Participatory Action Research

Research oriented toward action and/or change can take three forms: (1) It can apply the professional expert model, in which the researcher makes a study and recommends a course of action to decision makers in the organization studied; (2) it may involve action research controlled by the researcher, in which the researcher aims to be a principal change agent as well as controlling the research process; or (3) it may involve participatory action research (PAR), in which the researcher seeks to involve some members of the organization studied as active participants in all stages of the research or action process.

Investigations in the PAR context indicate a systematic effort to generate knowledge about specific conditions that can influence changes in a given situation. The term action in research indicates that the research is meant to contribute to change efforts or accompany action by the part of participants, such as workers and their representative trade unions, or change for employers, through the research learning process. PAR has its roots in social psychology and is a relatively new research technique in epidemiology but can be applied fruitfully in many contexts, for instance, to understand the causes of and reduce the number of worker injuries in an occupational setting or to reduce morbidity and mortality from diabetes in a community. The entry uses the example of PAR in a workplace setting to illustrate the principles of PAR. Workplace PAR is a process of systematic inquiry in which those who are experiencing a workrelated problem participate with trained researchers in deciding the focus of knowledge generation, in collecting and analyzing information, and in taking action to improve the conditions or to resolve the problem entirely.