Re-signifying participatory action research (PAR) in higher education: what does ‘P’ stand for in PAR?

While carrying out a study aimed at understanding the contribution of participatory action research (PAR) to the political realm in contemporary higher education, a problematic situation was found when doing a literature review in the field of action research. This problem concerns the intermittent appearance of the ‘participatory’ component (P) in the acronyms used by PAR practitioners. To flag this problem, a decision was made to use the parentheses around the ‘P’ in PAR; that is, (P)AR. This intermittent appearance of (P) in the literature of action research is linked to one of the main findings in the study; namely, the existence of contested views of ‘action’ and ‘politics’ in action research. In order to address the concept of ‘participatory’ in PAR, and drawing from Hannah Arendt’s notion of ‘natality’, it is suggested that the participatory aspect of PAR (i.e. the ‘P’) be re-signified on the basis of six imbricated ‘P’ notions: people, plurality, publicity, participation, power and politics. The objective of this article is to present how this theoretical resource was utilised to re-signify the ‘participatory’ component of PAR. It is discussed that this re-signification of participation (the P), together with the re-signification of the action (‘A’) and the research (‘R’) components of PAR, constitutes one of the implications to contribute to the re-humanisation of contemporary higher education.     

论伦理行为相对数量规律

谁给我的利益和快乐较少,谁与我必较远,我对谁的爱必较少,我必较少地为了谁谋利益;谁给我的利益和快乐较多,谁与我必较近,我对谁的爱必较多,我必较多地为了谁谋利益。于是,说到底,我对我自己的爱必最多,我为了我自己谋利益必最多,亦即自爱必多于爱人、为己必多于为人,说到底,每个人必定恒久为自己,而只能偶尔为他人:恒久者,多数之谓也,超过一半之谓也;偶尔者,少数之谓也,不及一半之谓也。这就是“爱有差等”之人性定律。     

教育研究伦理的审查政策——以美国哥伦比亚大学IRB为例

教育研究中的伦理道德保护已经受到学界关注,但多停留在伦理标准和规范的辨识上,对大学是如何保护研究伦理知之甚少.以美国哥伦比亚大学教师学院制度评审委员会为例,分析其在评审程序和内容等方面的规定,可为我国建立研究伦理评审机构和政策提供借鉴.     

论质性研究伦理审查的文化适应性

质性研究具有非常重要的伦理规范。本文通过对中国和西方在道德伦理和思维习惯等方面的对比分析,探讨西方伦理审查规范在中国的适应性。研究表明,为了有效推进质性研究在中国的应用和发展,我们需要创造东、西方质性研究伦理对话空间,需要借鉴西方的伦理审查体系来建立适用于本土文化的伦理审查。     

Negotiating Sexuality Education with Young People: Ethical Pitfalls and Provocations

This paper focuses on a nested project within a three-year participatory research project, funded by the Australian Research Council. The project was undertaken in secondary schools across Victoria and South Australia and engaged over 100 students as coresearchers (ages 15–19) in understanding, critiquing, and transforming sexuality education (SE). Data was produced through visual arts and participatory methods and supported by ethnographic techniques (participant observations, focus groups, and guided conversations). In this paper we attempt to expose some of the ethical, methodological and pedagogical processes required when foregrounding young people’s voices in SE. More specifically, to problematize the microethical moments that warrant not only the attention but response of educators and researchers who are open to transforming SE with young people.     

Participation in health through the construction of encounters: a micropolitical approach

We assume that the construction of encounters that produce care is a participative practice in health. Drawing on different research that has explored care production from a micropolitical approach, we present a view of participation as embedded in everyday life and based on the construction of encounters and relationships. Our goal is to provide reflections for debate on participatory practice within different frames of action. Based on the analysis of different cartographic narratives generated by research on a reproductive health policy, we discuss some core elements for the construction of encounters that produce care. On the same lines as models of professional development based on professionals’ day-to-day experiences, we propose experimentation during the encounters and discussion about what happens in them, as both a reflective practices and forms of collective and participative knowledge production.     

A response to strategies and tactics through participatory action research in a developmental mathematics course

This paper explores the value of participatory action research in a community college developmental mathematics course. The authors used the framework of critical mathematics education in order to understand the critical conversations of students about their learning experiences, and also to help the instructor of the course develop the curriculum that attended to student experiences. The authors also draw on Michel de Certeau’s ideas about strategies and tactics to understand how students responded to their past learning experiences. Data results from the study show that students can gain a better understanding of their own learning and subsequently develop deeper content knowledge when they are more involved in the teaching and learning process. Lastly, the authors conclude that as adult learners grow in their understanding of the learning processes and of the content being presented, participatory action research can play an important role in the entire development of thinking and intellectual engagement.     

Breaking through boundaries with PAR – or not? A research project on the facilitation of participatory governance through participatory action research (PAR)

ABSTRACT

In this paper, two researchers reflect on the institutional space for participatory governance in a participatory action research (PAR) process that was initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (ECS) in the Netherlands. It was implemented in two schools by researchers contracted by the ministry. The project’s aim was to explore possibilities for involving schools in policy processes using PAR. We conclude that PAR sheds light on the communication strategies, power and authority balances, and meaning of participation among the participants. The attempt to break through traditional hierarchies generated new insights into the institutional space at both the participating schools and the government institutions that can be used to create participatory approaches to governance. The researchers were the bridging actors between the schools and the government institutions. While previous research showed that a bridging actor can play a positive role as an objective party who is able to deliberate between the participants, we found that it impeded the creation of a participatory governance space.