Community Operations Research

Community Operational Research (Community OR) has been an explicit sub-domain of Operations Research (OR) for more than 30 years according to Midgley et al. (2018).

• Community OR cannot be defined by its clients, practitioners or methods
• Is characterised by its concern for meaningful engagement of communities

Relationship with its parent discipline

1. More explicitly political
2. Claims that it should be grounded in the theory, methodology and practice of systems thinking
3. There exist similarities and differences between the UK and US traditions
4. Extent to which Community OR offers an enhanced understanding of practice that could be useful to OR more generally

References

Midgley, G., Johnson, M. P., & Chichirau, G. (2018). What is community operational research?. European Journal of Operational Research, 268(3), 771-783.