Walking the Path Against the Wind: Reflections on Forming Partnerships in Research

Abstract

In the area of community-university partnerships, researchers have addressed formal mechanisms of initiating partnership with a major emphasis on negotiation of interests, roles, and benefits. Less attention has been given to the trans- formation of interests through mutual engagement. In this paper, the authors describe a research partnership in the preliminary stage. They detail their experiences with systems barriers during the process of planning and conducting a study of sensory integration and attention. The authors combine ecological systems theory, frames theory, and literature on community-university partner- ships with reflections on how these factors were experienced at a grass-roots level. The paper concludes with a discussion of current outcomes for the re- search partnership and promising avenues for future endeavors.