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| ICR
approaches research from a commitment to building action research
partnerships that bring a variety of partners together around
common interests, a scientific interest in knowledge creation,
and a desire to solve specific problems in the community. Our
four research methods - basic research, intervention research,
participatory action research, and cultural conservation and
development -increase a community's access to the tools they
need to address inequities, promote a greater public voice in
health and education, and foster cultural conservation and development.
Our methods embody the following components: a long-term commitment
to our partner communities, keeping residents' perspective in
the forefront, ensuring the flexibility and rigor of research
design, cost-sharing with community partners, and building linkages
with scholar-activists and community scholars in the community. |
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| Basic
Research |
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Basic
research at ICR provides enhances or creates a theoretical foundation
on topics that have been overlooked or about which little is
known. Often working in collaboration with high-risk, minority
populations, our basic research projects often lead to further
investigation or intervention strategies. Our basic research
tackles issues that come from needs of our partner communities,
have relevance to broad social issues, and contributes significantly
to the research field. Topics our basic research projects have
explored include HIV/AIDS risk and infection patterns, prescription
and club drug use patterns and networks among youth, and depression
among elderly living in public and private housing.
Click
here for a list of our Basic Research projects |
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| Intervention
Research |
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ICR's
intervention research tests, documents and evaluates theoretically-based
intervention approaches that have practical solutions for health,
educational and cultural problems. Often addressing issues highlighted
by results from our basic research projects, our intervention
research models are developed in collaboration with community
members. Their cultural, social and economic realities drive
project design. Topics covered by our intervention research
projects have included working with drug users to promote risk
reduction policies and behaviors among their peers, testing
a social development curriculum with public middle school students,
and evaluating a culturally-based HIV/STD intervention model
with males in Mumbai, India.
Click
here for a list of our Intervention Research projects |
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| Participatory
Action Research |
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ICR's strategy
of participatory action research engages the public in dialogue
about issues that are of concern to them. Participatory action
research is a partnership between the affected community and
researcher where the community is actively involved in all phases
of the research project: defining the problem, designing the
research methodology, collecting data, and analyzing and disseminating
results. ICR has used participatory action research as a capacity
building and prevention approach for youth and adults in the
greater Hartford, CT area. Issues that have been addressed include
sexual identity and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
or questioning youth, working with young girls and their mothers
as a drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention model, and engaging
residents around issues of community and family strengthening.
Click here
for a list of our Participatory Action Research projects |
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| Cultural
Conservation and Development |
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Fostering
cultural heritage and social identity, and providing individuals
with the opportunity to present themselves in their own voice,
is integral to a healthy community. Through cultural conservation
and development, ICR sustains traditions and heritage art forms
in communities, and supports access to, and development and
expansion of artistic resources. We use field-based inquiry,
documentation and public programming to educate youth, policymakers,
educators and residents about the unique cultural heritage and
traditions found in their communities. We work with urban artists,
cultural associations, arts organizations, and community groups
to help residents understand their own cultural identity and
to relate their cultural heritage with the social and economic
issues confronting their communities.
Click
here for a list of our Cultural Conservation and Development
programs and projects |
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| Click
here for more information about our Youth Action Research Institute |
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