Women Speak: The Value of Community-Based Research on Woman Abuse

2. OVERVIEW

2.1 The ORWAS Methodology: Empowerment Through Research

Although a complete review of the theory of empowering research approaches is beyond the scope of this report, an attempt will be made at a limited review. Participatory research methods are increasingly being used in research projects with empowerment aims (Brydon-Miller, 1997). One common assumption of participatory approaches is that participants will be empowered by the research to act on their own behalf, and that as a result, actions will be taken. The action, or change, should be to the benefit of the participants and/or the community.

Ristock and Pennell (1996) describe a methodology for conducting community-based research that they call “Research as Empowerment”. This is a process that is similar in many respects to participatory action research (PAR), but differs with regard to the initiation of the research. Participatory action research methodology assumes that a group of community members and stakeholders instigate the research and participate in all aspects of the research process. Research as Empowerment, “while often carried out in collaborative working groups, does not require such a format. It may well involve researchers and participants with different degrees of involvement in the process.” (Ristock and Pennell, 1996, p. 17)

Research as Empowerment involves people in research who are not normally considered to have research skills, as a way of including alternative views and representing multiple perspectives. The responsibility for setting the direction of the research is not vested only in the researcher. Research as Empowerment, “even though it does not require a formal participatory group, does not leave the researcher floundering alone to determine the research question and design.” (Ristock and Pennell, 1996, p. 17) These matters are decided through the involvement of people affected by the research. Through involvement, Research as Empowerment “strengthens its practitioners. Empowerment promotes the building of confidence, skills, and support networks.” (Ristock and Pennell, 1996, p. 17)

The ORWAS project, as a community-based process, has similarities to participatory research. The Justice Canada researchers were familiar with participatory methodology and implemented many of its principles in ORWAS. While the ORWAS team did not come together as a grass-roots initiative (a PAR concept), it did have some degree of involvement for the survivors, in that their feedback was sought on the transcripts and community reports. Furthermore, ORWAS was democratic in the research design process, through the involvement of the community researchers in all aspects of the research. This study demonstrates that the community researchers experienced increased confidence and skill levels as a result of their participation. Therefore, the ORWAS methodology can accurately be described as Research as Empowerment.

The Women Speak: The Value of Community-Based Research on Woman Abuse undertook to examine the ORWAS project as a case study. The desire was to investigate the value of the process through the eyes of the participants, to determine what effects, if any, it had on those who participated, and to assess the collaboration between government and community in terms of benefits for both parties. This base was then used to identify the steps necessary for community change to occur.

2.2 Objective One: To Review the Research Process

The ORWAS project studied rural woman abuse by consulting women who have experienced domestic violence, letting them tell about their experiences in their own words. Thus, the project provided direct access to the views of survivors of violence. In this way, it helped develop our understanding of how domestic violence affects those most vulnerable to it: women and children.

The researchers were successful in finding a way to conduct research on rural woman abuse in a respectful, meaningful way. One significant aspect of the study is that the words and experiences of survivors were central to the method, the findings and the reports. In designing the ORWAS project, the researchers were guided by the principle that women’s ideas and experiences matter. The interview method of women talking with other women in a safe, familiar environment using a semi-structured format allowed for the collection of rich data that may not have been accessible any other way. This dedication to hearing the voices of survivors of woman abuse has resulted in a meaningful, contextualised piece of research that has important implications for future research and policy.

Ethical issues concerning power and the roles of the researchers and participants were fundamental to the ORWAS project. The methodology attempted to give the survivors a sense of control over the uses of the data by soliciting their feedback on the transcripts and the draft community reports and by ensuring that their suggestions were incorporated. It was important to the Justice Canada researchers to minimise the exploitation of the participants in this research context. Respect for the investment and the contribution that people made to the study was a guiding principle of the project.

The determination to reduce the inherent power imbalance between researcher and participant was most obvious in the relationship of the project leaders with the community researchers. ORWAS was democratic in the research design process through involvement of the community researchers in all aspects of the research. Through collective decision making, data analysis and report writing, the entire project became a team effort. Community researchers’ views were sought and respected, yielding a high level of commitment to the project and a sense of empowerment among the community researchers.

The project leaders assigned great importance to valuing the community perspective and they were committed to “giving something back” to the communities. By choosing community researchers who knew their communities well, and by respecting their knowledge, ORWAS underscored the belief that locale is relevant in the analysis of woman abuse. By building skills among community people, by contributing to the empowerment of survivors and community

researchers, and by engaging community members in dialogue about how they respond to violence, ORWAS laid the groundwork for social action on rural woman abuse.

2.3 Objective Two: To Investigate the Effects on the Participants

Asking people to participate in this kind of research raises an important ethical issue in that there is the possibility that the women may be harmed by having to relive their painful experiences. Follow-up with the survivors indicates that, although there were some difficult memories associated with participation in the project, the women felt that the benefits of participating outweighed the drawbacks. None of the women interviewed in the follow-up regretted her decision to participate. This is an important finding for future research on woman abuse. Although safeguards for the participants (such as sensitive interviewers, confidentiality and security measures) need to be in place, there do not appear to be any effects of participating that would put the entire research process into question.

Whether the research process actually had positive, empowering effects on the survivors is less clear: the women interviewed were more likely to say it was their life experiences that had strengthened them, not the ORWAS project. Some of the survivors, although not all, describe being empowered through ORWAS. They feel stronger and better about themselves, and they feel hopeful that change may happen as a result of their participation in the study. Many of the women, although once again not all, thought that they would like to be even more involved in a similar future study.

Although the community researchers and project leaders were also negatively affected by exposure to the accounts of the survivors, the emotional difficulties that this presented were balanced by feelings of respect and admiration for the survivors, and personal growth as a result of hearing about the women’s experiences. Again, with the basic safeguards in place, it appears possible to engage in this kind of in-depth research on violence against women without fear of undue harm to the participants or the researchers.

Community researchers were able to identify many benefits of their participation in the project. The tangible rewards of increased research skills and increased knowledge about violence issues were augmented by the development of a significant bond with the other members of the research team. Project leaders from Justice Canada and CAPRO as well as the six community researchers all expressed their appreciation for having had the opportunity to be a part of a unique experience. In spite of time pressures and little monetary reward, the members of the research team were strongly committed to the project and felt enriched by their participation in it.

2.4 Objective Three To Examine the Benefits to Government and Community of a Collaborative Partnership

Another important part of the ORWAS process involved the collaborative partnership between a government department and a community organisation, and, through CAPRO, with six rural communities. ORWAS provides an example of some of the mutual benefits of government/community partnering. It also highlights the unique position of the federal government to be able to initiate such a process. In light of the current discussion about the need for government research to be connected to stakeholder communities, the ORWAS partnership moved beyond discussion into action. The benefits of this partnership will accrue to all parties involved.

Benefits to Communities and Community Organisations

The ORWAS community reports have given six communities in rural Ontario the information necessary to develop local strategies for more effective intervention in cases of woman abuse. It may also prove to be an effective lobbying tool for CAPRO and other organisations interested in influencing local, provincial and federal policy on woman abuse.

The project raised awareness of the issue in the local communities. By participating in the focus group discussions, community leaders, service providers and other community members gave their attention to the unique needs of abused women in their community and examined their community’s response to those needs. Survivors developed a new sense of the extent of the problem in their own communities. In some places the media covered this project, thus expanding the number of people exposed to the discussion. This increased awareness can provide the impetus for action while the community focus group data may give CAPRO direction for change.

Individual researchers in each of the six communities have benefited from this project. Besides having a heightened awareness of the issue, they describe feeling more knowledgeable and more confident about their ability to address woman abuse issues. ORWAS created the opportunity for a unique research experience for these six women. By developing research skills among these community members, the project succeeded at “leaving the skills behind in the community”, which was one of the central aims of the project. By building skills locally, the project also fits with CAPRO’s overall community development approach.

Benefits to Government

ORWAS has provided Justice Canada (and other federal and provincial government departments) with valuable new information to assist with policy on rural and violence issues. ORWAS succeeded at providing insight into the experiences of rural women specifically, and in studying this group, the research addressed a gap in the literature. This documentation of the experiences of rural abused women highlights those factors that are uniquely rural and allows for comparison with the majority of research on violence that focuses on the experiences of urban women.

As a documentation of the women’s experiences with the criminal justice system, health care and social service agencies, ORWAS provided valuable information regarding the institutional response to victims of domestic violence. The project provided insight into strategies that women found helpful in coping with their abuse and those interventions that helped or hindered their attempts to leave. In this way it broadened the agenda for Justice Canada by considering other factors that affect abused women.

ORWAS provides an example of how the government can conduct research differently. By initiating such a collaborative process, Justice Canada has shown that government wants tohear the voices of those who are most affected by a particular issue. By providing communities with a direct link into the federal policy process, it is an indication that the federal government wants to work with communities to find solutions that will work at the local level. Justice Canada has found a way to conduct research that will be meaningful for the entire province of Ontario while working collaboratively with six individual communities. The process acknowledged community differences and discovered similarities, while empowering community members and identifying directions for action.

2.5 Steps to Promote Community Action

What future steps toward community change might result from ORWAS? A framework for understanding how community action could result from a community-based research project is provided by Horvath (1999). Horvath outlines research and theory on the organisation of social action. The framework identifies three levels at which empowerment can occur: the individual, group and community levels. In general, empowerment at all three levels is necessary for effective social action.

Individual empowerment has to do with the “potential for social power” (Horvath, 1999, 226). Individuals who are empowered feel that they have the information, abilities, and competence to participate in social action. That social action, however, will only happen if the conditions at the group and community levels permit.

The ORWAS study has already been successful at creating and supporting the potential for social power among the community researchers. They describe feeling more knowledgeable, more skilled and more confident about their ability to address woman abuse issues. Thus, empowerment of the community researchers at the individual level was a result of ORWAS.

According to Horvath’s model, in order for individual empowerment to lead to social action, empowerment at the group level also has to occur. The support of groups and communities can transform an individual’s "potential for social power" into actual social action. Group empowerment has to do with the “acquisition of social power” (Horvath, 1999, 226) through co-ordination, leadership and planning.

In some of the six communities, group action has already begun. Those changes are occurring in places where the community researcher is attached to a community-based organisation that has the mission, the position, and the resources to support change. The ORWAS study provided a springboard for them to contribute to a group-level planning process and a community-level alliance. For researchers who were not affiliated with such an organisation, the challenge of community action is greater because there is no existing mechanism for acquiring social power through group efforts or community-level coalitions. The next steps in these communities will need to involve efforts at the group level.

The individual survivors in a community are a potential group with energy and commitment to the issue. The survivors interviewed for this follow-up study have ideas about what changes would be desirable and what would help them and other women like them. But the individual survivors have little connection with local groups that have similar interests. More opportunity for the individual women to connect with each other, or to connect with existing community groups, would be the next step in moving women from individual empowerment to group and community level action.

Community-level empowerment has to do with the “exercise of social power” (Horvath, 1999, 226) through forming alliances and building links between groups. Community empowerment is based on access to resources and information, and requires co-operation between groups based on common goals.

Community ownership is not achieved quickly or easily. Social change requires a long-term view and persistent effort. The building of individual skills within communities is an important first step toward the goal of community-based social change. However, it is important to realise that it must not stop there. In order for change to occur, supports of many kinds will be needed. Community researchers can be an important link to community change through research, but they must not be left feeling that the responsibility is theirs alone to continue the process.

As Horvath’s model shows, a link to local organisations and community groups is the direction a community-based research project must go in order to continue a change process. Researchers would not presume to direct the specific nature of the changes; community members themselves would determine local needs. Assistance in the form of information, human and financial resources can facilitate collaboration between community groups to achieve the exercise of social power toward the prevention of woman abuse.

Non-collaborative forms of research are unlikely to make even preliminary steps toward empowerment for social action. In contrast, the Research as Empowerment methodology can set the stage for empowerment at the individual, group and community levels. With the necessary supports, community change is a potential outcome of a community-based research approach.