Civically engaged research in political science: a methodological guide

ABSTRACT

In political science, there are growing calls for scholarship to engage directly and equitably with communities and other research stakeholders. We build on, and advance, this emerging methodological literature by revisiting the conventional research process, and provide an adaptable guide scholars can use to develop and undertake a collaborative and civically engaged research project. We outline key considerations and decisions to be made at each step of the process when undertaking civically engaged research, provide a menu of options for how scholars can engage with research stakeholders at each step, and demonstrate these options with examples from real-world applications. In addition, we discuss the current and potential impacts of CER on the larger discipline of political science. This article aims to serve as a useful guide for scholars interested in developing a civically engaged project and as a resource for broadening the training students and scholars receive in research methods.

KEYWORDS:

• Research methods
• research guide
• methodology
• research training
• collaboration
• engagement
• quantitative
• qualitative

Acknowledgement

We thank our research interlocutors and community partners, without whom our work would not be possible. This article emerged from the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER). We are grateful to ICER 2023 Directors Peter Levine and Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, as well as to all the speakers and participants at the institute. We thank APSA for their continued support of this program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).