Participatory Action Research

“Participatory action research (PAR) is an approach to research rather than a research method (…). The approach seeks to situate power within the research process with those who are most affected by a program [or issue]. The intention is that the participant is an equal partner with the researcher”

(AIFS,2015)

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is an approach. This means that it is a research style consisting of a set of principles to understand and carry out research. This approach can be used to better understand experiences and help to improve the lives of marginalised communities whose voices are not always listened to. Such communities can include:

• children and adolescents
• Black and other racially minoritised groups
• people with lived experience of mental health issues
• people with disabilities
• LGBTQ+ communities
• domestic violence survivors
• people experiencing homelessness

When using a PAR approach, power is redistributed from the researchers to the participants. Participants are empowered to control what knowledge is produced and how this is done. This knowledge is then reflected on with the intention of creating action to improve the experiences of the affected communities.

PAR is based on several principles:

• Social change – intended to enable action that leads to a change or improvement of an issue. This is achieved by combining science (research) with practice (change).
• Participation – driven by research participants and other individuals or agencies who have a stake in the issue being researched (stakeholders).
• Power of knowledge (empowerment) – a model of learning in community, where knowledge is carefully and purposefully produced, owned and used by stakeholders, and provides new insights for both researchers and practitioners.
• Collaboration – expands the emphasis from action and change to collaborative research activities that occur at every stage of the research cycle, including programme planning, implementation and evaluation (AIFS,2015).

In PAR, research participants are ideally included from the very start of a project so they can shape every stage of the research process. However, this will vary depending on the scope of the project and its aims. Importantly there is not one way to conduct a PAR approach.

Here is a list of some PAR focused methods. Please note that there are more methods than those listed here:

Diary Studies – participants are asked to keep a diary over a period where they note their experiences on a regular basis. This can give you ‘highly contextual information to assess attitudes, behaviors and motivations’. The long-term nature of this method allows you to understand how and why the experiences of your participants change over time.

Digital Storytelling – an arts-based research method that showcases the lived experiences of participants through storytelling. This usually involves some form of visual participant narration in the form of ‘images, video, audio…, and text to create compelling accounts of experiences’. This is highly useful in getting messages to audiences who would not typically know about the participants’ experiences.

Mapping – involves participants in a mapmaking exercise to highlight the experiences and issues felt by community members in their own local communities and spaces. Mapping can also come in the form of mind-maps, where participants explore matters surrounding their lived experiences with the facilitation of a researcher.

Photovoice – provides participants with photography skills which are then used to visually capture their lived experiences. These images are publicly exhibited to reach decision makers and raise awareness about this community’s experiences. (Explore Photovoice also via the Research Methods Toolkit).

Research-Based Theatre – an arts-based approach that draws on the participation of an affected community to showcase their lived experience through ‘showing rather than telling’. This can be a powerful form of communication that allows issues to be shared through dramatised data and theatrical methods. This allows issues to reach a diverse range of audiences who would otherwise be unknowing, whilst evoking powerful emotions in the viewer.

In summary, PAR allows for deep insights to be discovered about participants’ experiences and encourages public engagement to achieve change. Those most affected are included in every step of the research, interpretation of results, sharing of findings and action process.

(Author: Raza Hussain)

Videos:

Manuals & Guides:

Participatory action research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2015)

This guide begins by defining PAR and outlining the key terms related to this topic. It offers an understanding of PAR’s main principles, benefits and limitations, and when it should and should  not be used. It briefly explains how to do PAR and the different phases within it.

(Academic reference: Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2015). Participatory action research/ AIFS. https://aifs.gov.au/resources/practice-guides/participatory-action-research)

Articles:

Participatory action research by Fran Baum, Collin MacDougall and Danielle Smith (2006)    

This article outlines and explains key terms that are important to PAR. This can help you to get more insight into what PAR is.

(Academic reference: Baum, F., MacDougall, C., & Smith, D. (2006). Participatory action research. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60(10), 854)

Websites:

About PAR – Participatory action research By Carelton College (2022)

This webpage starts with an explanation of what PAR is. It does this by outlining a definition of PAR and explaining the history of PAR which inform its main principles. It proceeds to draw on examples of PAR.

(Academic reference: Carelton College (2022) About PAR. Carleton.edu. https://participatoryactionresearch.sites.carleton.edu/about-par/)

Manuals and Guides:

Participatory health research: a guide to ethical principles and practice by the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research (2013) 

This guide offers valuable insight into ethical issues surrounding PAR. It then gives examples of these ethical principles in practise. This is highly useful when seeking to understand what sort of ethical issues may arise when carrying out PAR and how to navigate them.

(Academic reference: International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research. (2013). Participatory health research: A guide to ethical principles and practice. ICPHR http://www.icphr.org/uploads/2/0/3/9/20399575/ichpr_position_paper_2_ethics_-_version_october_2013.pdf)

Articles:

Participatory research methods: A methodological approach in motion by Jarg Bergold and Stefan Thomas (2012)

This document explains what PAR is, its main principles, who can be involved and some of the challenges when attempting to carry out this approach. It also offers an understanding of the steps involved in conducting PAR.

(Academic reference: Bergold, J. & Thomas, S. (2012). Participatory research methods: A methodological approach in motion. Forum Qualitative Social Research, 30(1) https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1801/3334)

Books:

Participatory action research By M. Walter (2009)

This book chapter explains how the PAR approach does not follow a standard step-by-step approach but rather it requires a cycle of action, planning and observation. This would be useful to understand how to conduct a method with a PAR approach.

(Academic reference: Walter, M. (2009). Participatory action research. In A. Bryman (Ed.), Social research methods (pp. 151-158). London: The Falmer Press.)

Manuals and Guides:

Websites: