Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Participatory action research (PAR) has its origins in the second half of the 20th century. Traditionally, its genesis has been traced back to work conducted by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly in his development of action research. However, although Lewin's work has been influential, contemporary approaches to PAR have increasingly been shaped by several other intellectual traditions, including Marxism, feminism, post- positivism, and Paulo Freire's approach to principles of adult education. Thus, while action research introduced the notion that academic and professional researchers could legitimately collaborate with individuals and groups while maintaining their integrity as experts, PAR has continuously sought to critique and challenge the researcher–researched relation through its emphasis on the politics of participation in the research process. It is perhaps this single issue that has made PAR one of the most contentious methodologies in social research today and therefore of significant relevance to this encyclopedia. This entry on PAR is organized into three sections: history, themes, and issues in PAR; methodological considerations; and contemporary trajectories and critique.

As discussed above, it is important to note that PAR and other forms of participatory research have been and remain contested terrain. One effect of this contention is that PAR is used interchangeably, and often loosely, by researchers to denote any one of a range of research methodologies that have participation of subjects as their focus. This practice is reflected in the literature where, for example, there is a significant degree of conceptual slippage over terminology. Thus, it is not unusual to read accounts of action research that are actually discussing PAR; likewise, it is also possible to come across accounts of PAR where participation of individuals or groups in a study is questionable. As such, therefore, there is no definitive or pure model of PAR. Rather, there are versions of PAR across a broad spectrum that emphasize participation in the research process. In this sense, PAR can be thought of as lying at one end of a continuum of participation where individuals or groups have maximum control over all aspects of the research, from conception, design, implementation, data collection, analysis, and reporting of findings to a situation where the subjects of a study are systematically excluded from any involvement or control over the research process.