The methodological overrepresentation of moral dilemmas in recent Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) discourse has culminated in a critical stalemate--a methodological paralysis brought on by an overly cautious fixation on personal moral hazards. As critical YPAR scholars, we honor these necessary interventions but are also concerned that…

Drawing from anticolonial scholarship, critical race theory, and critical youth studies--this paper positions youth inquiry as a form of resistance to schooling. Youth resistance communities represent learning contexts that insist on the immediacy of challenging the pain of normative schooling through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR).…

Indigenous community research partnerships face challenges when integrating technology into their infrastructure, and risk compromising the community's cultural, technological, and rhetorical sovereignty. In this paper, we explore the practices that help mitigate this challenge, including making visible the technology itself and technology…

This paper critically examines the use of the photostories method adapted from Photovoice in research with children, exploring its effectiveness in enabling decision-making and influencing change while addressing potential challenges. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which the photostories method enables children to make decisions and…

This paper will explore the dichotomy of direction and stimulus through a reflection on arts-based methods used in a research study into post-industrial communities in South Wales and consider whether in participatory processes, a catalyst for artistic creativity could become construed as researcher-led control over the activities. Through an…

There has been encouragement from funders, universities and academics to co-produce research. Co-production of research can be considered a methodology in its own right, or an underpinning set of principles for other methods. Co-production aims to reshape relations between the researched and the researcher. Yet, co-producing research rarely starts…

This paper/visual art/puppet show is about the more-than-human entities who help me include my whole self in my teaching and other research. It is about how generative it is to be our whole, sacred, profane, glorious selves. This art reminds us of the importance of dreaming beyond what we have been told is possible. It demonstrates how irreverent,…

Practitioners and scholars have argued that youth participatory action research (YPAR) challenges systemic injustice in education, as youth and adults research mechanisms of oppression and propose recommendations. However, oftentimes YPAR does not lead to new policies, as institutional decision-makers ignore youth's moral pleas and empirical…

The article examines the question of asymmetries in participatory research relationships in institutional contexts. The principle of ethical symmetry forms the theoretical framework for the investigation. It draws on experience from three (participatory) research projects in different settings, involving academics and people living in the settings…

There is a lack of instructional literature on how to conduct a feminist evaluation to highlight and transform systemic issues in gendered and intersecting power relations. Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) enables a process for conducting community-driven, -led and -owned feminist evaluations that drive social justice actions. By…

Research in early childhood settings requires careful consideration of the impact on all children in the setting, whether participants or non-participants, and evolving ethical approaches in response to children's needs. However, flexible approaches and, 'in the moment', ethical adaptations are not routinely reported as part of early childhood…

This article theorizes the concept of kinship in the context of a time-bound university-community collaboration between a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) team and an undergraduate course at an elite liberal arts college in the Midwest. The two co-authors, the two adults involved in this partnership, build on the YPAR team's definition…

This paper investigates the potential of Ubuntu philosophy for decolonising Participatory Research (PR) in the Global South, addressing power imbalances and research process challenges. Despite PR's focus on community involvement, it can perpetuate practices contradicting its principles, hence the rise of 'decolonising research' for fair,…

This paper, delivered as a provocative keynote address to the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) conference in Manchester on 28th October 2023, explores the question if action research might have a sweet spot. A sweet spot is defined as an ideal location, area or combination of factors for a particular activity or purpose. It draws on…

Purpose: This article examines the power relationships between researcher and participants, children and adults, drawing on the theories of transgressions and resistance in power, during a research project concerning children's experiences of the visual arts. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered conducted in two Scottish primary schools…