By ARTURO C. BOQUIREN
1.
The
concept of “community insiders” versus “outsiders” in research was first
introduced by A. Boquiren and Maruyama (1993) in their work on the Community
Research Balance Sheet---a tool for community profiling and community
development planning.
2.
As
can be indicated by the book, Participatory and Community-Based Approaches
in Upland Development: A Decade of Experience and A Look at the Future (1994),
it was only A. Boquiren who has been using the concept of community insiders in
participatory research methods as early as 1994.
3.
In
many instances, research for community development is undertaken by social
scientists, academics, or development professionals who are outsiders to the
community. Although some members of the community may be tapped for some of the
research activities, the sole owners of the research are typically community
outsiders. Outsiders, of course, may have the interests of the community at
heart, but the point of view of outsiders does not necessarily coincide with
the insiders. Further, even if community members are participants in the data
analysis but not the owners or co-owners of the research, there would be less
inspiration to do tasks or plan of action suggested by a research effort. In
contrast, if the research efforts is actually a community effort and the
analysis of research data is a actually a community analysis of their situation
and the identification of solutions to their problems, there would be more
inspiration to do the program of action suggested by a research effort.
4.
Thus,
for a fully participatory method, whenever feasible and whenever appropriate,
community insiders or the key organizations in the community must be tapped to
be one of the principal co-owners of the research, if not its sole owner. In
addition, the community must be mobilized in the design of the research, from
formulating the research problems and objectives, developing and participating
in the developing research methodology, and in the data gathering process, data
analysis, and research utilization.
Prof. Art Boquiren February
2004