Fundamental researcher attributes: Reflections on ways to facilitate participation in Community Psychology doctoral dissertation research

Abstract

As novice researchers, Community Psychology doctoral students encounter fresh challenges when they attempt to facilitate participation by members of the community in their dissertation projects. This article presents the merit in adopting fundamental researcher attributes, which have been described in published academic literature as personal characteristics that facilitate participation by members of the community in research studies. The value of these researcher attributes is exemplified in the discussion of one of the author’s experiences in the early stages of his dissertation research process. This article also presents new researcher attributes for facilitating participation by community members that the author recognised after critical reflection on his experiences during the same research process. Cultural humility, shared vulnerability, reflexivity, methodological flexibility, academic assiduity and creative resourcefulness are researcher attributes doctoral students should consider adopting and developing if they intend to facilitate participation by members of the community in their dissertation projects.Keywords: researcher attributes, graduate students, doctoral dissertation, participatory research, participation continuum

Training to be a Community Psychologist in the Age of a Digital Revolution

“…While CBPR projects uphold the community psychology values guiding those training to become community psychologists, additional recommendations for trainees and training programs have been presented in recent years (Jimenez et al, 2016;Liboro & Travers, 2016). Building on Liboro and Travers'(2016) call for creative resourcefulness in community psychology work and CBPR, we believe that researchers training in community psychology would benefit from considering and evaluating digital technologies as potentially powerful and creative resources.…”

“…Similar calls for interdisciplinary work have highlighted the importance of achieving a systematic change in health services, and research has suggested that strategic partnerships should be fostered across discipline silos, such as those in the health and social sciences (Dooris, 2013), particularly in their CBPR work. A recent review of vital researcher qualities conducted by community psychologists noted the additional importance of creative resourcefulness among researchers to build stronger relationships with community partners and other collaborators in CBPR projects (Liboro & Travers, 2016).…”