Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)

1. Participatory Action Research (PAR) and
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
Mariel Denerie B. Colance

2. 2
◎ Definition
◎ History
◎ Key Principles
◎ Strengths
◎ Challenges
◎ Methods
◎ Ethical Principles
Outline:

3. Definition
3

4. Participatory Action Research (PAR)
◎ A collaborative process of research, education and action (Hall 1981)
explicitly oriented towards social transformation. (McTaggart 1997)
◎ Involves researchers and participants working together to examine a
problematic situation or action to change it for the better. (Wadsworth
1998)
◎ Participatory research has three key elements: people, power and
praxis (Finn, 1994)
4

5. Participatory Action Research (PAR)
◎ the purpose of PAR is to foster capacity, community development,
empowerment, access, social justice, and participation
◎ involves a cyclic process of research, reflection, and action (Marshall &
Rossman, 2006; Selener, 1997)
◎ the problem is determined by the people who believe and feel that the
problem is really a problem in the local setting
5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. Thus, PAR is
collaborative research,
education and action
used to gather
information to use for
change on social or
environmental issues. It
involves people who are
concerned about or
affected by an issue
taking a leading role in
producing and using
knowledge about it.
9

10. History of PAR
10

11. KURT LEWIN (1890-1944)
who is considered the founder of action
research (Gillis & Jackson, 2002)
11

12. ◎ a Prussian psychologist and a
Jewish refugee from Nazi
Germany
◎ embodied the philosophy “that
people would be more motivated
about their work if they were
involved in the decision-making
about how the workplace was run”
◎ introduced the term ‘action
research’ as a tactic to studying a
social system
12

13. ◎ addressed problems of
segregation, discrimination, and
assimilation and assisted people in
resolving issues and initiating
change while studying the impact
of those particular changes
◎ original ideas continue to influence
researchers to organize their work
and reports in a cycle of steps
which include observing,
reflecting, acting, evaluating, and
modifying introduced the term
‘action research’ as a tactic to
studying a social system
13

14. PAULO FREIRE (1921-1997)
best known for his influential work
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
14

15. ◎ a Brazilian educator and
philosopher who was a leading
advocate of critical pedagogy
◎ was concerned with empowering
the poor and marginalized
members of society about issues
pertaining to literacy, land reform
analysis, and the community
◎ emphasized the significance of
critical consciousness to social
change
15

16. Participatory action research has also
emerged from movements that shared a
vision of society free of domination
16
◎ international development
◎ the social sciences communities
◎ adult education

17. Key Principles and Goals
of PAR
17

18. 18

19. The Strenghts of PAR
19

20. The Strengths of PAR
◎ strongly value orientated
◎ seeking to address issues of significance
◎ participants are not subjects of research, but rather, are active
contributors to research
◎ rebuild individuals’ capacity “to be creative actors on the world”
while being active participants in meaningful decision-making
◎ empowerment of oppressed individuals
◎ consciousness-raising
20

21. The Challenges of PAR
21

22. The Challenges of PAR
◎ diversity in meanings of PAR
◎ inclusion of community members in the research
team (commitment and divergence of
perspectives)
◎ Issues of power imbalances
◎ access into the community of interest
22

23. Methods employed in PAR
23

24. Various methods for data collection
have been used in PAR
◎ Focus groups
◎ participant observation and field notes
◎ Interviews
◎ theatre, personal / family / community diary and personal logs
◎ questionnaires, and surveys
◎ community meetings
◎ resource mapping
◎ problem identification and visioning
◎ transect walks
24

25. Various methods for data collection
have been used in PAR
◎ Testimonials
◎ timeline analysis
◎ public dialogues
◎ engagement with state authorities / investors / others, events and
processes to reflect
◎ use of media, community exchange, using multi-media as inputs into
these (or creating them from these)
◎ re-strategizing
◎ documenting
25

26. FOCUS GROUP
◎ form of group interview that
capitalizes on communication
between the research participants
in order to generate data
◎ consists of 7 to 12 individuals who
share certain characteristics
◎ all participant viewpoints are
recognized and valued, as all
participants have an opportunity to
communicate
26

27. 27
PARTICIPANT
OBSERVATION
◎ rich source of data collection that is
commonly employed in PAR
◎ provides the researcher with
privileged access to research
subjects in a social situation
◎ captures the context of the social
setting in which individuals function
by recording subjective and
objective human behaviour

28. 28
PARTICIPANT
OBSERVATION
◎ the researcher as a participant-
observer not only observes
activities, participants, and physical
aspects of the situation, but also
engages in activities appropriate to
the social situation
◎ entails the systematic noting and
recording of events, behaviours, and
objects in the social setting through
the use of detailed and
comprehensive field notes

29. 29
INTERVIEW
◎ face-to face verbal interaction
◎ enable participants to describe their
situation
◎ interviewing offers researchers
access to people’s ideas, thoughts,
and memories in their own words
◎ participants are given maximum
opportunity to present events and
phenomena in their own terms
and to follow agendas of their
own choosing

30. 30
MAPPING
◎ is an effective way to get people
(individually or in a small group) to
identify the territory they use, and
the different natural resources that
they rely on for various livelihood
activities.
◎ Mapping is useful because it allows
people to overlay different kinds of
information, and should ideally
combine different kinds of
information, such as:
○ the physical features of a territory (coast,
lake, river, forest, mountain)
○ key infrastructure or ‘signpost’ places
(roads, canal, village, post office, district
office, police station)
○ resource use (grazing area, cropping
fields, fishing area) •
○ political/administrative boundaries
(traditional authority, municipal, district)

31. 31
TIMELINE
◎ are people’s own account of their
history – a chronology of important
events or changes over time, with
approximate (or whenever possible,
exact) dates
◎ serve to help people to construct a
history (individual or in a small
group), and to identify key moments
at which their land and natural
resource use or access changed
◎ can include general trends with
approximate dates or specific
events

32. 32
VENN DIAGRAM
◎ are a cluster of circles, some of
which overlap.
◎ easy to develop in a small group of
community members.
◎ You can invite them to discuss the
individuals and institutions that play
a role in shaping their situation, and
they can decide how big or small
each should be, depending on how
important they are.
◎ Next, invite the group to arrange the
circles of actors to indicate which
work together – and place them
overlapping one another.

33. 33
ACTOR TABLE
◎ As with the Venn diagram, ask a small
group of participants to identify the actors
that are of relevance to their story, and in
each case, to discuss and decide which of
these are most important (i.e. able to
influence their situation) and which are
less important (i.e. less able to influence
their situation.
◎ Having done that, ask participants to
discuss which among these are likely to
be more friendly and receptive to the
community’s concerns, and which are
likely to be hostile or unwilling to engage.
Using the table as a tool for a conversation,
discuss how the community, and you as a
supporting organization, will engage with
these different actors.

34. 34
VISIONING
◎ Is about what does not exist; it is an
exercise to collectively construct a
future scenario that community
members believe would be a real
improvement on the current
situation.
◎ The purpose of visioning is to
provide a space for community
members to consider an alternative
to (a) their past, (b) their current
situation and (c) a future which they
do not want.
◎ visioning exercise requires pushing
people to think beyond what exists
and the problems they confront.

35. 35
TRANSECT WALK
◎ is a group exercise that entails
walking between two points to
intentionally cross or transect a
community. The group explores
environmental and social resources,
conditions and systems by
observing, asking, listening, looking
and producing a transect diagram.
◎ Specific information may be
collected to reveal land use
practices, hazards, vulnerabilities
and capacities to inform disaster
mitigation and preparation plans
and longer term climate resilience
plans

36. Ethical Principles for PAR
36

37. Ethical Principles:
◎ ensure that all relevant persons, committees, and authorities have
been consulted
◎ All participants must be allowed to influence the work, and the
wishes of those who do not wish to participate must be respected
◎ development of the work must remain visible and open to
suggestions from others throughout the research process
37

38. Ethical Principles:
◎ ensure that permission is obtained prior to making observations or
examining documents
◎ Descriptions of others’ work and points of view must be negotiated
with all those who participated in PAR before publishing any of the
work
◎ responsibility for maintaining confidentiality
38

39. Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA)
39

40. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
◎ is being used to describe a growing family of approaches and
methods to enable local people to share, enhance and analyze their
knowledge of life and conditions, to plan and to act
◎ is used to enhance and facilitate the effective design and
implementation of development projects, and how it is practically
being applied into surveys and researches.
◎ used by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other
agencies involved in international development
40

41. 41
PRA approach is
used with the
following
assumptions:

42. 42
1. Rural communities form active
foundation for rural development
2. Communities need committed local
leaders to stir up their development
3. Communities have knowledge and
information but it needs to be
organized
4. Communities have resources but
they need to be mobilized. They
can introduce projects, acting
primarily on their own resources.
5. Community organizations are
among the many, which are under
utilized resources available for
development efforts

43. 43
6. External units such as Government
technical experts and extension
workers, NGOs, and international
organizations often can provide
substantial technical, financial or
managerial assistance that is
critical to rural communities.

44. 44
PRA helps
communities to:
◎ Mobilize their human and natural
resources
◎ Define problems
◎ Consider previous successes and
failures
◎ Evaluate priorities and opportunities
• Prepare a systematic and site
specific plan of action (CPA)

45. CONCLUSION
PAR is considered a mode of systematic
inquiry, an action research methodology
that focuses on social change
45

46. PAR is a qualitative research
methodology that fosters collaboration
among participants and researchers
46

47. PAR is empowering, as it promotes
capacity development and capacity
building in all who participate
47

48. PRA brings together on the one hand, development
needs defined by the community members and on the
other, skills of Government, donor agencies and NGOs.
It integrates traditional knowledge systems and
external technical knowledge in the
development process
48

49. References
Macdonald, C. (2015). Understanding participatory action research: A qualitative research methodology
option, https://journals.nipissingu.ca/index.php/cjar/article/view/37
Danley KS, Ellison ML. (1999). A Handbook for Participatory Action Researchers. Implementation Science
and Practice Advances Research Center Publications. Retrieved from
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_cmhsr/470
Hall, R. et. Al. A Toolkit for Participatory Action Research, https://www.tni.org/files/publication-
downloads/a_toolkit_for_participatory_action_research.pdf
https://jliflc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Transect-Walk.pdf
https://www.fsnnetwork.org/sites/default/files/pra_guide.pdf
http://sergiorosendo.pbworks.com/f/Chambers+on+the+challenges+and+potential+of+PRA.pdf

50. Thank you!
ANY
QUESTIONS?
50