The Karen resettlement story: A participatory action research project on refugee educational experiences in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gilhooly ◽  
Eunbae Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
White Male ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Refugee Youth

This study discusses Karen refugees and their education experiences in the United States via a participatory action research. A White male American English tutor and three adolescent Karen brothers took a road trip and visited with the Karen diaspora communities throughout the United States. Researchers in collaboration designed the study, collected qualitative data (interviews, participant observations, artifacts), and analyzed the data and identified five challenges facing Karen youth in- and out-of school: English language divide, parental involvement in their children’s schooling, bullying, gangs, and gender. We discuss how involvement in such a participatory action research can promote new awareness and agency for minority youth. Furthermore, we suggest ways for teachers, school administrators, and community members to help refugee youth better adapt to their communities and schools.

The challenges of participation in doing community-based participatory action research: Lessons from the Kwithu Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalis G Wamba
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Random Group ◽  
Running Water

The Kwithu project started when a volunteer who joined Kwithu, a community-based organization in Mzuzu, Malawi (Africa), to teach English gave a diagnostic test to a random group of forty 7th and 8th graders (20 boys and 20 girls) and discovered that most of them could hardly read or write in English. The test results prompted Maureen, the Kwithu director and co-founder, the teacher and myself to meet with the headteachers of the three schools mostly attended by Kwithu children. The headteachers appreciated our concerns about the English proficiency of the children, but they advised us to focus on more urgent matters if we truly wanted to help, e.g., lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of running water in schools, hunger, teacher qualifications, etc. This advice shifted our initial inquiry goal—from English language teaching—to a community-based participatory action research project designed to address the school conditions in Luwinga. In this paper, I describe the community-based participatory action research inquiry and I reflect on the process of participation.

scholarly journals Embracing problems, processes, and contact zones: Using youth participatory action research to challenge adultism

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genia M Bettencourt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Research Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Problem Posing ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Theoretical Construct ◽  
Participatory Action

In the United States, adultism creates dynamics in which youth are oppressed and their experiences dismissed. Youth participatory action research (YPAR), a research method and theoretical construct, provides one forum through which to challenge adultism by providing youth with voice and input. Such an approach contrasts with traditional banking models of education to focus on the assets youth possess. In this article, I argue that YPAR can serve as a tool for liberation when approached as a contact zone, problem-posing education, and a process rather than a product. I then advocate for key considerations of YPAR work to include the need to challenge research norms, encourage reflexivity, and promote youth-centered approaches. These considerations span individual, collective, and institutional measures to support equitable and just applications of YPAR work.

The Contributions and Challenge of Participatory Action Research

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Deutsch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participatory Action

This article offers some illustrations of participatory action research in the field of occupational health and safety, including collaboration with June Fisher. It places her work in the larger context of these intervention and action research efforts that are designed to improve the work environment by enhancing worker participation. Challenges for occupational health professionals in the United States are offered.

scholarly journals We Have Something to Say: Youth Participatory Action Research as a Promising Practice to Address Problems of Practice in Rural Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Darris Means ◽  
Sydney Blackmon ◽  
Elizabeth Drake ◽  
Paris Lawrence ◽  
Angel Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
School Library ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Problems Of Practice

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education.

Actieonderzoek in leefstijlonderzoek is geen sinecure

KWALON ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Famke van Lieshout ◽  
Gaby Jacobs ◽  
Shaun Cardiff
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Clinical Practice Setting ◽  
Learning Together

Action research in lifestyle research is no sinecure. Response to Kromme et al.: ‘Changing together is learning together’, a participatory action research project This is a reply to the contribution entitled: ‘Learning together is changing together: A participatory action research project on the role of the internist in promoting a healthy lifestyle’. Here the authors highlight the complexity of facilitating participatory action research (PAR) in a clinical practice setting and reflect on the first three stages of their research through eight principles that could guide PAR, as described by Van Lieshout et al. (2017). As we developed these principles, we explain the principles of participation, reflexivity, contextuality and transformation in greater detail in relation to the context of this study. The authors made suggestions to change the five-phased model of PAR to get a better grip on the process. The authors rightly highlighted some limitations in the labeling of some phases. However, it is the reflexivity on the multiple perspectives that facilitators encounter and the relationships they engage with during the process, as well as acknowledging the iterative process of PAR, which needs to be embraced and experienced during the entire process of study.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document