Resident experts: The potential of critical Participatory Action Research to inform public housing research and practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amie Thurber ◽  
Leslie Collins ◽  
Marilyn Greer ◽  
Demetrese McKnight ◽  
Darlene Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Housing Research ◽  
Critical Participatory Action Research

Policies affecting those living in poverty are often created without the direct and meaningful participation of the people meant to be served. This has been especially the case with public housing. To contextualize the need for alternative approaches to inquiry, we begin by examining the history of public housing through the lens of oppression and present critical Participatory Action Research as an alternative approach to research and policy-making. We provide a case study of a critical Participatory Action Research project sited in a public housing project slated for redevelopment. We conclude that engaging “resident experts” in the research process heightened the validity and credibility of the findings, amplified residents' self-determination, and provided greater congruence between the researchers' social justice values and our research methods.

Critical Participatory Action Research in a Rural Community Committed to Peacebuilding in Times of Crisis

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-218
Author(s):  
Lina Trigos-Carrillo ◽  
Laura Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Academic Communities ◽  
Critical Participatory Action Research

Conducting critical community research during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unexpected challenges to academic communities. In this chapter, the authors analyze the obstacles faced in a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) education project with a rural community of former guerrilla members in the Amazon piedmont in Colombia. After this analysis, the authors present four CPAR principles to support critical community work during difficult times. The authors argue that communicative action, horizontal community participation in all the stages of the research process, time commitment, and the leverage of other competing needs should be guaranteed and maintained during times of crisis. CPAR offers opportunities to advocate better conditions for the most affected communities in moments of increasing inequality.

scholarly journals Shifting Gears: Lessons Learnt From Critical, Collaborative, Self-Reflection on Community-Based Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulza Olim de Sousa ◽  
Emerentia Antoinette Hay ◽  
Schalk Petrus Raath ◽  
Aubrey Albertino Fransman ◽  
Barend Wilhelm Richter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Self Reflection

This article reflects the learning of five researchers in higher education in South Africa who took part in a participatory action research project to educate teachers how to integrate climate change issues into their teaching and learning. It was the first time any of the researchers had used participatory action research. We are all from natural science backgrounds and now involved in education for sustainable development. We had been trained in more traditional, objective, and researcher-driven methodologies grounded in a positivist paradigm. The purpose of this article is to share our learning about the changes we had to make in our thinking and practices to align with a participatory paradigm. We used reflective diaries to record our journey through the action research cycles. A thematic analysis of our diaries was supplemented by recorded discussions between the researchers. The analysis revealed that, while it was challenging to begin thinking in a different paradigm, we came to appreciate the value of the action research process that enabled teachers to integrate climate change issues into their teaching in a participatory way. We also concluded that we require more development to be able to conduct participatory research in a manner true to its values and principles. The conclusions we came to through our collaborative reflections may be of value to other researchers from similar scientific backgrounds who wish to learn what shifts in paradigm, methods, and processes are needed to be able to conduct community-based research in a participatory way.

“We the People”: Epistemological Moves Through Cultural Praxis

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Alberto Quijada Cerecer ◽  
Caitlin Cahill ◽  
Yvette Sonia González Coronado ◽  
Jarred Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The People ◽  
Shared Context

How do young people embody activism and artistic praxis as they commit to community-based participatory action research for social change? We consider how the arts might provide a social and shared context for challenging racialized characterizations. Our analysis draws upon arts-based participatory action research projects conducted by the Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective ( https://maacollective.org ), a social justice think tank led by the urgent concerns of young people of color. Specifically, we engage the arts as integral to the research process—an epistemological move that opens up new ways of understanding and knowing our world and representing ourselves.

Samen veranderen is samen leren

KWALON ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolien Kromme ◽  
Kees Ahaus ◽  
Rijk Gans ◽  
Harry van de Wiel
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Space Versus ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project

Changing together is learning together. A participatory action research project on the role of the internist in promoting a healthy lifestyle This article describes the first three stages of an action research project. Following eight methodological principles of participatory action research, this article aims to give insight in the nature of the challenges and dilemmas involving internists, patients and patient representatives in the research process mention. Dilemmas included giving space versus limiting participation together with operating efficiently versus being flexible and honoring the input of all participants equally. It was a challenge to reflect not only on the content and procedures but also on everybody’s role in the learning process. In conclusion, action research offers a critical base for a participative and reflective method but it is also a challenge for busy healthcare practices that focus on content and concrete action and less on the learning process. Because reflection on the learning process is important for scientific standards, we suggest to give monitoring and reflection a central place in the action research cycle.

scholarly journals Exploring teachers’ experiences of action research

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-422
Author(s):  
Sinéad Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Education System ◽  
English Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Critical Participatory Action Research ◽  
State Schools

Through exploring the author’s experiences of working with five teachers who undertook an action research project for their master’s dissertations, this article establishes that it is possible for critical participatory action research to address issues around the perceived de-professionalization of teachers, and challenge the exploitative nature of education within English state schools. Semi-structured interviews with five teachers showed that this was an empowering experience, which provided a number of benefits, including an increased sense of professionalism, and that they would recommend action research to other teachers. Their experiences and insights have been used to discuss options for implementing action research more widely, identifying potential challenges and suggesting possible solutions. Based on both sets of experiences, I suggest that it would be valuable for action research to be implemented more widely within the English education system, as a method of addressing teachers’ frustrations around accountability and performativity.

scholarly journals Lessons Learnt: Reflections on the ‘Insider-Outsider Divide’ in Working With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in a Participatory Action Research Project

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110663
Author(s):  
Jenny McDougall ◽  
Caroline Henderson-Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Institutional Expectations ◽  
Equitable Outcomes

This paper explores the challenges and possibilities in research that involves students from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, a group that tends to be overlooked in university settings and in the literature. We present a reflexive account of our experiences as researchers in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study that explored the needs of CALD students from an enabling (access) program in a regional Australian university. PAR was chosen as a research method out of our desire to give these students a voice and to help break down any potential barriers because of our positioning as researchers. We draw on the concept of ‘researcher as insider-outsider’ (Merriam, 2016) to highlight these aspects in our analysis of the research process. Some of our democratic objectives were achieved, but we also found there were limitations. Our position as Caucasian, Australian-born English speakers meant that we remained ‘outsiders’ to the CALD experience in fundamental ways. Further, our ‘insider’ status as researchers and lecturers was difficult to ignore, and institutional expectations created additional barriers. Some aspects of our data collection had unintended negative consequences, thus necessitating a change of course. On the plus side, however, consulting with students at each stage of the research helped to create more equal, trusting relationships and fostered empathetic understandings. The continual cycle of reflection and action assisted in ensuring we were responsive to the needs of participants. Although there are no guarantees, our experiences suggest that collaborative methods can assist in blurring the researcher-researched divide and give vulnerable communities greater agency in research. Despite the complexities and risks, exploring the needs of CALD students remains a worthwhile research endeavour. Any attempts to achieve equitable outcomes should highlight the capacity and potential of these students and not just their vulnerabilities.

scholarly journals Art as a transformative practice: A participatory action research project with trans* youth

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1061-1077
Author(s):  
Kenta Asakura ◽  
Jess Lundy ◽  
Dillon Black ◽  
Cara Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Trans Youth

Given that promoting social justice is one of the central organizing principles of social work, it comes as no surprise that participatory action research has gained much attention among social work researchers. While much has been written about promising practices of participatory action research with various marginalized communities, there remains a dearth of participatory action research literature that focuses on trans* people, a population often under attack in current socio-political climates. In this paper, we report on a participatory action research project, in which a trans* artist worked closely with trans* youth participants (n = 5) to assist them through a creative project. Using a queer theoretical lens and drawing from the concept of “queer world-making,” the participants recast cultural representations about what it means to be trans* in their chosen artistic medium. This paper suggests that art can serve as a transformative research practice with trans* youth. Our findings suggest that the rhetorical binary of trans* vulnerability and resilience does not adequately represent lived experience. We make this argument by demonstrating the following processes through which youths engaged art in this participatory action research project: (1) countering normative discourses of what it means to be trans*, (2) promoting self- reflection and expression, and (3) facilitating “queer counterpublics.” In so doing, we make an argument for art as a qualitative research process that holds much promise in uncovering and challenging the normative discourse and developing a much more complex and nuanced understanding of what it means to be trans* youth.

Amplifying Action: Theories, Questions, Doubts, and Hopes Related to the “Action” Phase of a Critical Participatory Action Research Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-242
Author(s):  
SARAH ZELLER-BERKMAN ◽  
JESSICA BARRETO ◽  
ASHA SANDLER
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
York City ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Critical Participatory Action Research ◽  
Activist Groups

In this essay, authors Sarah Zeller-Berkman, Jessica Barreto, and Asha Sandler, members of an intergenerational research team, explore findings from a critical participatory action research (CPAR) project on the lived experiences of young people in New York City who fell behind in middle school and/or who had the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in their lives. This qualitative companion project to a Department of Education (DOE) and ACS data-sharing initiative included focus groups that surfaced recommendations for healing-centered approaches, equitable schools, and institutionalized ways young people are part of identifying issues and implementing solutions. This article examines these recommendations in relation to past and concurrent CPAR projects conducted by other intergenerational participatory action research and/or activist groups in New York City. It articulates a theory of action as it relates to youth participation on issues that impact young people’s lives more broadly, not just related to school reform.

scholarly journals Inuit involvement in developing a participatory action research project on youth, violence prevention, and health promotion

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Morris
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Violence Prevention ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project

This article describes the process of developing an academic and community participatory action research partnership on Inuit youth and violence prevention through social media. Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada chose the topic, defined the research goals, co-developed the first draft of the project and its methodology, established and chaired an Inuit advisory committee, spearheaded consultations with other Inuit organizations to refine the methodology, and co-facilitated a focus group. The “action” part of the project involved using the research results to develop with Inuit youth an outreach strategy to prevent violence and promote health via social media. The article discusses the research process, which was guided by Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional values) and which used a methodology redesigned by Inuit, including youth and elders. The result was a violence prevention focus group for Inuit aged 18 to 25, co-led by the Mamisarvik Healing Centre, and an online survey of social media use among Inuit aged 18 to 25. This participatory action research process is presented as a potential model for academic-community partnerships.

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