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Educational Action Research
Connecting Research and Practice for Professionals and Communities
Volume 25, 2017 - Issue 4
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Special Themed Issue: The Conceptualisation and Articulation of Impact: Hopes, Expectations and Challenges for the Participatory Paradigm

Participatory action research and impact: an ecological ripples perspective

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Pages 525-540 | Received 22 Apr 2016, Accepted 20 Feb 2017, Published online: 27 Mar 2017
 

Abstract

Assessment of the impact of varied forms of participatory research is enhanced by specific attention to the ripples, such work initiates in the social context. Ripples are defined as consequences either unintended or unanticipated by those carrying out the participatory research. Following a brief documentation of the range of reported ripples in reports describing participatory research, an ecological perspective drawing on the interdependence principle of ecological systems theory is presented as a framework for assessing impact by attending to ripples in the local context. Community asset mapping and social network analysis are described as examples of ways of describing and documenting environmental ripples, and strategies for both anticipating and reviewing ripples post hoc are discussed. The importance of developing cognitive maps of local ecology is stressed as critical to the assessment of the multiple potential impacts of participatory research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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