Participatory Action Research (PAR): what is it and how does it work?

We explain one of the most innovative psychosocial research methods.

Social science research is very diverse and rich in proposals and possibilities for action. By understanding that we are beings immersed in a large number of meanings and codes through which we identify and interact, it has been possible to develop different ways of doing research and intervention.

In this article we will give a general definition of one of the most important methods in community social psychology: Participatory Action Research (PAR). Participatory Action Research (PAR).

What is Participatory Action Research?

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a method of psychosocial research that is based on a key element: the participation of different stakeholders.. It is based on a reflection and a series of practices that aim to include all participants of a community in the creation of scientific knowledge about themselves.

PRA is a way of intervening in social problems that seeks to ensure that the knowledge produced by research is used for social transformation. It also seeks to ensure that the development of research and intervention is centered on the participation of those who make up the community where research and intervention take place, since the community itself is understood as the one in charge of defining and directing its own needs, conflicts and solutions.

In this sense, PRA is a methodological proposal that emerges as an alternative to one of the classic ways of intervening in social problems: that of making programs that do not consider those who will be the beneficiaries or addressees of those programs.

For the same reason, action research has historically been linked to the mobilization of minority social sectors, promoting forms of research whose knowledge generated is used for the benefit of the community where the research is carried out.promoting ways of doing research in which the knowledge generated is used for the benefit of the community where the research is carried out.

Key concepts and process development

Some key concepts when considering PRA are planning, empowerment, strengthening and, of course, the concept of participation.. Likewise, it is a process that is carried out through a series of systematic and consensual actions.

Although there is no single way to carry it out, precisely because the steps must be flexible to the needs of both the community and the problems posed in the research, in general terms there are some stages through which a PRA passes, such as the detection or reception of a demand, familiarization and dissemination of the project, participatory diagnosis, detection and prioritization of needs, design of an action plan, implementation of actions, and constant and also participatory evaluation.

Theoretical basis: participatory paradigms

Participatory paradigms are epistemological and methodological models that have made it possible to develop different ways of conducting social research, and which have arisen as a consequence of the criticisms that have been made of the predominant and more traditional ways of conducting social research.

Following Montenegro, Balasch and Callen (2009), we are going to list three characteristics or purposes of participatory paradigmsThese are some of those that constitute the theoretical and methodological foundations of Participatory Action Research:

Redefining roles by specifying the shared field of action 2.

The members of the communities are not simple receivers, addressees or beneficiaries, but are recognized as producers of knowledge, which means that there is a joint work among different knowledge.

The intervenor is no longer an expert but a facilitator or dynamizer in the research-intervention process. Thus, he/she seeks to move away from the distinction between subject of knowledge - object of knowledge (person who intervenes - persons intervened). It understands knowledge as a product of heterogeneous experiences and of the relationships they establish..

2. There is a political dimension

Participatory methods seek to use knowledge for the transformation of power and domination relations that have contributed to sustaining social inequalities. and domination relations that have contributed to sustaining social inequalities. This is in contrast to some traditional positions of intervention, whose purpose is mainly the opposite: to adapt people to social structures.

3. Evaluate the challenges during the process

Assess the challenges and difficulties, as well as the solution strategies, for example, the inclusion of all people does not occur automatically, nor is it always a desire shared by all or free of conflicts. Likewise, it may happen that the problematization made by all actors is not always oriented towards social transformation or the production of critical knowledge, whose solutions are proposed according to the context, needs and expectations of the actors.

In short, by considering that the people traditionally understood as the "intervened" are in fact subjects of knowledge (as are the "interveners").Participatory methods base problem detection and decision making on the involvement of different knowledge and seek to establish horizontal relationships aimed at the social transformation of the community.

Bibliographical references:

• Delgado-Algarra, E. (2015). Participatory action research as a driver of democratic citizenship and social change. International Journal of Education, Research and Innovation, 3: 1-11.
• Montenegro, M., Balasch, M. & Callen, B. (2009). Participatory perspectives of social intervention. Editorial OUC: Barcelona.
• Pereda, C., Prada, M. & Actis, W. (2003). Participatory Action Research. Proposal for an active exercise of citizenship. Colectivo Ioé. Retrieved April 13, 2018.