Participatory Action Research And Practice

23). This methodology has been characterised as an interactive cycle consisting of identifying problems, diagnosing, developing intervention and evaluating the outcomes to find what has been achieved and to plan further interventions. In this research, Bargal (2008) highlights the importance of bringing together action and reflection and theory and practice. It is suggested that action research should be done in participation with others in the aim of making social change for the betterment of policy and practice.

Participatory action research is defined as the approach in research which is mainly focused and empathizes on action. This approach towards research is fundamentally aligned with the understanding of the world by trying to change it. One of the key reasons due to which PAR is mainly viewed as being controversial is because it intends to confront the existing status quo and affair of things in which they have been operating for a long period of

I performed this action research project at River Community College in West Michigan. The community college provided educational opportunities to the

In the case study about Participatory Action Research (PAR) in a public New England middle school, researchers attempted to implement the PAR approach into a program that moves students who are behind 1 year, at an accelerated rate – 3 years of school over the course of 2 years – allowing them to be in the appropriate grade for their age group. The accelerated program was called Higher Academic Achievement Program (HAAP). Two teachers and their classes participated in the research, taking on the PAR approach two days a week, while continuing their normal academic schedule the rest of the week. The HAAP program was a very traditional and strict program. The academic schedule was to be abided by profusely to ensure that students were being properly prepared for their state exams. While the actual teaching style of the teachers differed, their traditionalistic teaching views were shared. Both students, teachers, and administrators were assessed and interviewed at the conclusion of the study to report feedback about the successes, weaknesses, opinions, and criticisms about PAR. While the program has a unique and engaging approach, there were several large complications in appropriately implementing PAR into the HAAP program.

This is a research method that usually engages those who are least likely to manipulate the policies and actions that affect their own lives. The PAR enables researchers’ to serve the function of a resource to those being studied (Babbie, 2007, p. 301). Through this function, the disadvantaged groups are able to “take the lead

Action Research – a researcher moves through the action research cycles consisting of planning, acting, observing and reflecting to advance knowledge and develop people as professionals (Zuber-Skerrit, 1993, p.1).

According to Gerrig, participatory response is a process where readers encode the types of mental contents as they would encode them if they were the participants in the narrative world. Gerrig divides participatory response in the following seven categories, such as the emotional response, outcome preference, problem solving instructions, problem-solving assertions, self-projection, re-plotting and character evaluation. Immersion is a phase called by Victor Nell as “lost in a book” where reader’s mind merges with the storyline and simulates a fictional world as a temporary escape from reality. As a part of the emotional response, the reader might feel sorry, sympathetic or even start associating himself with one of the characters. Reading process provides an environment for a reader that engages him in a passive participation. The following forms of participatory response help readers

Reading the first chapters of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed brought to my mind part of the history of Latin America, which I consider, is vital to understand the context where Paulo Freire lived which shaped his beliefs about education as an emancipatory force.

Despite the respectable figures, the economy is not considered developed. Although the economic changes since 1947 increased the countries per capita income above US$2,000 in 1980, per capita income in 1995 was still only US$4,630. Structural change and growth have not distorted drastically Brazil's awfully unequal distribution of opportunity, wealth and income. Even with striking increments in economic growth and output, the number of poor has increased sharply. The rural area of Brazil’s Northeast Region, or in the country's large cities or metropolitan areas is where the greatest concentration of the poor reside. The mission of fixing the country's development pattern has only been complicated by the political and economic troubles of

Ernest T. Stringer in Action Research Edition 4 demonstrates that community is not a place. It is a state of mind. He contends effective action research inquiry process must be participatory which seeks to establish a sense of community among participants through working together, establishing an understanding of each other’s experience and perspective to establish effective outcomes. This research seeks to change the social, organizational, and personal dynamics of research so that all who participate benefit from its outcomes.

Chapter 3 describes the origins of action research and the different methods, steps, and types of action research to use. The first point that really stood out to me was the explanation of action research attitude. Johnson and Christensen (2017) define this attitude when, "you take on the attitude of a practitioner and a researcher and you think about how you can improve your workplace, try new strategies, and determine the consequences" (p.58). As a teacher, the root of this attitude and mindset is something that I do on a daily basis. I am constantly trying to find ways to improve my classroom and the overall school itself. However, action research requires more than having this attitude, and utilizing research to work towards a solution is something that I have slowly started to utilize.

Researchers have a variety of methods they use to conduct their research. Some of these methods include action research, ethnography and case studies. Of these methods, case studies can be viewed as valuable way to collect data. A case study can be defined in a variety of ways; however, it can be summarized as a form of qualitative research that aims to systematically study the function of a social group, individual or social event in order to effectively grasp the functions of the phenomena using a variety of data-gathering methods (Berg & Lune, 2016). The aim of this paper is to determine how and why researchers may use a case study, by conducting a deeper analysis of this research method. This will be achieved by examining the

When deciding upon a research design it was the need to ‘question the nature of knowledge and the extent to which knowledge can represent the interests of the powerful and serve to reinforce their positions in society’ (Baum, MacDougall, & Smith, 2006: 854) that led to using participatory action

Practitioner action research is unique because the practitioners/researchers are their own subjects or informants. The importance of investigating and recording what works is particularly important in light

When considering my inquiry, qualitative research is the approach usually associated with the constructivist worldview (Creswell, 2014; Mertens, 2015). For my research this will mean recording, analyzing and uncovering the deeper meaning and significance of inclusion in the French immersion context and how this translates into best practices. If I examine the purpose of action research as described by Hendricks (2013) as “for practitioners to investigate and improve their practice” (p.3) then my research could also fit into this approach. I have chosen not to involve participants other than myself and will conduct an independent study using data from existing studies and I may also choose to include personal reflections on my own practice. This would allow a thorough investigation of my topic and allow me to present, analyze and discuss information and existing ideas in the both the qualitative and quantitative literature from the patterns that emerge.