‘PAR does not follow a set research design or particular methodology, but constitutes a strategic rallying point for collaborative, impactful, contextually situated and inclusive efforts to document, interpret and address complex systemic problems.’
McIntyre, A. Participatory Action Research (Sage, 2007).
Although having no prior experience to PAR, I have had a lot of experience facilitating ‘collaborative live projects’. I wanted to use a similar methodology of staged workshops which would act as a framework for the research.
I have worked for 5 years as a project manager for MATT+FIONA, a social enterprise that asks young people how their built environment might be improved and empower them to bring that vision to life through their work. Our methodology is a chaptered design process and pedagogical approach that allows young people to be involved at every stage of the build process. This is facilitated through a series of design workshops which develop the project from; Briefing; Design; Build to In Use. Through reading around PAR, I have realised that the work we undertake at MATT+FIONA is very comparable with PAR in that we seek to create a space for young people, voices are often disregarded, to have a direct act in changing their built environment. The projects we undertake follow a PAR cycle of working with a group to
- IDENTIFY: an issue or need (in their local context)
- OBSERVE: site and area analysis / Collage and Model making
- ACTION: create the space or installation
I wanted to adopt a similar strategy with the PAR workshops in order to create a structure that would guide the process but not direct the course of the research. This structure acts as a framework, both for me as primary researcher, but also for the students in understanding the arc of the research.
Workshop Summary:
| Workshop | Date | Time | Objectives |
| Workshop 1 | Wednesday 1st Nov | 2-4pm | Introduction to project + development of brief |
| Workshop 2 | Wednesday 22nd Nov | 2-4pm | Design Workshop |
| Workshop 3 | Wednesday 6th Dec | 2-6pm | Build Workshop |
Further reading around methodologies used in PAR, reveal that a multitude of methods is beneficial to produce more effective problem solving and to triangulate data generation.
Methods such as focus groups, participant observation and field notes, interviews, diary and personal logs, questionnaires, and surveys are effective methods of data generation employed in PAR. [i]
The three methods I chose to use in my ARP were;
- Focus groups
- Participant Observation
- Surveys
Advantages of using these methods in PAR:
Focus groups involve a small gathering typically of around 7-12 individuals are related to the study’s focus. These groups are structured as facilitated discussions by a researcher to encourage communication and diverse perspectives. In PAR, the topics for discussion are determined collaboratively between the researcher and participants, emphasising the active involvement of all parties throughout the research process.
Participant observation, another method within qualitative research, entails the researcher immersing themselves in the social setting being studied. This approach allows the researcher to experience the context firsthand, participating in activities alongside the subjects while observing and recording both subjective and objective behaviours and occurrences. The researcher engages deeply, taking systematic field notes to document events, behaviours, and physical aspects of the observed social situation.
Surveys facilitate the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data through structured questions, enabling researchers to understand individual perspectives on community issues. Surveys can be collaboratively designed with community members, ensuring relevance and promoting a sense of ownership among participants. Additionally, they offer a way to maintain anonymity, encouraging honest responses, especially when sensitive information is involved.
| Research Methodologies | How did I use it in my PAR? | Challenges | If I were to do it again, I would… |
| Focus Group | I did a call out for a limited number of students to act as focus group for the wider studio community. | Is it representational of the whole community? Most of the students that signed up were 3rd years and 1 st year so not representative of the whole studio community. | include other studio users, such as cleaning staff. |
| Participant Observation | This was what I observed through the workshops with the focus group. | I found this challenging to record while undertaking the role of facilitator in workshop 1. In workshop 2 I tried to use Team to record the session but the recording quality was not very good and therefore the data not useful. | ask someone to act as an observer and record all the sessions using observational field notes. I would use this same methodology in all the workshops to create better parity. |
| Surveys | At the end of the PAR, I sent a reflective questionnaire to students. | Not sure how relevant it is to the research question. Is perhaps more relevant to their experience and expectation around the project. | collected this data at the end of each workshop. This would have acted as a project ‘check in’ which may have helped direct the flow of the research. |
[i] Macdonald, C. (2012). UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OPTION. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 13, 34-50.