ABSTRACT
How can we think about the research enterprise in civic engagement? The purpose of many institutions of higher education is to engage in research and, in particular, research for the common good, or to use a somewhat out of fashion word, for the commonweal. So this is not a challenging question until we deconstruct it. Who initiates the research? Who decides on its purpose and focus? Who controls the research–how it is undertaken? And, how it is used? Answers to these questions are easy, some may say. The answers are apparent. Research expertise and research authority lie within the university or within other institutions of higher education, and all the tenets of positivism suggest that the researchers, the people who possess the mandate, control the inquiry.
