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On collaboration in research

Research Week

Laurentian University 3 February 2012

Carol Kauppi, Ph.D.

Professor, School of Social Work

Director, Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy

Director, Poverty, Homelessness and Migration

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Acknowledgements • I thank

• Research Excellence Award

• Those who nominated me.

• Those who wrote supporting letters.

• Members of the committee for their confidence in

me.

• Family, friends and community partners.

• PHM project

– Faculty, students and staff of the Poverty,

Homelessness and Migration project and the

Centre for Research in Social Justice and

Policy.

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Research traditions

• Traditional approaches to research:

– Emphasize objective knowledge, separate

from the knower.

– Emphasize the role of the university

researcher as the expert.

– Often ignore the gulf between knowledge and

its application.

– Separate research from practice.

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Community-based action research

• Emphasizes application of research findings,

knowledge mobilization and change.

• Guided by empowerment theory.

• Context-specific.

• Research ―by, for, and with‖ those involved and

affected by the issues.

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Goals of action research

• Goals:

• Improve community well-being and make

positive change.

• Build community capacity to meet collective

goals.

• Emphasize the links between researchers and

participants

– promote dialogue.

• Cyclical process.

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9. Planning future action

8. Reassessment

7. Report and recommendations

6. Evaluation

5.

Action

3. Planning

2. Assessing the situation 1. Form relationships

4. Conduct

research

Cycle of action research

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• Planned and conducted 25 study components over 10 years.

• Worked with Social Planning Council of Sudbury and 30+ local organizations.

• Identified needs of homeless persons and service providers.

• Developed recommendations for change.

– Changes made to the local service system to address needs of the homeless more effectively.

• Increased awareness of the issue.

Local impact of research

on homelessness in Sudbury

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Local impact of research

on homelessness in Sudbury (cont’d)

• Obtained federal funding for services & research

(approx. $1 million) between 2000-2003.

• Increased local government funding of services.

– Homelessness Network/Reseau sans abris.

• Achieved ongoing recognition of need for

research, advocacy and action.

– Attention at the local, provincial and national

levels.

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Participant snapshots of homelessness and housing

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Participant concerns: roof over my head

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Participant concerns: staying warm and dry

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Participant concerns: unresponsive

landlords

• Rental housing in

poor repair.

• Landlords taking

advantage of

tenants.

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Safety

issues

―[The door] had a door

handle on it but now it’s

gone. I don’t have one

anymore.‖

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Northern Community-University

Research Alliance

• Two-stage process.

• Project funding announcement February,

2010:

– $1,000,000.

– Five-year project in 10 communities.

– Bilingual and tri-cultural project team:

• Francophone, Aboriginal and Anglophone

members.

15 A Northern Community-University Research Alliance

funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

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Objectives

• Main goal is to understand the issues surrounding

poverty and migratory homelessness for people who

leave northern communities and migrate to cities in the

near-north (Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins).

– To examine homelessness-making processes and

de-housing circumstances.

– To explore experiences in northern, rural, and

remote communities from the perspectives of those

who are affected by these issues.

– To seek solutions based on the collective wisdom of

local people.

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Participating communities

• Our CURA studying migration, homelessness and

northern housing needs includes:

– Three northern cities:

• Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins.

– Four northern towns

• Timmins, Cochrane, Smooth Rock Falls, Hearst

and Moosonee.

– Three First Nations communities in the western

James Bay region

• Kashechewan, Fort Albany and Moose Cree and

– Constance Lake First Nation (north of Hearst).

• 5 universities—LU, U of S, Hearst, Nipissing, Western.

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Working with communities • Established Community Advisory Committees in each

community.

• Hired or will hire students or community members in each participating community.

• Organized and working with networks of community agencies/organizations within each community: – 27 in North Bay

– 21 in Timmins

– 30+ in Sudbury

– Native Friendship Centres, First Nations leaders, front-line agencies, varied stakeholders including homeless persons in participating communities.

– Undergraduate, Master’s and Ph.D. students.

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Methodologies

• We offer to communities both conventional and

innovative research methods including:

– survey methods;

– policy and documentary analysis;

– qualitative interviewing;

– focus groups/workshops/design charrette;

– oral history;

– digital methods (audio, photography, video); and

– field research.

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Examples of methods used to date

• Period prevalence counts.

• Photovoice.

• Design charrette.

• Interviews and focus groups.

• Policy analysis.

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Period Prevalence Counts (PPC)

of Homelessness

• Conducted in

– Timmins, January, 2011.

– North Bay, July, 2011

– Hearst, July-August, 2011 (door-to-door survey).

• Planned for Cochrane or Moosonee in 2012.

• These studies provide information about the number of homeless people, who they are, living circumstances, reasons, migration, and key issues relating to experiences (e.g. health).

• Enable comparisons with prior studies.

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Photovoice method

• Involve local people as photographers.

– Take photos about living circumstances.

• Interviews about their photographs.

• Analyze themes.

• Impacts on well-being.

• Produce reports, articles, presentations, photovoice exhibits.

• Ongoing in 3 communities.

• Planned in 3 additional communities.

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Design charrette

• Conducted in Sudbury in 2010.

• Part I: Group discussion about living circumstances.

• Part II: What would you change? – Participants designed their ideal houses through

drawing and modelling using varied materials: • Paper and pencils, paints

• Modelling clay/plasticine

• Sticks

• Construction paper, felt

• Graham crackers, icing, candies.

• Part III: Discussion of results.

• MArch student from Dalhousie University designed culturally appropriate housing based on these workshops.

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HOUSING WORKSHOP

They shared their individual and collective

housing experiences in relation to First

Nations housing and urban migration.

Participants were from the James Bay

communities of Moose Factory, Moosonee,

Fort Albany, and Attiwapiskat.

Cree people from the James Bay were invited to

the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre in

Sudbury, Ontario.

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WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

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Engagement with communities

• Hold discussions with community.

• Community makes decisions about what kind of research activities should be conducted and how the results should be used.

• Useful for • Identifying local needs.

• Agency and community planning.

• Public education and awareness.

• Social action.

• Goal is making positive change.

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Linking PHM with other projects

• North-South CURA: – PMH and University of Western Ontario.

– Proposed study to conduct longitudinal research with 100

homeless people from our study communities.

• University of Guelph, CRC in Care, Gender, and

Relationships.

– Digital storytelling.

– Use of a mobile media lab.

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Implications and Outcomes

• To involve local communities in the formation of

social and environmental policy, enhance social

inclusion and promote social justice.

• To raise awareness of research findings.

• To explore and act on possibilities for change.