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W E L T O N - M A N S F I E L D  |  P O L I T I C A L  A C T I O N

VO L .  3,  I S S U E  1

W E L T O N - M A N S F I E L D  |  P O L I T I C A L  A C T I O N

More than Just an  
Academic Exercise
Conjoining Critical Policy Analysis and Community- 
Engaged Research as Embodiment of Political Action 

ANJALE WELTON AND KATHERINE CUMINGS MANSFIELD

ABSTRACT
Critical policy analysis (CPA) is a means by which to critique policy and promote agency, equity, and justice. 
However, most CPA scholars examine political discourse from a distance rather than actively participate 
in political processes. Meanwhile, there is a growing interest in community-engaged research whereby 
academics partner with community members in their research endeavors. In this article, we consider the 
value of conjoining the philosophies and processes behind both CPA and community-engaged research to 
create more powerful and meaningful research endeavors that potentially can lead to political action and 
policy change. For this article, we present a subset of data from a larger study that asked education policy 
scholars how critical policy analysis informs their work and what they consider to be key objectives of this 
approach. We focus on a subsection of participants who demonstrated how and in what ways they consider 
community-engaged scholarship to be an essential component of CPA. Participants discussed the roles of 
empowerment and voice, emphasized the importance of moving from theory to action in their research, and 
provided examples of how they embodied policy making on the ground with participants in their 
communities.
Welton, A. & Mansfield, K.C. (2020). More than just an academic exercise: Conjoining critical policy analysis and community-en-
gaged research as an embodiment of political action. Educational Studies, 56 (6), 619-635.

So what does this mean?

Critical policy analysis is a guiding framework and tool that education policy researchers can use to exam-
ine whether and how policies promote equity and justice in education. However, scholars who use this 
approach often conduct research on communities rather than collaborat-ing with communities to 
research educational issues that directly impact them and their communities. In this article, we argue that 
critical approaches to conducting education policy research can and should be-come more community-
engaged because the power of collaborative research lies in its potential to create political action and 
policy change.

To make our point, we present a subset of data from a larger study that asked education policy scholars 
how critical policy analysis informs their research and what they consider to be key objectives of this 
approach. We focus on this subsection of scholars who discuss how overtime, their policy research has 
become more community-engaged and how that has transformed not only the research process but the 
fruitfulness of their work. For example, participants discussed the roles of empowerment and voice, em-
phasized the importance of moving from theory to action in their research, and provided examples of how 
policy work can happen on the ground with participants in their communities.




