Research Partnerships
Research works better in partnership
CBSI brings together research expertise, practice knowledge, lived experience, community priorities, and implementation support to develop questions and methods that are meaningful, feasible, and useful.
A Flexible Partnership Model
Begin with the need, not a preset package
A partner may arrive with a research question, a program that needs evaluation, a dataset that could inform decisions, an implementation challenge, a funding opportunity, or a community priority that needs clearer evidence. CBSI helps identify a useful starting point and the mix of expertise, engagement, methods, mentoring, and translation support the work may require.
The form of the partnership depends on the intended benefit, people affected, existing relationships and information, available time and resources, required approvals, and the decisions the work should inform.
Who May Be Involved
Bring together the expertise the question requires
- People with lived experience, families, caregivers, advocates, and community members.
- Schools, districts, healthcare and behavioral health organizations, disability and human-service providers, employers, public agencies, community organizations, practitioners, leaders, implementation teams, and subject-matter experts.
- Faculty, researchers, evaluators, students, trainees, and interdisciplinary university partners.
- Funders, policymakers, advisory groups, professional associations, and dissemination partners when their roles fit the purpose of the work.
Ways CBSI Can Contribute
See all the ways we can contribute
- Community and stakeholder engagement across sectors.
- Question development, study design, implementation planning, recruitment, and outreach tailored to the audience and setting.
- Measure selection, adaptation, development, and field testing; data collection, management, analysis, interpretation, and visualization.
- Program evaluation, needs assessment, gap analysis, and longitudinal follow-up.
- Facilitation across organizations, disciplines, advisory groups, and implementation partners, including student and pre-service learning when fit and capacity allow.
- Translation into reports, presentations, plain-language summaries, tools, training, and implementation guidance.
How a Partnership Develops
A shared process from question to use
| Stage | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Start | Clarify the question, intended benefit, people affected, current knowledge, and decisions the work should inform. |
| Shape | Identify partners, roles, meaningful participation, methods, resources, safeguards, data stewardship, and information needs. |
| Prepare | Establish agreements, approvals, measures, recruitment and outreach processes, communication, training, and implementation supports. |
| Learn | Collect and interpret information with attention to context, experience, implementation, emerging questions, data quality, and limitations. |
| Use | Share findings in useful formats, acknowledge contributions, and decide together what should be refined, sustained, studied further, or considered for extension. |
Autism Engagement Network
Connect research with community experience when the fit is right
The Autism Engagement Network, facilitated through HANDS, connects autistic people, families, practitioners, researchers, agencies, and community partners. When a project fits the Network's purpose and capacity, it may support relationship building, community input, research awareness, participation opportunities, dissemination, and shared learning. Involvement depends on mutual benefit, approvals, permissions, and agreed roles; the Network is not a source of participants on demand.
Learn About the Autism Engagement NetworkResearch and Mentoring Pathways
Create applied learning when project needs and supervision align
When project fit, funding, supervision, timing, and capacity allow, CBSI may involve students and pre-service professionals in research teams, seminars, data work, community-engaged inquiry, and dissemination. Each posted opportunity identifies the role, supervision, compensation or credit status, timeframe, and application process.
What to Include When Contacting Us
The first message can be simple
Share what you are trying to understand or improve, who should be involved, what information or relationships already exist, the decisions the work may inform, the anticipated timeline, and whether funding is identified or still being explored. A completed research plan is not required.
Connection to HANDS
Build from established research relationships
HANDS' research partnerships, engagement networks, measures, collaborative sites, recruitment experience, and mentoring provide an established base for autism- and disability-focused work. CBSI connects that infrastructure with additional disciplines and settings when questions cross education, behavioral health, workforce, organizations, or public systems.