Health Inequalities · Public Health · Housing · Third Sector
Community-Based Participatory Research: Co-Investigators, Not Consultees
CBPR is the most formally developed approach within participatory research. Community members are not asked for their views after researchers have designed the study; they are named co-investigators who help set the questions, shape the methods, interpret the data, and own the findings. Deep partnership that produces evidence communities trust.
What CBPR is, and what sets it apart
Community-based participatory research originated in public health in the United States but has been widely adopted across UK research contexts, particularly in health inequalities, housing, and third sector evaluation. Its defining feature is the depth and formality of community partnership: community members are co-investigators throughout the study, not advisors who review a protocol once it has been written.
Where other approaches involve communities as participants or as advisory contributors, CBPR involves them in every stage of the research process, from identifying the question to disseminating the findings. This produces evidence with a level of community legitimacy that faster, more extractive research cannot achieve. It also produces findings that are significantly more likely to be implemented, because the communities they concern have ownership of them.
CBPR is one approach within the broader participatory research family. For an overview of related approaches, see our guide: What is participatory research?
The principles of CBPR
CBPR is defined by a specific set of principles that distinguish it from other participatory approaches
Equitable partnership
Community members and researchers have equal standing in the partnership. Decisions about the research are made jointly. Community knowledge is recognised as equally valid to academic or professional knowledge, not as data to be processed, but as expertise to be incorporated.
Community strengths and resources
CBPR starts from what a community knows, can do, and has, not from a deficit model of what it lacks. Research design builds on existing community relationships, organisations, and knowledge rather than treating the community as a passive subject.
Co-learning and capacity building
CBPR is designed so that community members develop research skills and capacity through participation, not just contributing to a study and receiving a report. The research process builds something in the community as well as generating something for the commissioning organisation.
Iterative, cyclical process
CBPR does not follow a fixed protocol from design to dissemination. It is an iterative process where findings at each stage can reshape what happens next. Community partners can redirect the inquiry as understanding develops, within an agreed framework that protects the integrity of the study.
Long-term relationships
CBPR works best when it builds on, or creates, longer-term relationships between researchers and communities rather than one-off extractive encounters. The depth of partnership that produces genuinely co-owned evidence takes time to establish and maintain.
Action orientation
CBPR is not research for its own sake. Findings are intended to be used: to change services, influence policy, or inform community action. Dissemination plans include routes for findings to reach the people and organisations with the power to act on them.
Where CBPR is most valuable
CBPR is most powerful when community trust, community knowledge, and community legitimacy are all essential to the research succeeding
How we deliver CBPR
A structured partnership process that produces genuine co-ownership of the research
Community partnership scoping
We identify and engage community partners before the research design is written. This is not a recruitment exercise; it is the beginning of the partnership. We work with community organisations, community leaders, and individual community members to understand their priorities and agree the terms of co-investigation.
Co-developed research design
Community partners help write the research questions, select the methods, and agree the analysis framework. This stage takes longer than conventional research design, and produces a study that reflects what the community actually needs to know, not just what commissioners assumed they needed.
Peer researcher development
Where the study benefits from it, we train community members to conduct data collection (interviews, community sessions, or observation) with their own communities. Peer researchers receive research ethics training, practical facilitation skills, and ongoing support throughout fieldwork.
Ethics and governance
Full informed consent. Data governance appropriate to the study context. For NHS settings, we advise on NHS ethics review, R&D requirements, and honorary contracts. We document the community partnership throughout the process in a form that satisfies governance bodies.
Collaborative analysis
Community partners participate in reviewing and interpreting findings. Their contextual knowledge corrects researcher misreadings, adds explanatory depth, and produces an analysis that the community recognises as accurate. This is documented as part of the formal analysis process.
Dissemination for multiple audiences
A full research report for commissioning organisations or funders, and accessible community outputs for the people who participated and whose lives the research concerns. Dissemination routes to decision-makers identified and supported.
Common questions about CBPR
What makes CBPR different from other participatory research approaches?
CBPR specifies the deepest and most formal version of community partnership: community members as co-investigators with equal standing throughout the study. Other participatory approaches involve communities as partners at various stages; CBPR involves them at all stages and treats community capacity-building as a goal of the research process itself, not just a side benefit.
How long does a CBPR project take?
A focused CBPR study runs approximately 10–16 weeks. Larger programmes with peer researcher development, multiple community partners, or NHS ethics requirements run 20–30 weeks or longer. The additional time reflects the depth of partnership, and produces findings with a quality of community legitimacy that faster methods cannot achieve.
How does CBPR relate to co-production?
Co-production research and CBPR overlap significantly: both involve genuine community partnership in generating knowledge. Co-production is more commonly used in NHS and public sector contexts; CBPR is more associated with public health and health inequalities research. In practice, many studies draw on both traditions.
Can CBPR be used in NIHR-funded research?
Yes. CBPR methodology is consistent with NIHR's expectations for genuine PPI and community involvement. The documented co-investigator partnership, shared research design, and collaborative analysis processes provide the kind of substantive involvement that NIHR reviewers look for, going well beyond token consultation.
What is community-based participatory research (CBPR)?
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach to research that involves deep, equitable partnership between researchers and community members throughout the entire research process, from identifying the research question through to disseminating and acting on findings. Community members are co-investigators, not just research subjects or consultees. CBPR originated in public health research and is now widely used in health inequalities, housing, social care, and third sector contexts where community trust and co-ownership of the inquiry are essential.
What is CBPR used for in the UK?
In the UK, CBPR is used primarily in public health and health inequalities research, housing and place-based research, third sector programme evaluation, NHS community engagement, and research with marginalised or underserved communities. It is particularly valuable when conventional research methods have failed to generate evidence that communities trust, or when the research question concerns an issue that communities are best placed to define and investigate themselves.
How much does community-based participatory research cost?
CBPR starts from £9,500 for a focused study, from £19,000 for a full partnership programme, and from £36,000 for work spanning several communities. Partnership building, community researcher training, facilitation, analysis and fair payment are all inside the price. The partnership-building phase is the part most budgets underestimate, so we cost it explicitly rather than hoping it fits. Build a rough estimate or tell us about your community.
We fully recognise the effort your team invested in recruitment, moderation, and analysis, and we genuinely appreciate the quality of the discussions and reporting.
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- Patient involvement changed a trial's primary endpoint before the protocol was finalised, cited by the ethics committee as a model for evidencing PPIE.
Trusted PPI and PPIE delivery partner to the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care.
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