Chapple specializes in community and economic development, metropolitan planning, and poverty, and has published research on spatial mismatch, workforce development in information technology, regional workforce development collaboratives, the relationship between job growth and housing price appreciation, and regional fair share housing programs. In her capacity as faculty director of the UC Berkeley Center for Community Innovation, she has led research on retail revitalization, stable mixed-income neighborhoods, the arts and neighborhood change, affordable housing and transit-oriented development, industrial land supply, and the green economy.