Silka
Silka@ maine.edu
PPSR 2012