Participatory Action Research - Science topic

The way communication in Social Networks is structured has some specific advantages in contrast to more traditional means of communication as interpersonal, chatting, or even epistolary. Most of the messages have certain metadata, like a timestamp, interface, ip address, device mac address, user agent, coordinates, and often such as the actual device parameters as battery level, signal strength or carrier. All of that allows to enrich the experience. With proper analytics tools we may collect data, then define our find out metrics that pertain to specific topics but also to individual users, their performance, reaction time, and interactions between other people and between them and components of user interface (like hoover time on a button, link or glyph) . Measurement process doesn't seem way too invasive to end users at the first glance, but for sure may pose as a highly accurate input into improvement plans, increasing the effectiveness of organization in e.g., building expertise, gathering knowledge or any other perimeter. Due to proliferation of federated social networks with open source code I see it may be important in the future to design such nodes or small servers, that will provide to a specific group of students or researchers a customized experience aimed at developing their skills and collaboration. But for that a root control of the backend and robust analytics must also be applied to the environment, as well as roles defined for the users.

Check this

I agree that it is not participatory action research. It is exploratory in nature if not much is known about the work-related stress among headteachers, particularly if there is little to no primary research involving the teachers themselves. In that case, it is indeed a contribution to policy discourse in the domain of education.

The PAR approach seems ideal for supporting marginalized communities and promoting social justice. I have experience in my doctoral research using PAR to develop a model (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104952).

I suggest reading a lot of research journals that use PAR (https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2019.1675524; DOI: 10.1111/jan.13555; ect ), can broaden your horizons and ultimately understand more about the use of PAR, into XR and education with a focus on inclusivity.

the Health Research Board in Ireland has adopted the following approach to its evaluation of grant applications

...Until recently, public reviews have been used solely to provide direct feedback to applicant teams so they could take that feedback on board, and thereby gain experience of incorporating Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) into their research proposals.

From now on, integrating the public reviews into panel decision making will be the norm for calls which undergo public review, and this step is in line with our published plans to strengthen PPI input into HRB decision-making processes.

In addition to feedback on the scientific aspects from the international peer-reviewers, the HRB receives written feedback on the quality of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) from two public reviewers for each application ahead of the panel meeting.

All of the reviewers’ comments (both public and scientific) are passed on to the applicants, who have the opportunity to respond. The reviews and the related applicant responses are made available to the panel before they meet....

https://www.hrb.ie/funding/funding-schemes/public-patient-and-carer-involvement-in-research/

As many as four in 10 UK PhD students may be at “high risk” of suicide, according to a study that underlines the chronic levels of stress among doctoral candidates...

Loneliness and intellectual insecurity highlighted as prime reasons for elevated suicide risk among doctoral researchers...

Very interesting work!

You might be interested in the photovoice technique, which is very useful for working with vulnerable communities from the participatory action research approach. As an example:

Personally, I also find it very helpful to work from an ecological perspective with the community. You can see some examples here:

I hope you find it of interest and that it will help you to further advance your work.

Kind regards!

Hi Tutu.

Alternatively you may use the online meetings like Microsoftware groups, webinars and virtual meetings.

Excellent start and well explained .

First, there are more advanced qualitative research methods, beyond PAR, but you identified excellent 2020 papers. Read those first.

Next consider alternatives, more research designs in education.

Strang, K.D. (2015). Selecting research techniques for a method and strategy. In KD. Strang (Ed.), Palgrave handbook of research design in business and management (pp. 63-80). ISBN: 978-1137379924. NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Strang, K.D. (2015). Matching research method with ideology and strategy. In KD. Strang (Ed.), Palgrave handbook of research design in business and management (pp. 47-62). ISBN: 978-1137379924. NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Strang, K.D. (2015). Developing a goal-driven research strategy. In KD. Strang (Ed.), Palgrave handbook of research design in business and management (pp. 31-46). ISBN: 978-1137379924. NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Strang, K.D. (2015). Articulating a research design ideology. In KD. Strang (Ed.), Palgrave handbook of research design in business and management (pp. 17-30). ISBN: 978-1137379924. NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Then consider techniques such as QSR, which we used in agriculture research but it was developed in the graduate higher education analysis setting.

Che, F.N., Strang, K.D., & Vajjhala, N.R. (2020). Voice of farmers in the agriculture crisis in North-East Nigeria: Focus group insights from extension workers. International Journal of Development Issues, 19(1), 31-61. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108

Some studies have considered PAR as a research design

- Rannestad, O. T., Maerere, A. P., Torp, T., & May-Guri, S. (2013). A farmer participatory research approach to assess the effectiveness of field sanitation and regular trapping on banana weevil populations. Fruits, 68(2), 83-93. DOI:10.1051/fruits/2012054www.fruits-journal.org.

This is really interesting. I do photovoice research with non-binary young adults. I am currently preparing a study that will have small groups in various locations. Small groups will regularly connect with and report back to the larger collective group. We hope that this allows us to explore region specific issues, along with more broad ones. I'm definitely going to dig into your work!

Yes in some country it might not be the new approaches but specially in case of developing country it is one way to solve the real problem of farmer and for that the co-ordination between all dimention with involvement of the technical person need to involve in this sector.Actually our problem is those who involve in this field do not study those who study do nor involve in this field so combine effort is necessary to solve ......

Dear Michelle Vanchu-Orosco,

My favorite reference is Participatory Action Research. Other references are included in the process of conducting Participatory Action Research. Please see

Jacques M. Chevalier, Daniel J. Buckles. Participatory Action Research: Theory and Methods for Engaged Inquiry. Routledge, New york, 2013

Regards,

action research and case study are not mutually exclusive, and you could frame it as an action research case study, or more correctly action research comprising 2 case studies (is there some comparative analysis here?). A key feature of action research, in addition to its participative focus, is that it starts with a pre-understanding of the situational (and perhaps theoretical) pre-understanding, and is then enacted in dual/parallel spirals of cycles of Diagnosis, Planning action, taking action, and evaluating or reflecting on action (action you want to implement with the participants first) and the second spiral relates to your research (again, diagnose, plan, act, and review/reflect) (see Coghlan & Brannick,Doing action research in your own organisation). Add an experiential cycle to test what's going on with participants -v- your own assumptions. The case study approach sits well with this, but you still need other methods to draw your research and action together into the story and meaning you convey through your case study. There are a few different approaches to action research and you'll have to find one that suits your own approach if that's what you want to do.

I am not sure, whether you can call NVivo an "approach". The role(s) of a software package, like NVivo, essentially depend(s) on the settings and goals of the research as well as the skills of the user. On the other hand, any software package contains certain model(s) of research embedded in it. From this perspective, a software tool could not be neutral.

Two other articles of mine might help:

`Action research in graduate management research programs', Higher Education, vol. 23, pp. 195-208, March 1992. With O. Zuber-Skerritt.

Zuber-Skerritt, O. and Perry, C. 2002, ‘Action research within organisations and university thesis writing’ Organisational Learning, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 171-179.

Very good

An expert in Indigenous health would be Dr L Pihama if you can track down her articles she would be an asset in this area

Dear Molaodi,

trying to answer to your question I would say that:

1 - Participatory Action Research (PAR) has already a vast body of knowledge and empirical evidence that sustains the claims about its effectiveness, efficiency, scientific validity and overall benefits. So that could be a starting point;

2 - Further on, the real outcomes and impacts of PAR are better understood when directly experienced..so, inviting those researchers into the PAR process could work really well to your benefit.

3 - PAR is not necessarily to be used everywhere, always and for everyone..so double check if that feedback is not a necessary input to your process.

Best of luck,

I do think of these as two separate approaches to analysis, where Braun & Clarke's (2006) version of thematic analysis is much more widely used. Indeed, I would say that Rtichie & Lewis' framework analysis never really caught on outside of Britain. But since you are in Britain, you might well have advisors who could guide you in that approach.

Dear Walteros Jeymmy,

 Generally speaking, Participatory methodologies (PMs) refer to a wide variety of activities whose main purpose is to help ordinary people to play a more pivotal role in decisions influencing  their lives and the community to which they belong.  By referring you to the following links on the current proposals regarding the issue with a major focus on Latin America, I hope to provide you with some of the related literature.

Best regards,

R. Biria 

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/.../499270PUB0comm101Official0Use0Only1....

https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/.../files/.../THIOLLENT-Michel-Action-Research-and-Participatory.p..

Thank you very much, Mary and Orlando!

Orlando, probably I didn't explain my ideas well... The idea is not to analyze childern's ability to draw maps but to analyze their maps and understand which spaces are important for them, by which spaces are they attracted in general, in order to understand which are the ideal areas to use for environmental education. This might not be the best question to ask, but to begin with, I started with this one... For this reason I was looking for studies in this topic, to see how others have dealed with this topic.

Narrative analysis or narrative inquiry is a qualitative research approach whereby the researcher analyses the stories people create, engaging in an inquiry of asking a given question of the narrative 'texts' for a given purpose. This approach can help us to understand how people are representing themselves, or their experiences, to themselves and to others. It comes under the umbrella of social constructionism.

Conducting a thematic analysis is somewhat different. It is essentially a coding exercise. It still comes under social constructionism and it is a qualitative research approach. The difference is that we often engage in thematic analyses with deductive reasoning - that is we are testing or confirming hypotheses. We often have ideas of what may find in the content from a group of qualitative interviews, for example, due to knowledge from a review of relevant literature. Our close reading and subsequent analysis will reveal the absence or presence of the expected themes. Other themes may be present and be noticed by us (the researcher). A thematic analysis lets us state the main topics or ideas that an interview or focus group transcript turns out to be about. A narrative analysis on the other hand might enable us to glean insights into how and even why topics or ideas are being presented.

In broad terms then a thematic analysis typically asks WHAT, whereas a narrative analysis typically asks HOW and WHY. Both are seeking new levels of (tentative) meaning to be derived. There is typically a greater amount of inductive reasoning though overall in narrative inquiry.

My first thought is that if you want to do narrative analysis, then that process should start with the data collection itself. Specifically, you would want to do as much as possible to elicit high quality stories. Of course, it can be the case that your data produce an abidance of narrative material, even if that was not your original intent.

A second thing to consider is there are a number of different approaches to narrative analysis, whereas TA tends to be highly general in its application. So, you need to be clear about which version of narrative analysis you are using.

Finally, I don't thing that the two approaches are entirely incompatible, In particular, you could do a TA to cover the board aspects of the full data set, and then pick a particularly interesting part of those results to investigate in more depth with narrative analysis.

Dear colleagues,

I supposed you find many  species with different characters & you described many new species... I think in the zone of volcan's activity the microevolution can be more present.

Marpha

Dear Patrizia,

we have tried to enhance public outreach / participation related to municipal waste management within an official development project (GIZ) during the time period 2006-2012 in the Philippines. The umbrella logo for this was named 'Regional Ecology Center'. You can find related information under (google: Regional Ecology Center Philippines). I attach a conference paper from 2011 of this approach for your information.

Best wishes,

Johannes Paul

Good information from Murat. Will be very useful for me. I was always skeptical about the ability to study the cost effectiveness of such programs, and thought they often were unnecessary expenditure & meant mainly to facilitate donor agency staff visits.

Thanks everyone for your time and the very useful insights on the use of PAR to facilitate change in development interventions and participatory decision-making processes (including policy processes). Thanks Kenneth for the documents, really appreciated. Yes, the efforts by the AHI (African highland initiative) and CCAA (Climate change adaptation in Africa) programs are great examples to illustrate the underlying theoretical and practical implications of PAR as a process aiming to bring change.

Zaman, Muhammad.Q, “The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change”, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007)

Hi Marilyn, 

Below I have attached some fairly recent references you might find some value in.  This Fabre (2015) reference is probably the most informative.

I hope these articles are useful.

Kind Regards,

Laura Chubb 

See attached

thank for your support Manjusha..I will go through it...

Hi, Debra

The best way to identify the issues in this specific research work is through the application of different and effective instruments: students interviews, class observations, check list, survey to Ss and teachers.

One of the programmes that showed lot of improvement of children behaviors and also in understanding the underlying causes of what constitutes bullying in schools was the conflict resolution programmes which was conducted in schools in Durban Surrounding Primary Schools in South Africa, and it is still practiced. The facilitators of the small groups of about 7 learners per group made it more effective as learners were able to trust each other and engage in a group easily to discus some of the serious issues they face and how the perceive and end up in such behaviors, either as victims or perpetrators. Please find the attach manual that can guide such practices for school setting. 

Hi John, I don't know of any participatory studies carried out on wards, however, my first though was Professor Phil Barker who developed the Tidal Model.  He now lives in Scotland and I don't have a current contact address but he's very approachable if you can speak to him.  His work was wider than Eating Disorder and PD but he was a past-master at engaging service users and really involving them in their recovery.  His work inspired me in that he seemed to have a knack of connecting on a very basic and real level with those he worked with.  It would seem to me that any research work, or participatory enquiry, on wards would need to establish those fundamentals to be truly successful. All best, Heather

I think that the issue is NOT Mandarin and Cantonese specifically, but having students of similar proficiency in the class.   Yes, students of higher proficiency can often help students of lower proficiency, but still, I would evaluate it in terms of how wide a range of proficiency is acceptable in the class, and your class seems to have one group of higher proficiency and one of lower proficiency.  This may help take the political considerations out of the decision.    

Just so you know, there is a newer (2014) second edition of the Charmaz book. It doesn't chasing much of what she said in the 2006 version, and instead mostly adds some new chapters.

As for the lack of a control group, a control group is primarily useful when you are doing quantitative research, and what you have in mind is very different. So, I would not worry about what your research does not do. Instead, I would concentrate on the strengths of what your project can contribute to knowledge in your field. 

Dear Latefa (and Andy), I have just now seen your second email that you sent and I am sorry I did not respond. I have a manual on conducting RDS which gives step by step instructions. Please see: www.lisagjohnston.com. It is for more common hard to reach pops like sex workers and people who inject drugs but it is useful for any networked population.  Most important questions are: is your population networked? and do they recognize each other as part of that network?  I just co-edited a book which focuses directly on sampling migrants (why do RDS on documented migrants since if they are documented, you have a sampling frame? Although RDS could be cheaper and easier than a random household survey). This is the book: Applying Respondent Driven Samping to Migrant Populations: Lessons from the Field.  Found at: http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/applying-respondent-driven-sampling-to-migrant-populations-guri-tyldum/?K=9781137363602

On my website you can also find the report of a survey I did on Sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco. In the book you will see citations to surveys conducted among migrants in the USA. I am currently assisting in a survey of Mexican migrants in San Diego. I hope this helps.  If you have specific questions my email is lsjohnston.global@gmail.com

Use of the PAR depends on the objective of your study. In the ICT studies if you are working with communities the approach will be perfect. I have used this approach in a study of access to information for farmers using ICT tools in Uganda. The design was to involve communities in the research study to collect data as they use the ICT tools. More important is the principles of PAR if they are applicable to the study you want to apply the approach to

I think doing research leads to development of scientific temper, a more rational attitude towards things and people, and enhances our analytical power.

We move away from platitudes to a more critical thinking; resulting in us better interpretative power in terms of cause and effect.

"To boldly go where no man has gone before"-- "Star Trek" (A good editor would grimace at the split infinitive.)

I am a research "trekkie." My "action research" leads me into distant archives rarely or never explored even by the native scholars. I love to surprise my scholarly readers by unusual archival finds. Although I am formally trained only in literature, my finds span many different fields: literature, music, philosophy, theology, history, and medical anthropology. I´ve always been encouraged to do this kind of wide-ranging research, and so I performed it and hopefully will continue as long as my health persists.

The book is now published: see Larsen, Sewpaul & Hole (2014):Participation in Community Work - International Perspectives, London: Routledge

I recomend you to take a look to this method: Concept Mapping. We are using for different research projects and it helps to represent, order and understand the ideas of people participating.

Action research requires the researcher(s) to use the results of the research to act upon and change the situation being studied. The action intervention may be part of the research design.

Participatory action research requires the people who are the subject of the study both to take part in making the analysis and then to use the findings to (a) understand and interpret the situation (b) make decisions and (c) act upon and change the situation they have analyzed.

I agree with you but the terminology will be suitable if we use META DISCIPLINE not TRANSDICIPLINE