“Community-Based Operations Research”

“Community-based operations research” is defined as the collection of analytical methods applied to problem domains in which interests of underrepresented, underserved or vulnerable populations in localized jurisdictions, formal or informal, receive special emphasis, and for which solutions to problems of core concern for daily living must be identified and implemented so as to jointly optimize economic efficiency, social equity and administrative burdens. As such, it represents a specific domain within public-sector operations research. Community-based OR problems tend to be “messy” and highly dependent on political and social considerations. Nevertheless, solution of these problems is essential to the continued health and well-being of individuals, families, communities and entire regions. This tutorial emphasizes current research in a variety of application areas. We identify a tension between problems that reflect unique characteristics of local communities and those that represent more general characteristics that bridge diverse communities. We propose principles for bridging the gap between quantitative model- and methods-based approaches typically associated with private-sector problems, and qualitative policy and process-oriented approaches typically associated with public-sector problems. We examine two research applications in detail: food security and affordable housing, and in so doing emphasize the commonality of problem attributes and the diversity of modeling and solution methods.