Conducting Research on Comprehensive Community Development Initiatives

University and community partnerships are embedded in institutional contexts that create conflicting demands and require collaborative approaches that balance competing needs and interests and focus on accomplishing shared goals for community change. This chapter offers a case study of a partnership between a Nashville-based human service organization and a university-based research team that developed for the purpose of conducting a community needs assessment to fulfil the requirements for a Promise Neighborhoods Planning grant from the U.S. Department of Education. It explores how conflicting demands can potentially limit the authenticity of partnership relationships, and in turn, undermine the success of these types of collaboration. The chapter examines resulting challenges that arise in relation to three key tensions: defining expertise, institutional barriers, and expectations of scientific rigor. Approaches to overcoming these challenges are offered, and lessons learned are explored.