Participatory Action Research (PAR)

PAR has been described as a three-pronged activity involving investigation, education, and action. Research is conceived of as a developmental process in which, through the involvement of less-powerful stakeholders in investigation, reflection, negotiation, decision making, and knowledge creation, individual participants and power dynamics in the sociocultural milieu are changed. Evaluators using PAR discover that it is more than performing particular types of activities; it becomes part of who they are, because working in this way involves a commitment to a set of values and principles beyond the simple act of collecting and understanding information. PAR is far more than a methodology; it involves a focus on process and a commitment to action. Participatory evaluation (PE) has emerged at least partly from PAR.

PAR emerged in the early 1970s, primarily, but not exclusively, in the developing world. This was, in part, a reaction to positivist models of inquiry that were seen as exploitive and detached from the urgent social and economic problems that people in much of the world were facing. Although PAR has spread to university classrooms and texts and, more recently, to major multilateral institutions, it is deeply rooted in community and international development, adult education, and, more recently, the women's movement. In North America, important work has been done at the Highlander Center for Research and Education.

Key concepts and principles include the following:

• 1.
  PAR begins with an understanding of the context. Social, political, economic, cultural, and spiritual factors are not assumed to be “given” but rather need to be understood and critically examined as part of the totality within which one is doing research.
• 2.
  Who creates and controls the production of knowledge is essential. One important aim of PAR is to empower people through participation in the process of constructing and respecting their own knowledge (based on Freire's notion of “conscientization”) and through their understanding of the connections among knowledge, power, and control.
• 3.
  Popular knowledge is assumed to be as valid and useful as scientific knowledge produced by “experts.” Though often dismissed as “anecdotal” and “subjective,” what ordinary people know, based on life experience and often years of trial and error, needs to be respected and validated.
• 4.
  Focus on the process—how is the research conducted? The distance between researcher and researched is lessened; all participants are contributors working collectively. Initiating and sustaining genuine dialogue among actors leads to a deep level of understanding and respect.
• 5.
  Critical reflection is an integral part of doing research. This requires participants to question, to doubt, and to consider a broad range of social, political, and cultural factors, including their own biases and assumptions.
[Page 291]
• 6.
  Research needs to lead to action and social transformation. Most research is about “finding truth,” predicting, and verifying. PAR not only questions that, it adds an action component as an essential aspect. Praxis (action-reflection) is one of the key dynamics, a continual process of learning and doing.