Making Collaboration Work: Key Components of Practice/Research Partnerships

Drawing on our experiences as researchers and community-based providers, this paper outlines several key components of successful practice/research collaboration: forming equal partnerships, bilateral communication, ensuring nonhierarchical collaborations, and appropriate dissemination of outcomes. Many concrete benefits can result from collaborative research projects, including additional services, program development, and training for service agency staff. Building partnerships takes time and a good amount of planning and negotiation prior to writing proposals. However, these collaborations can result in more effective efforts to solve common problems and reach common goals.