Participatory Action Research

Participatory action research (PAR) is an orientation to inquiry distinguished by values and features that are highly congruent with social justice research. The chapter begins with a description of PAR, followed by an overview of its historical and disciplinary roots. From these bases, the methodological variations and multiple, eclectic strategies of data collection and data analysis that characterize PAR are presented. A concluding section that highlights five considerations related to social justice: distribution of research benefits/resources; democratization of knowledge; politics of participation; questioning dominant ideologies; and research ethics. Throughout this chapter, I draw on my experiences and understandings of social science research in Arctic Canada, a place laden with hopes and tensions, and certainly ripe for social justice inquiry. These exemplars contextualize processes discussed and strategies for negotiating the opportunities and challenges of PAR.