Welcome - Research Methods (Mesh)

Systematic review of community engagement approach in research: describing partnership approaches, challenges and benefits

A systematic review of community engagement with health research.

Guide: A Practical Guide to Planning an Engagement Strategy for your Global Health Research funding application

This Mesh guide is intended to support the preparation of a Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) strategy. It is aimed at researchers who are planning an engagement strategy for a funding application, Public/Community Engagement leads who are planning engagement strategies for a specific piece of research, or anyone who is new to CEI and wants to learn more about it.

Community engagement and the centrality of ‘working relationships’ in health research

A rapid review of community engagement and informed consent processes for adaptive platform trials and alternative design trials for public health emergencies

From Classroom to Research: Primary school students as Citizen Scientists in Health research in Sudan

School students take a Virtual Reality tour of the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme laboratories

Evaluating and Engaging: Using Participatory Video With Kenyan Secondary School Students to Explore Engagement With Health Research

This article explores the use of participatory video for evaluating engagement between researchers and school students in Kenya.  The method revealed several challenges and benefits to school engagement. Published online 2022 Mar 17. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.797290

Webinar: Taking relationships seriously: Findings from a realist review of community engagement

This webinar held in May 2022 on the REAL Community Engagement Realist Review shared some fascinating findings which give more conceptual clarity around how community engagement works in practice. It highlighted some key relationships and power dynamics at the heart of engagement work.

Guides and Tools: LGB Patient and Public involvement and Engagement in Research - a "How to" Guide for Researchers

The ‘How to’ Guide for Researchers was co-developed by different stakeholders coordinated by the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center to support the implementation of public and patient involvement (PPIE) in research.

Guides & Tools: LBG Open Innovation in Science Center Impact Model and Instruments

Developed by the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center present a toolkit that can be used respectively to plan and to collect feedback around the effects of involvement and engagement initiatives in research projects.   

Guides & Tools: LBG Research Priority Setting Project Database

An available database developed by the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center for you to explore research priority setting projects worldwide and a research tool for unanswered research questions and under-researched topics.

Project Report: Exploring perspectives on genomics and sickle cell public health interventions in Cameroon

This project used qualitative methods to gather an in-depth understanding of cultural influences on perspectives and attitudes regarding genomic research and public health interventions for Sickle Cell Disease-related complications in Cameroon

Published Literature: Involving young people in health research

This study published by Wellcome in 2021 explores the role, benefits and potential of young people’s involvement in health research, with a focus on mental health, infectious diseases and global heating. It provides recommendations on how to meaningfully involve young people in research, and what it means to do that well.

Published Literature: Science Communication Research: an Empirical Field Analysis

This in-depth empirical analysis of the research field in science communication published in 2020 looks both at strengths and weaknesses of research in the field, and a reflects on its future needs and perspectives. 

Guide: Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings

The Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings aims to stop the export of unethical research practices to low and middle income countries.

Project Report: The PANChSHEEEL Project

PANChSHEEEL (Participatory Approach for Nutrition in Children: Strengthening Health, Education, Environment and Engineering Linkages) is an interdisciplinary cross-sector project designed to explore health, education, engineering and environment  factors that influence infant and young child feeding practices and nutrition in India.

Project Report: Right to Food Project - In their Voices

“Right to Food Project” was implemented by the African Population and Health Research Center from 2018 to 2019 in urban Kenya. Different participatory visual methodologies were used to engage with the community members on the right to food. These included graffiti and wall murals, digital stories, photovoice, radio shows, human libraries, participatory educative theaters, open air events and community dialogue.

Guide: NIHR Resource Guide for CEI in Global Health Research

Researchers funded by the NIHR Global Health Research Programme are expected to involve patients and the public in planning, implementation and evaluation of their research. This resource guide provides community engagement links, resources, references and learning to offer research teams and funding applicants a starting point

News: International Network on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)

The International Network for Public Involvement and Engagement in Health and Social Care Research was launched in London on 27th November 2017. Our vision is for a world where patient and public involvement is an integral part of health research.

Literature: Who should decide about children’s and adolescents’ participation in health research?

This paper from BMC Medical Ethics explores how researchers and research centres can activtly involve children and young people in health research activities and in the development of research proposals. They used group discussions with community members and schools students in rural Kenya to explore views on the topic.

Literature: Developing a finer grained analysis of research impact: Can we assess the wider effects of public engagement?

This article, published with a creative commons licence on the LSE Impact Blog, suggests a more comprehensive and balanced approach for the evaluation of public engagement, drawing on evaluation criteria commonly used in aid evaluation.

Literature: From ‘Trial Community’ to ‘Experimental Publics’: How Clinical Research Shapes Public Participation

This article argues for a conceptual shift away from the static, singular term ‘trial community’ towards ‘experimental publics’. The authors observe that the term ‘community’ is often employed uncritically and assumes that ‘communities’ pre-exist research; that they are timeless and undifferentiated wholes. ‘Experimental publics’, by contrast, are dynamic, multiple, and impermanent in nature.

Literature: Between Vision and Reality: A Study of Scientists’ Views on Citizen Science

This paper describes a case study, which planned to involve citizen science in an air pollution study. Findings are based on interviews and observations, including a six-month field diary, of ten scientists who engaged in a citizen science project not because they are convinced of its value as an approach to strong science but in order to receive funding for their scientific research. 

Examining the use of participatory visual and narrative methods to explore the lived experience of migrants in Southern Africa

This working paper  explores the opportunities and challenges associated with visual research methodologies. The paper draws specifically on a MoVE (methods: visual: explore) project that explored the lived experiences of migrant groups in southern Africa.  

Published Literature: Public Attitudes to Personal Data and Linking Personal Data (2013)

The Wellcome Trust commissioned report from 2013 on the general public’s attitudes to different types of personal data and data linking. The research looked at whether health data are viewed differently from other types of data, and what are the perceived risks and benefits, to self and society, of linking different kinds of data for research and other purposes.

Developing Ethical Practices for Public Health Research Data Sharing in South Africa: The Views and Experiences From a Diverse Sample of Research Stakeholders

 This qualitative study examined the perceptions, experiences and concerns of 32 research stakeholders about data-sharing practices.

Resource: Informal Science Education

InformalScience.org is a central portal to project, research and evaluation resources designed to support and connect the informal science education community in museums, media, public programs and a growing variety of learning environments

Arts in Health: Book Review

A useful and comprehensive overview of how to undertake research and practice in arts in health. Contains practical advice for the management of a collaborative arts and health project (including how to manage a tender process, plan and evaluation and write a research protocol).   

Published Literature: Photovoice Ethics: Critical Reflections from Men’s Mental Health Research

Photovoice Ethics is a report and ethical guide for researchers who want to explore sensitive topics with their audiences.   

Digital Storytelling in Research: A Systematic Review

The Digital storytelling in research is a qualitative report published in February 2017. The paper includes a review of the history and value of digital story telling as an arts based research method for generating data about important issues.

Ecological Validity and the Study of Publics: The Case for Organic Public Engagement Methods

Summary of academic paper critiquing experimental approaches to public engagement advocating instead an 'organic engagement' approach with 'ecological validation' which explores the context and mechanisms in which public's deliberations and opinions are formed. The paper is not open access however a comprehensive summary is given here. 

Guide: Coinquiry Toolkit

Guide: Performing Ethics: Using Participatory Theatre to Explore Ethical Issues in Community Based Participatory Research

Guide: San people of Africa code of ethics for researchers

A code of ethics created by the San people of Africa for researchers wishing to study their culture.

Using Co-Inquiry to Study Co-Inquiry: Community-University Perspectives on Research

Banks, S. et al (2014). Using co-inquiry to study co-inquiry: community-university perspectives on research collaboration. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship 7(1).

Literature: People’s Knowledge and Participatory Action Research Book

Organisations that undertake research, engagement and policy work are dominated by white middle-class men. The basic question the book attempts to answer is: "what happens when these institutions attempt working with the rest of the world, which is different and diverse?”

Project Report: A puppet show to engage the community addressing antimicrobial resistance and research with children

Fishy Clouds, a puppet theatre show, was created to engage the community on issues of antimicrobial resistance and research with children in Thailand. Fishy Clouds ran for twelve shows during the months of November and December 2016 in schools, hospitals, theatres and health centres. The show was performed in Bangkok and in the greater Mae Sot area in the Tak district of Thailand.