The journal Politics, Groups, and Identities has issued a call for papers on “How to Conduct Civically Engaged Research in a Time of Contentious Politics.” The editors for this special issue, Shelly Arsneault, Angie Bautista-Chavez, Stephanie Chan, and Valerie Martinez-Ebers, were participants in last summer’s Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER), which is a project of the American Political Science Association and Tisch College at Tufts. Several participants formed the idea of a special issue during a breakout group during ICER, which makes it an example of a productive small-group activity! Their call for papers follows, and the link for submissions is here:

Politics, Groups, and Identities: How to Conduct Civically Engaged Research in A Time of Contentious Politics

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In 2021, PS: Political Science & Politics published a collection of articles that sought to define and, ultimately, motivate political scientists to conduct civically engaged research (see Dobbs, Hess, Bullock, and Udani 2021). This special issue builds on these efforts by providing a guide for how to conduct ethical and rigorous civically engaged research. The collection of manuscripts will address the ethics, research design, methodology, and project management involved in developing, implementing, and communicating results from civically engaged research. By providing examples of successful civic engagement research and practical scaffolds, the Special Issue will serve as a valuable guide for political scientists as they develop their civically engaged research projects, while collectively advancing theoretical debates, ethical practices, and methodological pluralism in the discipline of political science. 

We invite scholars across all political science subfields using a range of methodologies to submit manuscripts addressing the following or related questions.

• How is civically engaged research distinct from other methodologies in political science?
• How can civically engaged research inform canonical theories of power, politics, and governance?
• How to define “community” when conducting civically engaged research?
• How can political science research center community expertise?

We are especially interested in examples and guides that range across research sites and across a range of issue areas.

• Examples of civically engaged research in challenging or hostile political environments.
• Examples of civically engaged research working with vulnerable communities.
• Examples of civically engaged research that showcase variation in methods, data analysis, and data collection.