Qualitative Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research: Coming of Age.

The era of community-based participatory research (CBPR) began years ago. It may have even started with the American Revolution, when angry colonists rallied under a banner of " taxation without representation " and demanded that their unwelcome despot change his ways. Much more recently, in the early 1990s, disability activists brought the slogan " nothing about us without us " to common usage. With its history of social marginalization, discrimination, and various forms of inhumane treatment, this particular community had had enough. Its members wanted to be included—not just as an afterthought, but also from the " get go " —in the research questions and policy platforms that involved them. Now, many communities are following suit, demanding respect, inclusion, and research methodologies inviting their active participation. An array of advocates supporting indigenous rights and decolonizing perspectives also make similar calls: Methodologies " of the oppressed " promote emancipation of our collective consciousness and instigation of progressive social movements through what has been referred to as " a hermeneutics of love in the postmodern world " (Sandoval, 2000, pp. 10–11). CBPR is steeped in local geography, culture, and rela-tionships—it is community based. CBPR is participatory when partnerships form between community members and researchers to address jointly shared priorities and research agendas. From the inception of the research purpose to the implications of the research endeavor, CBPR participants live up to the intent of mutual collaboration by actively working with researchers for social change. Because CBPR is nested in true-to-life environments, its results—discussions, critiques, and writings about methods , ethics, and outcomes—inform us not only about the health and illness features, but also of the resiliencies and strengths of the natural and built environments where people live, work, and play. Knowing what to ideally expect of CBPR begs the question of how to do it. Qualitative methods are dynamic, as are CBPR methods. To evolve our methods, we write. To keep our methods safe, relevant, and respectful, we write. To encourage representation within our methods, we write. These tasks riddle our written works. In the process , we learn basic lessons about ourselves, regardless of how we entered the research endeavor or what brought about our research collaborations. " Other people don't think like I do! " is perhaps the one common insight born of such collaborative efforts. Idealistic researchers may enter research settings expecting enthusiastic community members to fully " participate, …