O’Connor, Heather

Heather O'Connor

Heather reached out in response to a blurb in our newsletter by a practitioner who wanted to talk about research related to race and political engagement. The collaborative conversation was helpful for the practitioner in various ways and it was also helpful for Heather in her own research as a professor at the time. Here’s how she described the value for her:

“As researchers, we don’t know the organizational context — what has and has not already been tried, various interpersonal and community-level dynamics, limitations or opportunities in terms of resources, etc. — until we sit down and talk with practitioners. Meeting with practitioners from a nonprofit organization allowed me to better see the nuance in the organizational context. That informed how we, working together, refined the research question and design of the study.”