Participatroy Action Research

Fully revised and updated, this second edition of Participatory Action Research (PAR) provides new theoretical insights and many robust tools that will guide researchers, professionals and students from all disciplines through the process of conducting action research ‘with’ people rather than ‘for’ them or ‘about’ them. PAR is collective reasoning and evidence-based learning focussed on social action. It has immediate relevance in fields ranging from community development to education, health, public engagement, environmental issues and problem solving in the workplace. This new edition has been extensively revised to create a user-friendly textbook on PAR theory and practice, including: updated references and a comprehensive overview of different approaches to PAR (pragmatic, psychosocial, critical); more emphasis on the art of process design, especially in complex social settings characterized by uncertainty and the unknown; developments in the use of Web2 collaborative tools and digital strategies to support real-time data gathering and processing; updated examples and stories from around the world, in a wide range of fields; critical commentaries on major issues in the social sciences, including stakeholder theory, systems thinking, causal analysis, monitoring and evaluation, research ethics, risk assessment and social innovation. This modular textbook provides novel perspectives and ideas in a longstanding tradition that strives to reconnect science and the inquiry process with life in society. It provides coherent and critical treatment of core issues in the ongoing evolution of PAR, making it suitable for a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. It is intended for use by researchers, students and working professionals seeking to improve or rethink their approach to co-creating knowledge and supporting action for the well-being of all.

This book examines the justification, theorization, practice and implications of Participatory Action Research approaches and methods in the social and environmental sciences.

Participatory Action Research (PAR) introduces a method that is ideal for researchers who are committed to co-developing research programs with people rather than for people. The book provides a history of this technique, its various strands, and the underlying tenets that guide most projects. It then draws on two PAR projects that highlight three integral dimensions: the meaning of participation; the way action manifests itself; and the strategies for gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information. Author Alice McIntyre describes the various ways in which PAR is carried out depending on, for example, the issue under investigation, the site of the project, the project participants, people's access to resources, and other related issues. Intended Audience: This resource is an ideal supplement for graduate courses PAR, qualitative research, and various types of action-based research.

This book describes a method in which researchers commit to research WITH, not ON, members of marginalized communities in order to challenge and transform conditions of social injustice.

This Handbook is a critical resource for carefully considering the possibilities and challenges of strategically integrating participatory action research (PAR) and community development (CD). Utilizing practical examples from diverse contexts across five continents, it looks at how communities are empowering themselves and bringing about systemic change.

Participatory Action Research in Healthcare provides a guide toparticipatory action research in the community health setting. Itdraws upon the authors' experiences working, researching andengaging with people utilising collaborative, participatoryapproaches. The authors position participatory action research as avital, dynamic and relevant approach that can be engaged bypractitioners and health service providers. It is argued thatparticipating with people is the way to move forward towardsustainable services that evoke human flourishing. Participatory Action Research in Healthcare explores the key issuessurrounding participatory action research, and examines thebenefits of this approach for community development and healthpromotion. It includes detailed guidelines on data generation andanalysis.

In this book, authors present current research on the implementation of reform mathematics in order to identify, explore, and evaluate five specific goals. Students were presented with problem solving activities that correlated with real-world situations. During this process, students tracked their confidence and growth as mathematicians. Next, the ways in which students learn to effectively engage in natural discussions related to the literature they are reading are examined. Barriers to the implementation of literature circles in the classroom are discussed, and ideas for successful execution are highlighted. Action research (AR) leaders roles are explored through two studies, with the frame constituting of K-20 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and how participant engagement leads to AR project insight. The authors provide suggestions for future AR leaders. Afterwards, this compilation goes on to discuss how teaching Participatory Action Research (PAR) in MITs Department of Urban Studies and Planning has led to focus on the responsibilities of action researchers and their obligations to the communities and places in which they work; and the importance of building the capacity of community members so that they can take control of the research being done about, with, and for them. The authors explore the way in which Curriculum Studies have addressed relevance and by proposing a framework for the study of curriculum relevance in general, which was adapted from literature on Science Education. The proposal considers three dimensions of relevance: societal, vocational, and individual. A chapter is included which fully addresses the analysis of one of the cases developed in the authors previous work, in which students have to reconstruct their memories about the experiences they had during compulsory education in order to compare them with the experiences they have during the practicum. The authors share their concerns about the process of accompaniment, the process of student participation in the design and assessment of the subjects, and the search for situated and transformative learning in a university context. The book proposes the use of action research in higher education, especially in programs that use practical approaches such as residency programs in healthcare. The text also discusses similar themes such as andragogy, meaningful learning, active learning, and systemic thinking. Additionally, a teacher-driven approach for changes in teaching chemical bonding was chosen, inspired by the PAR model suggested by Eilks and Ralle. The authors determine that remote networking of a teacher action researcher with a PAR-driven community of practitioners and academic educational researchers helped strengthen the process of research and development and contributed to strengthen the teachers continuous professional development. Subsequently, an application of participatory action research (PAR) conducted in Italy is illustrated. In describing the structure of action research, it can first be asserted that it is not a linear methodology of research but instead a cyclical process that proceeds through greater levels of complexity. In conclusion, the book aims to determine the relationship between the principles, approaches and applications of participatory action research (PAR) by using a case study of wood-carving workers. The authors maintain that although this project was successful in increasing health awareness of the workers and the community, long-term impact and sustainability of networking and activities need to be examined.

In this book the authors tell their stories of action research in their own ways, and indeed, give expression to their own cultural positioning as they draw upon their extensive experience in the field and the academy. They write in terms of their own experience, but with a collective as well as individual purpose. Contributors describe the history of participatory action research, and identify its interpretations in the diverse cultural contexts of Colombia, India, Austria, Australia, Venezuela, USA, England, Spain, Thailand, and New Caledonia. Drawing on the fields of nursing, education, community development, land reform, popular education, agriculture, and mass media, the authors describe the development of democratic research practice in quite different institutional and cultural contexts.Teachers, social workers, managers, nurses, adult educators, and agricultural extension and community development workers will all find this collection of writings from key participatory action research practitioners useful and informative.