Qualitative lecture 6- Participatory Action Research

Question 1

What is participatory action research?

Answer 1

• PAR combines information gathering (research) with activism.
• It aims to produce knowledge in partnership with those affected by that knowledge.
• The main purpose of such information gathering is to improve the social, educational, and material conditions of those affected.
• PAR exists in a tensional relationship with positivism as it challenges notions of objectivity and promotes active engagement.
• PAR focuses of the community rather than the individual. It emphasises action consequences and how our engagement and what we bring into the research space impacts communities.
• PAR works with knowledge from the bottom-up, rather than from the top-down.

Question 2

What three tensions does PAR straddle?

Answer 2

1. PAR draws on the tension between science and practice.
2. PAR attempts to mediate between individual and collective needs
3. PAR addresses the tensions that exist in the relationship between researcher and researched.

Question 3

PAR draws on the tension between science and practice.

Answer 3

• Authentic knowledge of the human and social world can only be gained through the process of attempting to change that world.
• Authentic change can only happen when it is accompanied by shifts in the knowledge base of those involved.
• Attempts to contribute to both the practical concerns of people and to the larger goals of social science- moving beyond knowledge creation.
• Research needs to be beneficial to the communities we engage with.

Question 4

PAR attempts to mediate between individual and collective needs

Answer 4

• Insists on communal participation in the process of knowledge creation
• Challenges the “ownership” of knowledge by individuals or small interest groups.
• Emphasises the empowerment of the least powerful groups and individuals societies

Question 5

PAR addresses the tensions that exist in the relationship between researcher and researched.

Answer 5

• Researchers try to know with others rather than about them
• Tries to reconceptualize knowledge as something that exists among the people
• Encourages egalitarian research relationships and full involvement of those being researched in every aspect of the project- from conceptualization to implementation.

Question 6

How does PAR view participants?

Answer 6

• They are not merely objects of study, but full partners in the research process- this is about ownership to.

Question 7

PAR involves championing?

Answer 7

1. The everyday world of social give-and-take over “rational” scientific discourse
2. The interest of research participants over those of the researcher
3. The needs of the disempowered groups of those of powerful elites.

Question 8

How do we develop and execute a PAR study?

Answer 8

• Through a cyclical process of design, implementation and analysis which all happen in the community.

Question 9

What are the three phases in developing and executing a PAR study?

Answer 9

1. Define the problem(s)
2. Data collection and analysis
3. Utilisation of results.

Question 10

What does “define the research problem” involve?

Answer 10

• Think critically about your questions or the framing of the social issues you want to study.
• Avoid victim-blaming questions
• E.g. crime and poverty- criminalizing impoverished communities
• Research questions are formed through a process of participation with targeted communities (experts)

Question 11

What is meant by “data collection and analysis”?

Answer 11

• PAR engages participants directly in the data collection and analysis- skills impartation
• Emphasis an open relationship with participants
• Participants have a say in how data is collected and interpreted.

Question 12

What is meant by “utilization of research”?

Answer 12

• Communities have become suspicious of academic researchers (data mining/extraction; publishing in journals and not providing feedback on the findings from those who provided the data; no implementation of findings or benefit for communities)
• PAR ensures that community members have access to and control over findings and participate in decisions about dissemination and implementation
• “Researcher” in PAR could refer to both the community and those with “expert” knowledge
• Researchers have an obligation to enable communities to act on their own behalf.

Question 13

What are the three ultimate goals of PAR?

Answer 13

1. Structured transformation which is achieved in a collaborative relationship between researcher and participants
2. The improvement of the lives of those involved.
3. To raise awareness in people of their own abilities and resources to mobilize for social action- empowerment (enables sustainable practice)

Question 14

What is the role of empowerment in PAR?

Answer 14

• Empowerment is more than a psychological process, but also has to do with structural changes in a community.
• The researcher as an activist has the responsibility to create bridges
• PAR promotes shifts in access to knowledge and economic resources.