Making Sense of Belonging: From Insight to Action through Community Research

“There is massive value in the way that that has brought people into what it means to research and gather information and data…even if they've just touched on it…you can take some story of like, Margaret down the road and her health problems, and it has got relevance over here for what our service looks like or how you organise services or what it means to be isolated in the community or not isolated, because you have bus services.”

The Community Conversations process

Belong in Plymouth’s Community Conversations process trained a network of 118 Community Researchers to carry out conversations on the topic of belonging with people they knew. This grassroots approach aimed to reach those who might not engage with formal research, accessing people through trusted relationships to gain a deeper understanding of what truly matters to them about belonging. This methodology values personal knowledge and lived experiences, acknowledging that “somebody is an absolute expert, because of their life, because of who they are.” It contrasts with the traditional data-driven approach, which often prioritises statistics over stories, and amalgamated data over direct experience. Belong in Plymouth prioritised the latter and what it revealed about the city we live in.

The Community Conversations approach falls within a long lineage of participatory research practices. Participatory research involves collaborating with those affected by an issue to study and address it. The key distinction from conventional research lies in shifting power dynamics, involving participants not just as subjects but as co-researchers.

Developing something new

Developed over several years of ‘test and learn’, the Community Conversations process trained 118 researchers to speak with their communities. The process evolved through ongoing feedback, adding options like ‘train the trainer’ to increase participation. While challenges arose—such as resistance to using Dictaphones for data security—the project embraced learning and adaptation.

Can data analysis be participatory too?

Beyond data collection, the programme also adopted a participatory approach to analysis. The team co-created a methodology to process conversation transcripts into ‘fragments’ and extract ‘factors’ that relate to belonging. This iterative process mapped factors such as the availability of amenities, cost of living, and number of friendships onto a comprehensive Kumu map. This evolving map now captures nearly 800 fragments from 120 conversations.

To address challenges like resource limitations in this labour-intensive work, Belong in Plymouth began integrating AI for data processing, with human moderation to ensure quality. This shift aimed to automate parts of the process while preserving its participatory nature.

Conventional data collection can often be ‘extractive’, where findings are analysed and processed outside the community. In contrast, Belong in Plymouth’s approach ensured knowledge and benefits remained within the community. One Core Team member noted the “…really clear impact on individuals who join the process as community researchers and have had the opportunity to upskill themselves and familiarise themselves with the system and connect and network with organisations…[they] have really benefitted from this programme, both financially, and also like the opportunities that are available to them now, having had this experience.”