Is Community-Based Participatory Research Postnormal Science?

TitleIs Community-Based Participatory Research Postnormal Science?
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsBidwell, David
JournalScience, Technology, & Human Values
Volume34
Issue6
Pagination741-761
ISSN0162-2439
Abstract

Conventional, positivist science is not well suited for addressing the contemporary risk landscape. To address high-uncertainty, high-stakes risks, Funtowicz and Ravetz have called for a postnormal science. Two key characteristics of postnormal science are the involvement of an extended peer community and the deliberation of extended facts. The health research community has responded to the shortcomings of normal science with approaches to field research, known collectively as community-based participatory research (CBPR). A review of case literature shows that although CBPR is not inherently postnormal, it can be friendly to a postnormal approach. A postnormal CBPR practice would rely more heavily on a deliberative process, which engages a broad range of expertise, including experts in normal science, in decisions about data collection, analysis, and actions.

Notes

'doi: 10.1177/0162243909340262\n - kecox'

URLhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0162243909340262
DOI10.1177/0162243909340262
Collection: