An Australian study was conducted to develop a strategy for safe use of farm chemicals by Asian migrant market gardeners in Western Sydney. The researchers chose to use participatory approaches for which policy makers and development practitioners had in other studies shown enthusiasm, although this enthusiasm could not at times be sustained beyond the early stages of project planning due to nonparticipation of clients. Study results suggested that this nonparticipatory behavior had several causes: a cultural practice of avoiding outsiders, the different processes of sense making used by the gardeners and the researchers, and the researchers' professional illusions inherited from the intellectual bias of the practitioners, which inhibits their capacities to stimulate community participation. Inconsistencies between the social systems of the target community and of the practitioners were the foundations of a diversity that needed to be acknowledged. Conflicts in the research dealt with initial resistance displayed by growers against the researcher, putting off of the chemical usage issue because of inconsistency arising from sense-making processes, and growers' development of interest in addressing their issues. A theoretical framework useful for community development practitioners was designed that included accommodating diversity and building personal relationships. (Contains 19 references.) (YLB)