This document provides an overview of participatory research approaches. It defines participatory research as seeking to make research accessible and useful for ordinary people to improve their lives. Participatory research aims to reduce power imbalances between researchers and participants. It originated in developing countries working with oppressed groups and has been influenced by theorists like Paolo Freire who emphasized local knowledge and empowerment. The document discusses different types of participatory research including community-based participatory research and practice research. It also outlines some challenges of participatory research such as developing community partnerships and addressing methodological issues.

1. PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH IN
COMMUNITIES
Marianne Nylund
RES1, DSS
Diaconia University of Applied
Sciences

2. CONTENTS
 BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
 SHORT HISTORY OF PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH
 DIFFERENT TYPE OF PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH APPROACHES
 CHALLENGES OF PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH
Marianne Nylund 2

3. What is participatory research?
“PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH SEEKS TO DE-ELITISE AND DE-MYSTIFY
RESEARCH THEREBY MAKING IT AN INTELLECTUAL TOOL WHICH
ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN USE TO IMPROVE THEIR
LIVES.
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH MUST BE SHARPLY
DISTINGUISHED FROM CONVENTIONAL ELITIST RESEARCH WHICH
TREATS PEOPLE AS OBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS.”
(TILAKARATNA 1990; KOISTINEN 2011)
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4. Ideology and aims
• BASIC IDEOLOGY: ”THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT MARGINALISED GROUPS HAVE
SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR OWN LIVES WHICH NEEDS TO BE VALUED”
(KATSUI & KOISTINEN 2008, 747)
• AIM: TO REDUCE DISTANCE OF POWER BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND THE
’RESEARCH SUBJECTS’
• INCREASE THE ROLE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS (’TARGET GROUP’)
• CRITIQUE TO POSITIVIST RESEARCH PARADIGMS IN THE EARLY 1970S
CAINE ET AL. (2007); HALL (2005); KATSUI & KOISTINEN (2008) ; LETHERBY (2006)
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5. Critique to ’tradiotional’ research
• “TRADITIONAL RESEARCH PROCESSES ARGUED FOR THE OBJECTIVE AND
VALUE-FREE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE: A ‘SCIENTIFIC’ SOCIAL
SCIENCE” (LETHERBY 2006)
• INCREASED INTEREST IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• ’MARGINAL’ GROUPS (PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, POOR PEOPLE, ETHNIC
MINORITIES, WOMEN) WERE SEEN AS OBJECTS OF RESEARCH, NOT AS
SUBJECTS
• SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, DISABILITY MOVEMENTS (1960S-), SERVICE-USER
AND CARER MOVEMENTS (1980S, 1990S-)
CAINE ET AL. (2007); HALL (2005); KATSUI & KOISTINEN (2008) ; LETHERBY (2006)
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6. Participatory traditions
• PARTICIPATORY TRADITIONS HAVE EMERGED
FROM WORKING WITH OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
• ”RIGHT TO SPEAK” (HALL 1993)
• HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE WORK OF PAOLO
FREIRE:
 CONNECTIONS WITH EMANCIPATORY AGENDAS OF
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
 OPPRESSED PEOPLE HAVE IMPORTANT
KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN BE USED IN MAKING
CHANGES IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIFE
 ”PEOPLE DEVELOP THE SKILLS OF CRITICAL
SOCIAL ANALYSIS SO AS TO RECOGNISE THE
ROLES THEY MAKE TAKE IN CHANGING THEIR
SOCIAL CONDITIONS”
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7. Short history
• PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH (PR) AS A TERM WAS ”FIRST
ARTICULATED IN TANZANIA IN THE EARLY 1970S TO
DESCRIBE A VARIETY OF COMMUNITY-BASED
APPROACHES TO THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE” (HALL
2005, 5)
• TO COMBINE SOCIAL INVESTIGATION, EDUCATION AND
ACTION
• ORIGINATED RAPIDLY AND EXPANDED NETWORKS OF
NGOS IN 1980S AND 1990S
• OFTEN USED RESEARCH APPROACH IN SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS
• PR CAME IN ”FROM THE MARGINS TO BECOME AN
ACCEPTED MEMBER OF THE ACADEMIC FAMILY”
• THE IDEA WAS THAT PEOPLE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES
PRODUCE AND CREATE KNOWLEDGE (P. 7/ FREIRE
CITATION)
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8. Actors developing participatory research
approach
• A CANADIAN AUTHOR, PROFESSOR
BUDD L. HALL, WORKED IN TANZANIA
1970-1974
• HALL MET PAOLO FREIRE, BRAZILIAN
INTELLECTUAL, IN TANZANIA 1971
• HALL WAS INFLUENCED BY THE WORK
OF MARJA-LIISA SWANTZ, FINNISH-
BORN SOCIAL SCIENTIST WORKING AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM
• HALL WAS THE FOUNDING MEMBER OF
THE INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH NETWORK 1976-1980S
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9. Traditional and participatory approach
Traditional research approach Participatory approach
Researchers plan research design Participants involved in planning
Researchers collect data (eg. interview) Participants collect data (eg. interview)
Researchers analyse & interpret data Participants analyse & interpret data
Dissemination mainly to schools/academy in one
format
Dissemination to service users in several
(different languages/ Braille/plain language)
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10. Types & approaches of participatory research
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Concepts in English Concepts in Finnish
Participatory research (umbrella concept) Osallistava tutkimus
Participatory action research Osallistava toimintatutkimus
Community research Yhteisölähtöinen tutkimus
Community-based participatory research Yhteisölähtöinen osallistava tutkimus
Emancipatory research ”Vapauttava” tutkimus
User-led/user-involved research Käyttäjälähtöinen/asiakaslähtöinen tutkimus
Practice research (esp. in social work) Käytäntötutkimus (erityisesti sosiaalityössä)
Experiential research Kokemustutkimus
Experiential expert research Kokemusasiantuntijatutkimus

11. Community-based
participatory research
(CBPR)
• RESEARCH APPROACH WHERE INDIVIDUALS OR
GROUPS ARE INVOLVED IN RESEARCH IN THEIR
OWN COMMUNITY
• PARTNERSHIP WITH RESEARCHERS
• CBPR AIMS TO EQUALITY, EMPOWERMENT AND
SOCIAL CHANGE
• GOAL: TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE OF
INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES
(ISRAEL ET AL. 1998; KATSUI & KOISTINEN 2008; WINTER
& MUNN-GIDDINGS 2001)
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12. Community research
INVOLVES COLLABORATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT
ACTORS:
 PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL RESEARCHERS
 FUNDING AGENCIES
 GROUP OR ORGANISATION BEING RESEARCHED
 ”TO UTILISE ’COMMUNITY-BASED KNOWLEDGE’
TO CREATE NEW KNOWLEDGE FOR THE
PURPOSE OR DEEPENING OUR UNDERSTANDING
OR BUILDING THEORY ABOUT A PARTICULAR
COMMUNITY OR ISSUE OR TO STIMULATE
ACTION-ORIENTED OUTCOMES AND POLICY
CHANGE”
GOODSON & PHIILIMORE (2012, 4)
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13. Emancipatory research
(Noel 2016)
• “EMANCIPATORY RESEARCH IS A RESEARCH
PERSPECTIVE OF PRODUCING KNOWLEDGE
THAT CAN BE OF BENEFIT TO DISADVANTAGED
PEOPLE.
• IT IS AN UMBRELLA TERM THAT CAN INCLUDE
MANY STREAMS OF CRITICAL THEORY BASED
RESEARCH SUCH AS FEMINIST, DISABILITY, RACE
AND GENDER THEORY.
• ONE OF THE KEY ASSUMPTIONS IN
EMANCIPATORY RESEARCH IS THAT THERE ARE
MULTIPLE REALITIES, AND THAT RESEARCH IS
NOT ONLY CREATED BY THE ‘DOMINANT OR
ELITE RESEARCHER’.”
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14. Practice research
• AIM “IS TO CREATE A REFLECTIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRACTICES IN
DIFFERENT CONTEXTS AND THE PREVAILING CONCEPTIONS AND THEORIES IN
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES” (JULKUNEN 2011)
• “THE RESEARCH PROCESS IS ATTACHED TO THE PRACTICE AND ITS
DEVELOPMENT, AND IS FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE VISIBILITY OF SOCIAL
WORK, NOT ONLY IN TERMS OF DESCRIBING THE PRACTICE BUT ALSO
ATTEMPTING TO CONTINUOUSLY RE-EVALUATE THE CONCEPTIONS “ (JULKUNEN
2011; SAURAMA & JULKUNEN 2009)
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15. Challenges with participatory research
THINK OF POSSIBLE CHALLENGES WITH PAR APPROACHES:
1. WHAT MAY HINDER RESEARCHERS TO USE PAR APPROACH?
2. WHAT MAY HINDER PARTICIPANTS TO BE INVOLVED IN
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH?
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16. Possible challenges with participatory
research
1. DEVELOPING COMMUNITY RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS: LACK OF TRUST &
RESPECT; UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION WITH POWER AND CONTROL; CONFLICT
OVER FUNDING
2. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES: PROBLEMS WITH VALIDITY, RELIABILITY &
OBJECTIVITY
3. BROADER SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, INSTITUTIONAL AND CULTURAL
ISSUES: DIFFERENT EXPECTATIONS & CONFLICTING DEMANDS FROM
COMMUNITIES, GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS, NGOS, FUNDERS & ACADEMIA
(UNIVERSITIES)
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17. Challenges and solutions of participatory
research (PR)
CHALLENGES:
• LOCATING PARTICIPANTS (GENDER,
DISABILITY, LOCATION)
• SKILLS
• TIME ALLOCATIONS
• WHOSE VOICE?
• DISSEMINATION OF THE FINDINGS
• RECEIVING FEEDBACK FROM THE
RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
• FUNDING
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SOLUTIONS:
FURTHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
NEEDED FOR
 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
 INSTITUTIONS (GOVERNMENTAL, NON-
PROFIT, ACADEMIA)
 RESEARCH FUNDERS
TO UNDERSTAND THE IDEOLOGY OF PR
IN INTEGRATING DIFFERENT TYPE OF
KNOWLEDGE TO DEVELOP
COMMUNITIES AND MAKE SOCIAL
CHANGES

18. Think about your thesis topic
• HOW ARE YOU GOING TO APPROACH YOUR ”TARGET GROUP” OR
COMMUNITY YOU ARE STUDYING?
• WHO ARE THE PARTICIPANTS IN IT?
• WHAT KIND OF ROLES PARTICIPANTS CAN HAVE?
RESEARCHER/S
PARTICIPANTS (”TARGET GROUP”, ”RESEARCH OBJECTS”)
OTHERS?
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19. Literature
• HALL, B.L. (2005) IN FROM THE COLD? REFLECTIONS ON PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH FROM 1970-
2005.
• JULKUNEN, I. (2011) KNOWLEDGE-PRODUCTION PROCESSES IN PRACTICE RESEARCH - OUTCOMES
AND CRITICAL ELEMENTS. SOCIAL WORK & SOCIETY 9(1), 60-75.
HTTP://WWW.SOCWORK.NET/SWS/ARTICLE/VIEW/7/26
• NOEL, A-L. (2016) PROMOTING AN EMANCIPATORY RESEARCH PARADIGM IN DESIGN EDUCATION
AND PRACTICE. 2016 DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE, BRIGHTON, UK.
HTTPS://STATIC1.SQUARESPACE.COM/STATIC/55CA3EAFE4B05BB65ABD54FF/T/574C8F437C65E4C3
7E158502/1464635207294/355+NOEL.PDF
• WINTER, R. & MUNN-GIDDINGS, C. (2001) A HANDBOOK FOR ACTION RESEARCH IN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE. LONDON: ROUTLEDGE.
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