ASTC’s community science framework can help science engagement practitioners and leaders better understand the diverse models and approaches to community science that are currently in use. By developing a framework of attributes and potential outcomes—and documenting exemplary models—we hope to provide a guiding light and concrete strategies for practitioners and leaders to build on as they adopt and adapt community science locally. We also hope that this provides a vision for what can be funded, evaluated, replicated, and scaled.
Attributes and Outcomes in Community Science
Our framework describes the attributes and outcomes that are often present in community science work. These attributes and outcomes are not intended as a checklist and a community science program does not need to exhibit all of the attributes and outcomes.
This framework of community science attributes and outcomes is informed by a review of existing models, approaches, and toolkits aimed at scientists, science engagement professionals, community organizers, practitioners, and researchers. These principles were refined through interviews and workshops with science engagement professionals who supplied further examples of community science work in action.
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Key characteristics for building partnerships in community science
Attributes are centered around doing respectful work with communities and pursuing authentic, equitable partnerships. Each attribute requires ongoing evaluation and reflection to ensure growth over time. The five attributes we have identified in this framework for community science are: Centers Community Priorities, Respects Community Strengths, Shares Leadership, Equity-Focused, and Aims for Action. Explore our Resources to learn about projects that exemplify the role of each attribute in community science.
Centers Community Priorities
Community science starts with listening to communities and understanding and centering their priorities. Communities should be centrally involved in shaping the research goals and questions from the outset to ensure that the rest of the project builds on that foundation.
Respects Community Strengths
Community science is driven by deep, meaningful, and respectful inclusion of community insights. Centering and honoring this knowledge helps ensure that all aspects of the community science project meet community goals and create sustainable, positive impacts.
Shares Leadership
Equity-Focused
Aims for Action
Community science is about working with communities to engage science in locally relevant and topical problem solving to address community priorities, values, and aspirations. In almost all these cases, community science will involve creating and enacting innovative solutions to scientific and societal questions and problems.
The Impacts of Community Science
Outcomes of community science will differ based on how a program is designed. This framework can be used to push our commitment towards deeper, mutually beneficial, and sustainable partnerships with communities. The seven outcomes we have identified in this framework for community science are: Strong Community Partnerships, Increased Science Agency, Impactful Scientific Research, Ethical Decision-Making, Inspiration for New Science, Capacity for Civic Engagement, and Sustainable Solutions for Society. Explore our Resources to learn about projects that exemplify the role of each attribute in community science.
Strong Community Partnerships
Community science projects should be designed to sustain and develop mutual trust between partners by generating evidence that partners do in fact “walk the talk” in working toward those shared visions. The trust and relationships cultivated through community science practices and attributes should lay the foundation for long-term partnerships between community members and institutions like museums, local nonprofits, libraries, industry partners, universities, K-12 schools, and others.
Increased Science Agency
Engaging in community science expands opportunities to do science and see how it can lead to tangible and relevant results. It also has potential to expand scientific literacy and self-efficacy as well as individuals’ conceptions of who can be a scientist. Community partners can gain scientific agency in a particular area through greater research competency and technical understanding.
Impactful Scientific Research
Community science can advance scientific research and practices and improve research quality by strengthening external validity and overall rigor by grounding science in real-life contexts. Community science can improve the data quality by increasing participation rates in studies.
Ethical Decision-Making
Community science incorporates diverse perspectives and grounds research in broader contexts of the social, cultural, and ethical implications of an issue, possible solutions, and courses of action. By considering the moral and ethical implications for the use of research and the ramifications of these on communities—and by engaging community members in identifying the best ways to share findings—community science ensures awareness of potential implications of technological advancements and developments.
Inspiration for New Science
Community science can inform and inspire advances in scientific methods, processes, and questions beyond the work of a particular project. Findings identified and methods developed can be adapted, tested, and applied in other contexts, and new questions will be raised that can inspire future research.
Capacity for Civic Engagement
Community science supports communities in producing greater capacity for deep engagement across issues in science and broader society, including engagement in public agencies, governing bodies, research institutions, and other science and policy-making institutions. Through community science collaborations, science and policy-making institutions can be more open to diverse community partners and democratize their approaches and structures.
Sustainable Solutions for Society
By centering research in communities, community science can be particularly effective for generating and implementing sustainable solutions that improve community well-being. A community science approach means generating innovative and community-relevant ideas that yield new, sustainable solutions that improve community well being.