Community-Based Research (CBR) Project

The Community-Based Research Project of the Center for Social Concerns fosters research partnerships between university constituents -- faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, staff members -- and community organizations. The model of the initiative is based on three guiding tenets:

Participation ---

Rooted in participatory action research, Freirian pedagogy, and notions of applied scholarship,

ideally the method is collaborative, fostering participation by all parties involved.

Social Change ---

Scholarship furthered through the Center for Social Concerns will generally

cultivate positive social change while adding to existing knowledge.

Catholic Social Tradition ---

As with all of the work at the Center, these scholarly endeavors aim “to create a sense of human

solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice"

(from ND’s Mission Statement).

The primary focus of the Center’s Community-Based Research (CBR) efforts is the local area.

Studentstravel to sites across the U.S. and internationally as part of the Center’s community-based

learning courses, however, and some of these sites offer CBR opportunities. In this way, the Center's

CBR efforts extend beyond Notre Dame’s neighboring communities. 

The goals of the Center for Social Concerns CBR Project are to:

• Assist community organizations in furthering their missions, through identification of information, creation of new knowledge, and capacity-building in the area of research.
• Foster interdisciplinary and problem-solving scholarship in the context of a Catholic university committed to principles of Catholic social thought.
• Increase and disseminate knowledge about the principles, effectiveness, and techniques of CBR.
• Enable Notre Dame faculty and staff members to serve and otherwise be civic participants in local off-campus communities through the contribution of their scholarly expertise.
• Develop the research skills of undergraduates and their understanding of themselves as citizens and leaders capable of contributing to society through research.
• Provide opportunities for graduate students to enhance their scholarly professional capabilities (e.g., by conducting studies on a local scale), and to develop and practice community-based learning and research pedagogies.
• Enrich traditional academic course work with community-based research methods, through a research-as-service model.
• Engage in conferences, publication and professional service to further the field of CBR nationally and beyond.