Community assessment utilizes an ecological approach by gathering qualitative and quantitative data to examine contextual factors that may play a role in the creation and maintenance of resources, needs, and concerns impacting a community. Inclusion of culturally competent interdisciplinary stakeholders who have knowledge of a community from a strengths-based perspective is critical. We highlight the process of community assessment from the initial planning stage to developing a community action plan. Strategies such as recruiting a community advisory board and use of qualitative (e.g., interviews, focus groups, observations, social media applications, photo journals), and quantitative measures focusing on various facets of community (e.g., resources, social capital, neighborhood characteristics) are considered important parts of the community needs assessment. Two case examples are provided to illustrate how community assessment can be used to inform service provision. The first case addresses the needs of underserved members of a growing community of refugee families, and the second addresses concerns to improve the academic performance of Black and Latinx students in two large public school districts. Both cases reflect the complexities of community-based assessment involving stakeholders from different professional disciplines with potentially unique agendas, various qualitative and quantitative data sources, and innovative action plans.

This chapter provides an overview of qualitative research methods in substance and behavioral addictions research and practice. It discusses the nature and importance of qualitative methodologies in iterating how individual perspectives, social meanings, and lived experiences impact the nature of substance and behavioral addictions. Methods addressed include ethnography, participant and nonparticipant observation, qualitative interviews, focus groups, and participatory action research (PAR), and empirical evidence in the context of addictions is provided. Additionally, a brief summary of each method and generally understood advantages and disadvantages of each are given. Data analysis techniques covered include grounded theory, narrative and discourse analysis, and thematic analysis. Lastly, major contributions to the field of addictions regarding research on hard-to-reach and marginalized populations, evaluating treatment and intervention services, measuring risk behaviors, investigating barriers to treatment programs, conceptualizing motivational and emotional components of addiction, and aiding in the formation of diagnostic criterion are reviewed.