Community Dialogues

Abstract

Community dialogues provide a method of determining viewpoints and values for representative populations and also offer a means for educating and empowering participants on the topic being discussed. Dialogue participants take the information that is gleaned from the research and use it to make changes that will affect their families and broader community members. In the conduct of dialogues, research becomes a two-way street: researchers and participants both gather information, with the former collecting data about values and beliefs about a topic and the latter acquiring knowledge regarding a topic to deliver to their communities and serve as a catalyst for further conversation and change. The technique is particularly well-suited for complex topics where some education is needed about the different perspectives being researched. The researchers go beyond the normal data-gathering and analyzing functions to assist participants in identifying potential avenues for implementing policy changes.