Qualitative Health Research 2016, Vol. 26(1) 3–4 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1049732315617445 qhr.sagepub.com CBPR: Editorial The era of community-based participatory research (CBPR) began years ago. It may have even started with the American Revolution, when angry colonists rallied under a banner of “taxation without representation” and demanded that their unwelcome despot change his ways. Much more recently, in the early 1990s, disability activ- ists brought the slogan “nothing about us without us” to common usage. With its history of social marginalization, discrimination, and various forms of inhumane treatment, this particular community had had enough. Its members wanted to be included—not just as an afterthought, but also from the “get go”—in the research questions and policy platforms that involved them. Now, many commu- nities are following suit, demanding respect, inclusion, and research methodologies inviting their active partici- pation. An array of advocates supporting indigenous rights and decolonizing perspectives also make similar calls: Methodologies “of the oppressed” promote eman- cipation of our collective consciousness and instigation of progressive social movements through what has been referred to as “a hermeneutics of love in the postmodern world” (Sandoval, 2000, pp. 10–11). CBPR is steeped in local geography, culture, and rela- tionships—it is community based. CBPR is participatory when partnerships form between community members and researchers to address jointly shared priorities and research agendas. From the inception of the research pur- pose to the implications of the research endeavor, CBPR participants live up to the intent of mutual collaboration by actively working with researchers for social change. Because CBPR is nested in true-to-life environments, its results—discussions, critiques, and writings about meth- ods, ethics, and outcomes—inform us not only about the health and illness features, but also of the resiliencies and strengths of the natural and built environments where people live, work, and play. Knowing what to ideally expect of CBPR begs the question of how to do it. Qualitative methods are dynamic, as are CBPR methods. To evolve our methods, we write. To keep our methods safe, relevant, and respectful, we write. To encourage representation within our methods, we write. These tasks riddle our written works. In the pro- cess, we learn basic lessons about ourselves, regardless of how we entered the research endeavor or what brought about our research collaborations. “Other people don’t think like I do!” is perhaps the one common insight born of such collaborative efforts. Idealistic researchers may enter research settings expecting enthusiastic community members to fully “participate,” only to discover that even on the basics—what “participation” means, for exam- ple—understandings differ, and disappointments can occur. CBPR is thus of necessity both process and prod- uct, ongoing over time, a dynamic, engaging, “back- and-forth” between researchers and community members that illuminates underlying structural challenges and highlights how humans interact amid those challenges. This special issue of Qualitative Health Research (QHR) addresses the use of qualitative methods in CBPR from many viewpoints. We honestly hope the articles in this issue will enthuse and inspire new qualitative health researchers and “old hands” at research endeavors alike, whether they are interested in becoming or currently involved in the CBPR enterprises as academics, community partners, stakeholders, funders, or evaluators of research. In review, this issue offers the following: • A variety of snapshots that illustrate the state-of- the-science and state-of-the-art in qualitative CBPR research; • Several engaging articles about certain “hidden” populations or at-risk populations (Darroch & Giles, 2015; Hunleth, 2015; Johnson et al., 2015; Phillips, Rowsell, Boomer, Kwon, & Currie, 2015; Waterworth, Dimmock, Pescud, Braham, & Rosenberg, 2015); • A survey of various qualitative methodologies within CBPR (Berger, Stauffacher, Zinsstag, Edwards, & Krütli, 2015; Kingery, 2015; Paradiso de Suya & Chanmugam, 2015); 617445QHR XX X 10.1177/1049732315617445Qualitative Health ResearchClark and Ventres research-article 2015 1 University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA 2 University of El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador Corresponding Author: Lauren Clark, College of Nursing, University of Utah, 10 S. 2000 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Email: lauren.clark@nurs.utah.edu Qualitative Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research: Coming of Age Lauren Clark 1 and William Ventres 2