Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a Research Approach …
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PAR also provides the opportunity for inclusive community involvement in the
development and ownership of sustainable community development interventions,
by allowing for clarifications and reflections that might improve the researcher’s and
community’s understanding of situations and problems to shape their strategies rather
than prematurely introducing external ideas This principle is strengthened by the
opinion of Cooke and Kothari (2001) who argue that “action-oriented participation
helps to take the learning process of the intervention beyond reflection and towards
capacity-building, which builds the knowledge and skills for participants to act in
their community as leaders or agents for creating change”.
2.2.2 Researching “with” Rather Than “on” People
Whitehead and McNiff (2006) hypothesized that the aim of utilizing the PAR method
in community development research is to improve social or personal situations, rather
than just understand and proposed theories about the causes of external situation.
The authors highlighted the fundamental differences between the PAR and traditional research methods based on what is studied, how it is studied and represented,
as well as why it is studied. Compared to a traditional researcher where he or she
is the external observer who proposes theories, the PAR researcher focuses on utilizing a combination of tools and techniques where the “object of research” is the
community. This requires the PAR researcher to pay full and careful attention to
power relationships among the research participants, and negotiating for access and
advocacy to a democratic space and approach between the researcher and the community where both researcher and community is able to clarify and reflect on their
actions. In a PAR research, people are considered as the active agents for bringing
about social transformation; however, they are often trapped in a web of societal
myths, obligations and relationships (Neuman 2000). In such a scenario, the PAR
researcher tries to unravel the existing problems of oppression, exclusion, biasness,
power abuse etc. within a society, and target ways to bring social transformation
through self-realization, emancipation and empowerment under the existing circumstances (Dillard 1991). This democratic approach of the PAR method generates
rich knowledge and information to help the researcher and the research participants
strategize on designing and implementing interventions rather than relying on external ideas from the researcher. Literature has also indicated that it is essential and
normal to for a PAR researcher to practice blurring the line between the researcher
and the researched until the researched become the researchers (Freire 1982; George
et al. 1996; Wallerstein 1999; Smith 2015).
2.2.3 Collective and Cooperative Reflection with Growth of Knowledge
The PAR approach challenges the traditional research approach by moving beyond
reflective knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to an active
moment-to-moment theorizing, data collecting, cycles of reflection and inquiry
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PAR also provides the opportunity for inclusive community involvement in the
development and ownership of sustainable community development interventions,
by allowing for clarifications and reflections that might improve the researcher’s and
community’s understanding of situations and problems to shape their strategies rather
than prematurely introducing external ideas This principle is strengthened by the
opinion of Cooke and Kothari (2001) who argue that “action-oriented participation
helps to take the learning process of the intervention beyond reflection and towards
capacity-building, which builds the knowledge and skills for participants to act in
their community as leaders or agents for creating change”.
2.2.2 Researching “with” Rather Than “on” People
Whitehead and McNiff (2006) hypothesized that the aim of utilizing the PAR method
in community development research is to improve social or personal situations, rather
than just understand and proposed theories about the causes of external situation.
The authors highlighted the fundamental differences between the PAR and traditional research methods based on what is studied, how it is studied and represented,
as well as why it is studied. Compared to a traditional researcher where he or she
is the external observer who proposes theories, the PAR researcher focuses on utilizing a combination of tools and techniques where the “object of research” is the
community. This requires the PAR researcher to pay full and careful attention to
power relationships among the research participants, and negotiating for access and
advocacy to a democratic space and approach between the researcher and the community where both researcher and community is able to clarify and reflect on their
actions. In a PAR research, people are considered as the active agents for bringing
about social transformation; however, they are often trapped in a web of societal
myths, obligations and relationships (Neuman 2000). In such a scenario, the PAR
researcher tries to unravel the existing problems of oppression, exclusion, biasness,
power abuse etc. within a society, and target ways to bring social transformation
through self-realization, emancipation and empowerment under the existing circumstances (Dillard 1991). This democratic approach of the PAR method generates
rich knowledge and information to help the researcher and the research participants
strategize on designing and implementing interventions rather than relying on external ideas from the researcher. Literature has also indicated that it is essential and
normal to for a PAR researcher to practice blurring the line between the researcher
and the researched until the researched become the researchers (Freire 1982; George
et al. 1996; Wallerstein 1999; Smith 2015).
2.2.3 Collective and Cooperative Reflection with Growth of Knowledge
The PAR approach challenges the traditional research approach by moving beyond
reflective knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to an active
moment-to-moment theorizing, data collecting, cycles of reflection and inquiry