This paper focuses on the application of the participatory research approach in non-Western contexts. The aim is to provide critical insights into the participatory research discourse through an examination of its theory and practice based on our own experiences of using this approach in our doctoral research in five Central Asian countries and…

People with a learning disability, the experts of their own experience are increasingly involved in research. We will be discussing in this paper their centrality in the development of a psychological therapy outcome measure for people with learning disabilities. Their involvement needs to go beyond giving their views to being included in the…

Due to a moratorium on the cod fishery in 1992, small, isolated coastal villages in Newfoundland suffer increasing unemployment, health problems and threats of re-location by the government. In the hopes of addressing some of these problems, the Burgeo Broadcasting System (BBS) placed video-conferencing and broad-band internet into five small…

Purpose: The Family Care Conference (FCC) is an elder-focused, family-centered, community-based intervention for the prevention and mitigation of elder abuse. It is based on a family conference intervention developed by the Maori people of New Zealand, who determined that Western European ways of working with child welfare issues were undermining…

The paper reflects on how photography was used during a small piece of mixed methods qualitative research with some young Travellers and their families. The context for the study was "Every Child Matters" and the accompanying push aimed to include groups considered as marginalised, such as young Travellers, in mainstream educational provision, as…

The data in this article comes from a larger 3-year ethnographic study that examines the transnational immigrant lives of second-generation Latina youth whose families reside in northern California and maintain close ties to small rural communities in western Mexico. In the course of the study, three bilingual youth and I developed a participatory…

In this article we explore a number of issues arising from the papers in this special issue of "Environmental Education Research." The papers focus on current examples of childhood environment research in the UK together with research reviews from the UK, the US and Australia. In order to provide a framework for considering and…

Participatory action research is defined by the need for action, initiated by participants. It creates knowledge needed for action, and it is a learning process. Learning results from participation, from creating new knowledge, and from affirming the importance of knowledge people already have. (SK)

A Seniors' Independence Research Program involved older adults, family caregivers, and professionals in shaping health-care policy and delivery. The project was a case illustration of how research has made a difference to policy choices by stakeholder involvement throughout the research process. Strategies ensured stakeholder collaboration,…

A group of nurses at a rural, psychiatric hospital used participatory action research to explore issues of autonomy and found that they could successfully challenge institutional norms and ideas that limit nurses' autonomy. (Author/JOW)

Proposes a community-based research (CBR) model that is genuinely collaborative and driven by community rather than campus interests; that democratizes the creation and dissemination of knowledge; and that seeks to achieve positive social change. Demonstrates how this model translates into principles that underlie the practice of CBR in four…

Scandinavian approaches to action research aim at democratizing work life as well as the research process. The model emerging today aims to make change and learning a self-generating and self-maintaining process. (SK)

Universities of the Third Age are developing the research facet of their mission. In this model, the senior citizen is both the object and the agent of research, being involved in action research that transforms their subjective impressions and intuitions into objective knowledge with which to transform their environment. (Author/SK)

Answers the following questions about transformative research: (1) is the concept needed? (2) does it represent a new methodology? (3) how does it relate to social movements? and (4) is it limited to postindustrial societies? (SK)

Describes aspects of participatory action research and considers advantages of using participatory action research in research by disabilities and rehabilitation researchers. Notes that participatory action research can be built into any rehabilitation research design but that it rests upon the recognition of persons with disabilities as integral…