From Findings to Fuel: Turning Community Research into Real World Influence
3-minute read
(Fourth in our series. after exploring power, methods and peer roles, here’s how to carry insights into lasting change).
When Research Becomes a Conversation
Imagine wrapping up months of community interviews, analysis and report‑writing only to wonder, “will anyone ever act on these findings?” That’s the moment most reports die on the desk. But community research isn’t a deliverable; it’s the start of a conversation. In our webinar, we were reminded that real-world influence starts long before the final presentation, report or publication. It grows from ongoing conversations, rooted in collaboration, trust and ownership, all seen through an “infinite‑game” lens (as Dr. Tirion Chaudhry describes it): you don’t stop engaging when the grant ends, you keep playing the long game.
When Research Becomes a Conversation
Calgary’s Private‑College Campaign: A distinctly community‑led approach where the work began not with surveys but with listening campaigns. They spoke directly with students, instructors and support workers across multiple community groups, surfacing recurring problems: misleading recruitment practices, broken tuition‑refund promises and poor job‑placement follow‑through.
With those stories in hand, they moved into a discernment phase, organising community groups to decide which issues to tackle first. Next came targeted research: collecting structured feedback from dozens of private‑college attendees and triangulating that qualitative insight with stakeholder interviews. Equipped with both narrative evidence and hard data, they then mapped the power landscape, identifying which ministries, regulatory bodies and elected officials could actually effect change.
Armed with this community‑owned evidence, small delegations of students and co-researchers met with ministers, presented their findings and explained exactly how the system was failing learners. Over the next three years, that continuous cycle of listening, researching, organising and advocating led Alberta to tighten oversight rules, launch unannounced audits and revoke licences at the most problematic private career colleges. What began as conversation rippled into lasting policy reform.
Samaritans UK’s Online‑Chat Pilot: In London, during the evaluation of Samaritans online‑chat service, peer researchers weren’t sidelined, they were “front and centre,” sharing in their own words on what the data meant. Hearing results “directly from them,” staff began using peer‑research language in everyday conversations and asking practical questions about how to embed that approach across other services. What started as cautious curiosity turned into real commitment: senior leaders now looking at how to build peer researcher roles into future budgets, ensuring that community insight remains integral to their model of support.
Sustaining the Infinite‑Game Loop
Influence doesn’t end with a single policy win. It’s important to revisit communities to share interim results, gather feedback and co‑design subsequent research. Treating inquiry as an ongoing conversation, whether in community cafés, podcasts or follow‑up workshops, keeps trust alive and ensures insights evolve with local priorities. That infinite‑game approach transforms findings into a living resource, ready for action long after the final report lands.
Measuring success in this infinite game means adding new indicators to traditional KPIs: Are the same community members still on advisory boards two years later? Have peer researchers moved into paid roles? Do local services now cite your findings in annual plans? When these relational data points rise, you know the research has moved from report pages into real‑world practice.
From Insight to Influence: Three Pathways
a) Craft stories for multiple audiences
Decision-makers skim; activists dive deep; people and communities want to hear themselves.
Layer your products. A one-page brief of key messages, five-slide presentation deck, full technical appendix.
Put peers on stage. At Samaritans, peer researchers presented results themselves; the room listened harder.
b) Pair data with “next-step” moments
Evidence nudges doorways open; convenings push people through.
Host round-tables right after release day, don’t let momentum cool.
Co-chair those meetings with a community member to keep the lens local.
c) Build advocacy coalitions early
Systems change loves company. Borrow a tactic from Calgary Alliance for the Common Good:
Listening campaign → 2. Shared priority list → 3. Targeted research → 4. Power-mapping and lobbying.
Key Take-Aways
Turning insights into influence is both art and science. It requires seamless storytelling, strategic timing and relentless advocacy, all grounded in collaboration, trust and ownership. Design your research to honour those connections, and the insights you uncover will fuel real change: policies that better serve communities, services that reflect genuine needs, and a research culture that values people over paperwork.
Collaboration builds the study, trust unlocks the truth, ownership keeps the change alive. Design your work around those pillars, and your insights will fuel real, lasting change.
Want More?
This piece captures highlights from a live Habitus webinar featuring Gbemi Babalola (Samaritans UK), Humaira Falak (United Way Calgary and Area), Lisa Elford (Habitus Canada) and Callum Ross (Habitus UK). Together they unpacked the practical and ethical tensions between “community engagement” and “community-led research.” You can watch the full webinar here.
Ready to turn insights into influence? Habitus partners with organisations across the UK, Canada and beyond to design, run and mobilise community-driven research. Let’s keep the infinite game going together.
At Habitus, we have developed and designed successful community programmes for various charities, health organisations and local authorities and municipalities both in the UK and internationally.
We are accomplished in peer research, co-production, action-based and anti-oppressive research and evaluation. We are experts in helping organisations to engage wider community participation in their projects so that their work is more inclusive and impactful. Through this approach we are dedicated to increasing lived experience leadership.
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