What is the Action Research eXchange (ARX)?

ARX is a program that connects students with non-profit community organizations that need research but have limited resources. Students can do ARX projects as part of their coursework, or they can take on an ARX project independently.

By matching these parties up, we hope to integrate more community-initiated and -directed research into student education at SFU, as well as support the development and sustainability of community groups working toward change.

What is the mandate of ARX?

The goal of ARX is to facilitate research in collaboration with the local community – in the spirit of mobilizing academic resources for social justice and community action. We are also committed to introducing ideas of participatory action research to the SFU community.

How does ARX work?

Community groups submit project proposals to SFPIRG. If the project matches the guidelines of the program the project is posted online and publicized to the campus community.

Motivated students choose projects that match their interests and then contact the SFPIRG Research Coordinator.

If the student wishes to complete the project as part of their course work then the next step is to seek approval for the project from a faculty member so that the work can be counted toward the student’s course credit. Students completing ARX projects for course credit work under the guidance of the community group and the faculty member.

If the student wishes to complete the project independently, then a plan will be put into place to ensure that the student has the support that they need to complete the work.

Once these first steps have been completed, the SFPIRG Research Coordinator will arrange a meeting between the student and the community group to discuss the project. If, after this meeting, everyone is satisfied that it is a good match, then the project contract is signed by the student and the community group representative and the work begins!