CIROP MEASURE

Research partnerships between universities and community organizations or groups are proliferating in Canada and elsewhere. The general aim of these partnerships is to foster research linkages between communities and universities in order to promote multidisciplinary endeavours focusing on important real-world issues and problems.

It is generally assumed that research partnerships are beneficial. They are thought to produce knowledge that informs community members and leads to greater understanding, more efficient service delivery, more effective clinical programs, and enhanced community development. There is, however, little concrete evidence of these benefits. Consequently, the real-world impacts of research partnerships are largely unknown.

We need to be better able to articulate and demonstrate the benefits of research partnerships from the perspective of community members. People in partnerships need external guidance and an indication that they are on the right track. They need to demonstrate their accountability to advisory boards, funders, and communities. Within the university, researchers often obtain benefits from partnership that are less tangible than the number of publications, and these impacts are often ignored.