Learn the skills you need to carry out research in your own community using the 'citizen science' approach of UCL's RELIEF Centre. Community based research means involving a community in all stages of a research process - this kind of research can give people the power to transform their lives. On this course you will learn the basics of community based research by examining the citizen science methodology used by the RELIEF Centre in Lebanon.

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You will learn to construct your own research questions to find out community needs and how to meet them. You will develop research skills to carry out local research projects sensitively and ethically, using examples from Lebanon to support you as an aspiring researcher.

What topics will you cover?

- Insight into the what, why, and how of community based research

- Identification of the skills needed to plan an effective research project, spanning research questions, qualitative and quantitative data collection, interview skills, and observation skills

- Planning of community based research projects, including development of a research proposal, submission for peer review, data analysis approaches, and networking and public engagement.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

- Discuss the uses of community based research

- Assess the varying perspectives of different stakeholders in community based research

- Reflect on the sensitivities and ethics of community based research

- Identify a research question for community based research and appropriate research methods to answer it

- Develop research skills appropriate to community based research

- Produce a proposal for a community based research project