Principles
These principles are designed to foster open, honest, and trusting relationships between community groups and researchers at Georgia Tech. SCoRE developed these principles with input from our External Advisory Council and faculty partners: together we’re advancing a vision of research and education efforts that create a more sustainable, just future.
A. Prepare to Build Relationships with Community Partners
- Power Dynamics: Understand personal and institutional biases and power dynamics and actively consider how they impact your partnerships.
- History: Acknowledge historical harms related to structural injustices and institutional relationships and advance solutions toward reparative justice.
- Participatory Research: Get some training in a participatory research methodology (e.g. Participatory Action Research, Community-Based Participatory Research, Asset-Based Community Development).
- Plan for IRB Review Early: And involve your partners in shaping the protocol. Read the Belmont Report – which provides the foundational ethical framework for conducting research with human subjects – and contact the IRB office for help. They are eager to support you in putting together a strong protocol for working with your community partners!