Transcript Participatory Action Research

Action Research
Mervi Kaukko
Methodology class for EDGLOstudents 9.12.2013
What is it?
• A participatory, democratic process
concerned with developing practical knowing
in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes,
grounded in a participatory worldview. It
brings together action and reflection, theory
and practice, in participation with others, in
the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of
concern to people, and more generally the
flourishing of individual persons and their
communities. (Reason & Bradbury 2002, 1)
Five features
Human Flourishing
Participation
and Democracy
Emergent
Developmental
Form
Practical
Issues
Knowledge in
Action
(Reason & Bradbury 2001, 1)
History: Kurt Lewin
• No single founder, but Lewin coined the term AR
• Second World War
• Introduced the idea of a cyclic form of research:
"Action research proceeds in a spiral of steps, each of
which is composed of planning, action and the
evaluation of the result of action" (Kemmins &
McTaggert 1990, 8)
• A certain goal through an experiment in a holistic social
and material situation
• Example of a project: training housewives to cook tripe
for dinner, and surveyed how this training had an effect
on their daily cooking habits in their own families
If you want truly to understand
something, try to change it.
How to conceptualize
social change, and how
to promote it?
The concrete person in a
concrete situation can
represented
mathematically.
Change of direction
• Early AR positivist and empiricist science (=there is truth only
in logical and mathematical science, the society works
according to the physical laws [Swantz 2008])
• 1997 World Congress trying ”enrich” the dominant paradigm
of AR (consistency, scope, productivity etc.) with participatory
ones (altruism, social responsibility, autonomy)  open
paradigm of PAR
• AR is still considered logical and empirical (through action),
but research is an intervention  empirical results vary
depending on the context, the role of the researcher etc.
• Many philosophical frameworks, such as critical theory,
critical pedagogy, liberal humanism pragmatism,
phenomenology, social construction
During the 7 decades of AR
• In the 1997 Congress, 32 schools or trends defined. For
example:
• Developmental Action Inquiry: empowering local
people for transformation (Torbert, 2004)
• Living theory: ”How do I improve what I am doing?”
(Whitehead & McNiff 2006)
• Participatory Action Research: including the
”oppressed” (Freire 1970, Fals Borda 1991)
• Cooperative inquiry: research ”with” rather than ”on”
people (Reasons & Bradbury 2008)
• Collaborative Action Research: Multiple data sources,
clear role of the researcher (Patterson 2008)
PAR in the spirit of Freire
• Liberationist perspective, strongest focus on participation
on every phase of the research
• Conscientization: developing consciousness to have the
power to transform reality
• Understanding the context, for example poverty not only
an economic problem but connected to political
powerlessness
• Transformative can also be participating within the system
instead of fighting against
• Important to “walk shoulder to shoulder with ordinary
people rather than one step ahead” (Molano 1998, quoted
in Swantz 2008)
• Knowledge between local community and academia
The silenced (…) are the masters of
inquiry into the underlying causes of
the events in their world. In this
context research becomes a means
of moving them beyond silence into
a quest to proclaim the world. (Torre
et al. 2008, 29)
One must read the world in
which words exist
• Literacy-program in Brazil
• Criticism: spirituality, language, utopist ideas,
stressing unequal power relations
• Still, worth trying as an updated version
My PAR as an example
Connections between variations
• Disciplined by an attempt at understanding while engaged in a
process of improvement and reform (Hopkins 2008)
• Improves practice, involving action, evaluation, and critical
reflection and changes in practice– based on the evidence
gathered (Koshy et al. 2010)
• Helps the participants find suitable techniques of action to
achieve desirable goals (Costello 2011)
• Working with people in collaboration creates new
communicative spaces and promotes dialogue (Bradbury &
Reason 2008)
• Combines many ways of knowing (academic, grassroots
knowledge, professional) while avoiding dichotomies (Bradbury
& Reason 2008)
Validity and reliability
• No longer only measurable values
• Different rules of testing validity: a research project is an
intervention which influences the outcomes
• Results can’t be generalized, but can be repeated
(responsibility to proof on the next researcher/facilitator)
• Reality as socially constructed and dynamic, not
external/independent
• Workability: did the actions solve problems and increase
participants’ control over their own situation? (Koshy 2010,
22)
• What if not?  Avoiding too optimistic reports and
reproducing own biases
Researcher as a subject
• Objectivity impossible in participatory research
• How participants see the researcher influence the
outcomes (examples RC, teachers at school)
• “Critical subjectivity” (Reasons 1994): quality of
attention/the state of consciousness vs. naïve subjectivity
or attempted objectivity
• Researcher must acknowledge own perceptions and biases
• Ontological (theory of being) and epistemological (theory
of knowledge) considerations: how is the research design,
data collection and analysis influenced by your beliefs?
(Koshy et al. 2010, 79) Self-reflexivity (Herr 2005)
Example of early (P)AR
• Study of income-earning potentials of the
school leavers in Tanzania in the 1970s
• The group started gardening, carpentry and
fishing projects  all learnt to plan and
implement projects, practical skills, consult
village authorities
How can culture, as the participants
view it, foster development?
(Vuorenmaa 2002)
Examples from education
• Improving educational practices (How can I encourage
more discussion? Who does more talking, students or
teacher? How can I improve questioning skills)
• Involving students as co-researchers (Can introducing
personal research topics enhance students’ learning?)
• Addressing special needs (example of “gifted” children with
misbehavior  good practices to address their needs, use
of multi-professional networks)
• Involving parents as co-researchers (How can we increase
participation at patents’ meetings? How can parents help
fighting bullying?)
• Developing curricula (older students participating in
planning a curriculum) (Koshy 2010)
AR in Bachelor’s/Master’s thesis
• Requires: time, long-term involvement,
connections to the community, ability to work
with changing plans and different people (not
all happy to have their work examined)
• Can provide: possibilities to combine theory
and practice, possibilities to find a real
solution to a real problem, interesting insights
to own work (or other research setting),
unexpected outcomes
Good books about AR
• Cammarota, J. & Fine, M. (2008) Revolutionizing education. Youth
participatory action research in motion. Routledge
• Greenwood, D. & Levin, M. (2008) Introduction to Action Research:
Social Research for Social Change (Sage)
• Koshy, V. (2010) Action research for improving educational practice.
London: SAGE
• McIntosh, P. (2010) Action research and reflective practice: creative
and visual methods to facilitate reflection and learning (Routledge)
• Noffke, S. & Somekh, B. (2009) The SAGE handbook of educational
action research
• Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (2008) The SAGE Handbook of Action
Research
• Also Internet: http://www.aral.com.au/ (hosts a free online course
by Bob Dick, very recommendable),
http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ccar/resources.html (list of ARpages)
References
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Argyris, C. 1993. Knowledge for Action: a Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change. San Francisco:
Costello, P. (2011) Effective action research. Developing reflective thinking and practice. London: Continuum.
Fals-Borda & Rahman 1991 Action and Knowledge. Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action-Research.
Apex press
Freire, P. (1970) Pedgaogy of the Opressed.
Greenwood, D. & Levin, M. (2007) Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change. London:
SAGE
Herr, K. (2005) The Action Research Dissertation. London: Sage
Hopkins (2008) A teacher’s guide to classroom research. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Kemmins & McTaggert (1990) Action Research in Practice: Partnership for Social Justice. London: Routledge.
Koshy, V. (2010) Action research for improving educational practice. London: SAGE
Koshy, E; Koshy, V; & Waterman, H. (2010) Action research in health care. London: SAGE
Reasons, P. (1994) Participation in Human Inquiry. London: SAGE
Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (2008) The SAGE Handbook of Action Research. London: Sage
Swantz, M-L (2008) Participatory Action Research as Practice. In Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (eds) The SAGE
handbook of action research: participative inquiry and practice. London, SAGE
Torbert (1991) The Power of Balance: Transforming Self, Society, and Scientific Inquiry
Torre et al (2008) Participatory Action Research in the Contact Zone. In Cammarota & Fine (eds.) Revolutionizing
education. Youth participatory action research in motion. Routledge
Vuorenmaa, E-M. (2002) Minun Afrikkani. Suomen YK-liitto.