AppendixL

CriticalReflectionaboutYourCommunity-BasedResearchProjectServiceOpportunitiesinLeadership

As you launch your CBR project this summer, you will quickly find yourself consumed with the details of implementing your project. From the very beginning, though, please take care to build a regular process of critical reflection into the rhythms of your work. Critical reflection is not another task assignment on top of your research project. Rather, it is integral to the success of your project and to the quality of your learning experience.

We recommend that you keep a research journal from the beginning to the end of your project. Think of the research journal as a “lab notebook with commentary” that allows you to organize and study your thoughts about #1) the content, and #2) the process of your research.

At least two times during the summer, when you share your updated research design with your faculty mentor, please include a critical reflection report. The raw material for your critical reflection report will come from your research journal. Think of your report (2-5 pages) as an informal, succinct, well-written essay about WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING at that particular stage of your CBR project.

Your research journal (private) and your critical reflection reports (shared with faculty) become records of the iterative process of framing, pursuing, and refining your research and exploring what you are discovering in the process. In addition to focusing on research processes and outcomes, your reports should also address the intellectual, ethical, and civic issues posed by your community-based research experience.

These are some questions and issues to consider in your research journals and critical reflection reports:

ResearchQuestion

What is the quality of your original research question? Once you begin your field research, are you finding that you need to adjust or refine your research question? Is your research question evolving over time? If so, why?

How is answering your research question helpful to your community partner? Who might benefit from the results of your research, and how? How are you going about the process of collaboratively designing your research question with your community partner?

ResearchMethods

What specific research methods are you using to answer your question? What kind of support do you need from your faculty mentor to refine your research methods design and to embark upon your data collection? Are your research methods evolving as you become more immersed in the nitty-gritty details of your CBR project? If so, how and why?

What are you learning about the strengths and limitations of your research method design?

Student Handbook 2015– Appendix L3 of 4

ResearchProcessandOutcomes

Who are you collaborating with on your CBR project (who is your community partner—what is the organization, who is your staff supervisor, etc.)? What are the challenges of this collaboration? From the plusses and minuses of your experience, what are you learning about effective collaboration with complex organizations and communities?

What ethical concerns do you need to be attentive to in pursuing your research?

What intellectual, ethical, and civic skills are you gaining from this experience?

What have you learned about your own strengths and weaknesses from doing this CBR project? About your core values and ideals?

What are the results of your research? How would you evaluate the scholarly rigor and validity of these results? How would you assess their potential value to your community partner?

How will you share your results with your community partner?

Student Handbook 2015– Appendix L4 of 4