Lawson Hal A - Participatory action research

Series Editor

Tony Tripodi, DSW

Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University

Determining Sample Size

Balancing Power, Precision, and Practicality

Patrick Dattalo

Preparing Research Articles

Bruce A. Thyer

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

Julia H. Littell, Jacqueline Corcoran, and Vijayan Pillai

Historical Research

Elizabeth Ann Danto

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Donna Harrington

Randomized Controlled Trials

Design and Implementation for Community-Based Psychosocial Interventions

Phyllis Solomon, Mary M. Cavanaugh, and Jeffrey Draine

Needs Assessment

David Royse, Michele Staton-Tindall, Karen Badger, and J. Matthew Webster

Multiple Regression with Discrete Dependent Variables

John G. Orme and Terri Combs-Orme

Developing Cross-Cultural Measurement

Thanh V. Tran

Intervention Research

Developing Social Programs

Mark W. Fraser, Jack M. Richman, Maeda J. Galinsky, and Steven H. Day

Developing and Validating Rapid Assessment Instruments

Neil Abell, David W. Springer, and Akihito Kamata

Clinical Data-Mining

Integrating Practice and Research

Irwin Epstein

Strategies to Approximate Random Sampling and Assignment

Patrick Dattalo

Analyzing Single System Design Data

William R. Nugent

Survival Analysis

Shenyang Guo

The Dissertation

From Beginning to End

Peter Lyons and Howard J. Doueck

Cross-Cultural Research

Jorge Delva, Paula Allen-Meares, and Sandra L. Momper

Secondary Data Analysis

Thomas P. Vartanian

Narrative Inquiry

Kathleen Wells

Structural Equation Modeling

Natasha K. Bowen and Shenyang Guo

Finding and Evaluating Evidence

Systematic Reviews and Evidence-Based Practice

Denise E. Bronson and Tamara S. Davis

Policy Creation and Evaluation

Understanding Welfare Reform in the United States

Richard Hoefer

Grounded Theory

Julianne S. Oktay

Systematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research

Michael Saini and Aron Shlonsky

Quasi-Experimental Research Designs

Bruce A. Thyer

Conducting Research in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Settings

Michael G. Vaughn, Carrie Pettus-Davis, and Jeffrey J. Shook

Qualitative Methods for Practice Research

Jeffrey Longhofer, Jerry Floersch, and Janet Hoy

Analysis of Multiple Dependent Variables

Patrick Dattalo

Culturally Competent Research

Using Ethnography as a Meta-Framework

Mo Yee Lee and Amy Zaharlick

Using Complexity Theory for Research and Program Evaluation

Michael Wolf-Branigin

Basic Statistics in Multivariate Analysis

Karen A. Randolph and Laura L. Myers

Research with Diverse Groups:

Diversity and Research-Design and Measurement Equivalence

Antoinette Y. Farmer and G. Lawrence Farmer

Conducting Substance Use Research

Audrey L. Begun and Thomas K. Gregoire

A Social Justice

Approach to Survey Design and Analysis

Llewellyn J. Cornelius and Donna Harrington

Participatory Action Research

Hal A. Lawson, James Caringi, Loretta Pyles, Janine Jurkowski, and Christine Bolzak

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You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

A copy of this books Catalog-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress

ISBN 9780190204389

ISBN 9780190204402

Hal A. Lawson

Hal A. Lawson

Hal A. Lawson and James C. Caringi

Christine T. Bozlak and Michele A. Kelley

Janine M. Jurkowski, Kirsten Davison, and Hal A. Lawson

Loretta Pyles and Juliana Svistova

Hal A. Lawson, Christine T. Bozlak, James C. Caringi, Loretta Pyles, and Janine M. Jurkowski

We appreciate the guidance and support provided by Toni Tripodi, the series editor, and Agnes Bannigan, our consulting editor. We also were guided by three external reviewers who provided insightful criticism and important suggestions.

We also appreciate two graduate students contributions. The University at Albanys Joe Chiarenzelli provided research assistance related to institutional review boards. The University of Montanas Jean Ali Church did the lions share of the work on organizing the references.

A variety of funding agencies supported our work, and we remain grateful to their respective program officers. For example, the work on design teams (see ) was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant 1133264 of the Disaster Resilience in Rural Communities Program).

Above all, we are grateful to the countless people we have worked with and learned from in our respective participatory action research initiatives. This book would not have been possible without their participation, teaching and guidance, contingent feedback, patience and tolerance, engagement, expertise, and service as co-researchers.

Hal A. Lawson

Participatory action research (PAR) is a special investigative methodology. It connects and integrates five priorities. First, PAR enables democratic participation in real-world problem-solving by local stakeholders who typically lack formal research training and credentials when the research begins. Second, this democratic participation occurs in successive action research cycles, which can be described simply as plan, do, study, and act. Third, new knowledge and understanding are generated as local problem-solving proceeds, thus qualifying PAR as research (e.g., ). Fourth, this practice-generated knowledge responds to practitioners and policymakers knowledge needs because relevant, useful knowledge for policy and practice is derived from them.