Supporting Crossover Students in an Urban School District: A Participatory Project

Critically reflecting on research practice can be an uncomfortable process for any researcher as you expose actions, and decision-making, reflect on some of the research assumptions you may have fallen into, and acknowledge your limitations. Yet, engaging in reflexive practice keeps us in check and is particularly important for researchers exploring the experiences of marginalization and oppression. This article presents our reflections on “Work Active,” a participatory action research (PAR) project that sought to improve employment outcomes for people with intellectual disability (ID). Although a great deal of literature suggests that the underlying intent of PAR is emancipatory through the mainstays of collaboration, inclusivity, and participation; however, there remain questions about whether emancipation can be truly achieved. We present our experiences of “stitching together” our service provider-led PAR project to reveal some of the challenges, points of tension, and our adaptions as we navigated the “curve balls” of undertaking a PAR project.

This purpose of this article is to explore challenges and tensions associated with a participatory action research (PAR) project that occurred in 2019 and involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This article opens with some brief context on the PAR project under focus before specifying the article’s analytical methods. Next, the focus shifts to a longer discussion of several tension-producing aspects of this participatory research experience. These include challenges related to this project’s recruitment process, relationship building, and the author’s attempts to establish credibility within the activist community; tensions related to reflection and action; challenges related to epistemological orientations and facilitation style; and internal conflict and limitations related to the group’s concluding action.

This article features an account and analysis of a participatory action research (PAR) project that involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This piece has two principal aims. The first is to contribute to practitioners’ knowledge and practice by offering an account of a PAR project, grounded in popular education, that provided a beneficial space for K-12 teacher activists. The second aim is to contribute to the teacher-activist literature by providing an analysis of the perceived benefits of popular education and PAR for participating teacher activists. Benefits included stronger relationships, developed knowledge and skills, emotional benefits, and the novel understanding that teacher activism includes forms of cultural activism. Implications include the notion that PAR may be useful for other teacher activists, and the conventional definition of teacher activism is likely too narrow.

An interdisciplinary participatory action research (PAR) project was designed in collaboration with local immigrant organizations to document the impact of deportation policy on Central American immigrant families living in the northeastern U.S. This paper reports on selected methodological challenges of university-based co-researchers in this community-university PAR process which is currently concluding its fourth year. The paper discusses the iterative action-reflection processes focusing on: (1) an overview of the PAR project and its multiple phases within the U.S. and in Guatemala; (2) select challenges and contributions of the PAR approach for participating immigrant families “living in the shadows” and, (3) methodological concerns from the three coauthors, who include a graduate student who joined the early stages of partnership-building; an assistant professor in the early stages of her career; and a senior scholar with many years of experience in activist scholarship. We conclude with thoughts on why, despite these challenges, PAR is “worth the trouble”.

Participatory action research is often informed by strength-based approaches such as appreciative inquiry. However, when social change and collective action appear to be difficult, feelings of powerlessness and suffering can arise. There is an ongoing debate on the place and importance of these so-called negative emotions within strength-based approaches. In a participatory action research project on citizen participation in the Netherlands we encountered a social and political context that was beyond our ability to change. We came to realize that change or action is not always possible in participatory action research and that ‘pushing’ for action can become a disempowering experience for those involved. In this article we share the moral dilemmas that we encountered and reflect on our own learning experiences as academic researchers. We argue that researchers need to anticipate upon these moral challenges by reflecting upon their personal position towards powerlessness and suffering. Nussbaum’s notion of compassion can help researchers to create space for these experiences and to acknowledge these experiences as sources of generative knowledge. Researchers should carefully navigate between fostering action and expressing compassion in participatory action research. With this article we aim to contribute to a care ethical perspective on participatory action research that acknowledges vulnerabilities and precariousness in research practices.

Participatory action research: Involving students in parent education

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.

Using examples from a youth participatory action research (PAR) project based in New York City, the author invites youth PAR facilitators to think about the importance of building in time for collective and individual reflection. This article first outlines the theoretical framework of reflective PAR based on Lewinian and Freirerian notions, then describes the reflective practices employed with her co-researchers. The author reveals the types of issues, critiques, insecurities and knowledge that may surface when adult facilitators are intentional about engaging in reflection throughout a PAR research process.

Anchored on Evans’ professional development (PD) model, this study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate a professional development program on designing participatory action research (PAR) projects for basic education teachers. The teachers are from Junior and Senior High School teaching English, Mathematics, and Science. The PD program consisted of ten in-person training sessions and virtual consultations which happened in between training on AR problem conceptualization and methodology for a 14-week period. Using the mixed-methods sequential explanatory (QUAN à qual) design, the study started with a professional needs assessment participated by 18 teachers from a secondary school as a basis for the planned PD program. The teachers underwent training sessions to develop a group or participatory AR proposal as evidence of their professional growth and program outcome. At the end of the program, the English, Mathematics, and Science teachers, respectively, developed and presented their AR proposals on the (a) design and evaluation of a gamified-based instruction towards improving vocabulary skill, (b) video-based instruction in teaching basic concepts of probability, and (c) investigating the effect of contextualized learning materials in developing students’ conceptual understanding of atoms. The post-assessment results, supported by interviews, revealed that the teachers displayed behavioural, attitudinal, and intellectual developments in AR. Based on the Department of Education’s criteria for evaluating PAR proposals, all three proposals were rated acceptable for implementation by a panel of evaluators. In conclusion, the PD design and evaluation framework were important factors that enabled the participating teachers to transform their AR competencies toward developing PAR proposals for improving teaching and research in their schools.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened human pressures on the Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve (MBR), harming biodiversity and polluting water sources. In response, two community-led initiatives, the Save Our Species Eco-Rangers and the Majakaneng hiking trail, catalysed environmental stewardship. Building on these, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project engaged traditional health practitioners and churches using natural spaces for spiritual practices. The overall objective of this article is to demonstrate how PAR can facilitate context-sensitive, transformative environmental management in culturally and spiritually significant landscapes. A key stakeholder matrix, the Nominal Group Technique, photo-elicitation and participatory mapping were used to identify role players, sacred natural sites and determine collective priorities for community-led environmental stewardship. A key theme emerging was access control, implemented through permits, fees, and protocols. At one site introducing bookings and fees for clean-ups and guided hikes improved socio-ecological conditions. Eco-literacy, feedback and engagement were initiated through signage, flyers and sharing on social media but needs to continue and spread to other sites. This iterative, collaborative approach shows how participatory methods can turn environmental threats into opportunities, advancing both environmental sustainability and post-apartheid transformation.

Knowledges from academic and professional research-based institutions have long been valued over the organic intellectualism of those who are most affected by educational and social inequities. In contrast, participatory action research (PAR) projects are collective investigations that rely on indigenous knowledge, combined with the desire to take individual and/or collective action. PAR with youth (YPAR) engages in rigorous research inquiries and represents a radical effort in education research to value the inquiry-based knowledge production of the youth who directly experience the educational contexts that scholars endeavor to understand. In this chapter, we outline the foundations of YPAR and examine the distinct epistemological, methodological, and pedagogical contributions of an interdisciplinary corpus of YPAR studies and scholarship. We outline the origins and disciplines of YPAR and make a case for its role in education research, discuss its contributions to the field and the tensions and possibilities of YPAR across disciplines, and close by proposing a YPAR critical-epistemological framework that centers youth and their communities, alongside practitioners, scholars, and researchers, as knowledge producers and change agents for social justice.

Background and aimDental caries is the most common childhood disease worldwide, including the Netherlands. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and migrant communities are at high risk. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of schoolchildren (9–13 years), from a low socioeconomic neighbourhood in The Hague with a high immigrant population, on oral health, oral health behaviours, oral health professionals and dental care, as well as the root causes and the outcomes of oral health problems. A secondary aim was to co-create suitable oral health interventions with the children.MethodologyThe study used a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach involving 9 focus group discussions (FGDs) with 45 children, semi-structured in-depth interviews with 4 children, 3 informal conversations with adult stakeholders (the school’s principal, a teacher, and a women’s group ‘SW mothers’ consisting of 24 women), participant observation in the neighbourhood, and food diaries from 7 children. The research team immersed themselves in the community for 8 months. The study comprised three phases with the children: 1) exploring children’s perspectives on oral health, 2) identifying root causes and outcomes of oral health problems constructing a ‘problem tree’, and 3) co-creating solutions. In phase 4 data were analysed using thematic analysis, and findings were structured according to the Fisher-Owens model, highlighting child-level, family-level, and community-level influences on children's oral health.ResultsChildren demonstrated oral health knowledge, understanding links between diet, oral health, and social status. They reported conflicting perspectives towards dental professionals, who were seen as kind, but also scary, leading to low dental care utilisation. Poverty in the neighbourhood contributed to ‘parentification’. Children were often responsible for their own and their siblings’ diet and oral health. Although health initiatives existed, cultural traditions and the local unhealthy food environment influenced dietary habits.ConclusionWhile children understood the importance of oral health, socioeconomic and cultural factors hindered their ability to act upon their knowledge. Poverty and the local food environment were identified as key challenges. This PAR project raised awareness, empowering children to drive positive change and share knowledge with their community through a self-made YouTube video and folder on toothbrushing, regular dental visits and healthy eating.

This chapter discusses the 14th Amendment Project, a participatory action research project about the experiences and political participation of US-born children of undocumented immigrants as they come of age. The chapter presents lessons for participatory action researchers working with social movement actors: (1) timing and program length of grant funding matter, especially for youth organizations; (2) projects need to develop ways to incorporate new coresearchers who enter a research project in later stages after missing the early stages (i.e., defining a research question, etc.); (3) participation differs from ownership of a project; (4) epistemological principles about how to construct community-based knowledge when coresearchers leave a project; (5) action goals can change in a shifting political context; and (6) audacious and innovative action goals may not succeed. Reflection ten years after the project ended reveals important lessons that may contribute to future participatory action research within social movements.

Women and Scientific Livestock Management: Improving Capabilities through Participatory Action Research in Semi Arid Areas of South India

PurposeMany organisations, including professional councils, operate manually to ensure document flow to clients and stakeholders. This results in the loss of valuable documentation such as certificates and the incurring of costs due to the returning of post to the sender. The purpose of this study was to explore digital transformation of document flow at the South African Council for Social Science Professionals.Design/methodology/approachThe methodological approach involved qualitative data collected through interviews, observation and document analysis in response to research questions. The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between researchers and study participants in defining and solving the problem through needs assessment exercise. All three phases of participatory action research were followed, namely, the “look phase”: getting to know stakeholders so that the problem is defined on their terms and the problem definition is reflective of the community context; the “think phase”: interpretation and analysis of what was learned in the “look phase” and the “act phase”: planning, implementing, and evaluating, based on information collected and interpreted in the first two phases.FindingsThe study identified various issues relating to poor data quality, high rate of registered postal returns and non-delivery electronic messages that cannot reach all the intended recipients and accumulation of data for decades. In this regard, the study proposes a framework that can be used by SACSSP to update and verify their details on the portal, as well as digital certificates for membership.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the proposed framework is tailor-made for the professional council, it is not depended on prescribed technologies due to usage of open standards that can be used by industry and researchers. Therefore, it can be applied in other context where institutions such as universities communicate with many clients via postal or courier services.Originality/valueThe study used participatory action research involving the researchers and the organisation to solve the problem. The study presented a workflow that the council can use to ensure that the documents reach intended recipients. Furthermore, digital transformation of the process will ensure that the registered professionals are able to access their certificates online and can print them when necessary.