We’d like to tell you that participatory action research is easy. But that would be a lie. We’d like to tell you that it always results in positive change. But that’s not true either. And we’d like to tell you that it’s straightforward, but that’s definitely not the case. However, as the authors of the four articles included in this mini-special issue on issues in PAR suggest, there are thoughtful ways of engaging the challenges we face in doing this work. And there are models we can draw upon to deepen our understanding of core aspects of PAR practice, like building relationships, increasing participation, ensuring the fidelity of the research process, and keeping an eye on the action component of our work. The authors suggest alterations in how we view participatory action research and concepts related to this form of research.
Jennifer Nutton, Nancy Lucero, and Nicole Ives make the case for the centrality of strong relationships between university researchers and our community partners founded on ‘meaningfulness, passion, and heart’. All three authors work at the intersections of PAR and indigenous methodologies and in offering individual reflections on their own experiences as participatory action researchers, the authors center the importance of positionality as a key reference point for reflection. In recounting their own experiences, they reassure us that there’s no such thing as a ‘gold standard’ for PAR enabling us all to do our best to create space for different forms of knowledge to shape our understandings of the world and our actions to change it in positive ways
Ditte Tofteng and Mette Bladt build on their foundations in the area of Critical Utopian Action Research to explore the concept of participation as a theory of teaching and learning. And they remind us that authentic participation isn’t achieved by scaling a ladder but by aspiring from the start to engage community members as full partners throughout the research process. Working with young people considered at risk, the authors challenge notions of participation focused on addressing the need for behavioral changes on the part of the youth, to promote the idea of ‘upturned participation’ in which participants’ own notions of how they want to live their lives are centered. With a deep commitment to democratic processes, the authors describe how working with these young people uncovered new and more meaningful strategies for creating greater community engagement and participation.
Ed Trickett, Stacy Ramus, and James Allen focus on the notion of fidelity and provide a thoughtful exploration of ways in which this concept must be reframed in order to respond to the complexity, culturally situated, and constantly changing circumstances of participatory action research projects. Rather than focusing on the extent to which an intervention follows an established procedure for implementation, they propose reframing fidelity in the context of PAR, including a shift toward creating locally relevant responses in determining the impact of specific interventions.
And, finally, Sheva Guy brings us back to a consideration of action. Guy uses her experience working with a group of undergraduate women co-researchers to promote greater engagement in STEM fields to explore the challenges of defining and implementing action in the context of a participatory action research project. After reviewing a number of definitions and theories of action, Guy and her fellow researchers settled on the basic notion of collaborative ‘doing’ outside of data gathering and analysis. Drawing upon multiple methods, the group identified action steps that they felt were meaningful and achievable. Guy goes on to describe the impatience expressed by some members of the groups that it seemed to take so much time to make the move to action and how they came to recognize action within the research process itself and to appreciate progress toward change within the institution as meaningful in its own right.
What all these authors also make clear is that they are deeply committed to Participatory Action Research. Because, despite the challenges, PAR offers researchers new opportunities to engage in caring relationships with others in order to explore more democratic ways of working together to achieve positive change. Their reflections on both the challenges and rewards of PAR provide EAR readers with important guideposts for deepening our own practice.