QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

After you have defined your research questions, aims, or goals, the next step is to identify your research design. Your research questions or goals inform the type of research design that you will use. There are some research designs that are informed by a particular field of study and expanded to other settings and disciplines. Other research designs are informed by theory.

Participatory Action Research

What is it? Participatory action research is a type of qualitative research that requires ongoing collaboration between the researcher and participants to understand a problem and make planned social change. Researchers and participants are in constant communication during the development, data collection, analysis, and results of the project. The aim of the project is usually to solve problems experienced by participants with constant communication with the researcher on actions taken by participants during the course of the project.

Participatory action research may be considered an empowering experience for participants because of their input throughout the process. This research requires repetitious steps to identify the problem and cycles of trials in resolving the problem. With each cycle, the researcher and participant collaboration build upon the understanding of previous actions in order to resolve the problem. Over time, participants may feel a sense of control in how their experiences of difficulties can be resolved through their own abilities.

This researcher-participant relationship differs from other types of qualitative research designs. Therefore, you may need to learn skills on the integration of field notes and participant feedback to improve on each step. Our consultants can provide expert knowledge on how to build upon each iteration of your participatory action research project to identify solutions.

How can we help you?

• Assist with using your collaborative skills to facilitate participant interaction
• Assist in using appropriate language applicable to participatory action research

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