Northeastern University
360 Huntington Avenue
400 Churchill Hall
Boston, MA 02115

617.373.4678 (phone)
617.373.8998 (fax)

irj@neu.edu

ABOUT IRJ

Innovative Research Model

The Institute on Race and Justice structures its research on an innovative community based participatory research model. This innovative model is a research and advocacy partnership, which identifies community practitioners as authentic partners throughout the entire research process; including the expertise of community practitioners into the methodology design process, the data collection and analysis process, and ultimately in determining what the products of the research are and how they are to be used. This model recognizes the legacy of academic researchers who have historically asked for community participation (i.e. time and energy), but haven’t given much back to these communities often not even sharing the results of their work. As a result, communities have become rightfully suspicious of academics “coming in” to communities to “do research on them,” The IRJ model works from another set of starting points and presumptions:

• The goal of the research is to help communities achieve their own goals. This cannot be accomplished without the active, dynamic and two-way partnership between community members and researchers. In a participatory research model, both academics and community residents are “experts” with different areas of expertise.
• The results of work conducted using this model are qualitatively different than research reports conducted using traditional researcher-subject methods. Our products are much more likely to be put to immediate use by public officials; and they are informed by community practitioners’ real contributions not only of data but of ideas related to framing questions and analysis.

HISTORY AND MISSION
INNOVATIVE RESEARCH MODEL
LEADERSHIP AND STAFF
STEERING COMMITTEE
SPONSORS