Action plan development and implementation strategies

Participatory Research: An Approach With Multiple Applications

One common critique of traditional modalities of social research is that traditionally minded researchers are unable to regard the subjects of their fact-finding mission as anything but lists of quantitative data that either prove or disprove a hypothesis. Through this lens, the research subjects are alienated from the research that is produced, research that would not exist without their participation. The educational institutions that publish the research benefit from the research project, not the participants. Participatory research is an attempt to remedy this deficit by offering a different approach to the research process.

In the article entitled "What is participatory research? A theoretical and methodological perspective," Park (1993) stresses that the 'research process' should not be viewed as separate from learning from experience. Both researchers and participants gain knowledge from the experience of research and study. Participatory research admits learning comes from the process of daily life. Sharing knowledge should be reflected in the research process. In short, participatory research is an exchange and a dialogue between subjects and researchers, not an act of objective and falsely scientific distancing, and it is a collaborative and creative act (Park, 1993).

Can this idealistic formulation be applied to the field, even the field of health care where hard data would seem a necessity? According to the article, "The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research: Creating Partnerships, Improving Health" (2003) published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality it can and must. Researchers must ask themselves, can I make the community better. Park's theory is put into practice. The article notes the troubling ethical concerns of much of past research studies on human health which "may develop new treatments or find ways to prevent disease," but "can take years before these treatments become available in most clinics, doctors' offices, or community health centers, and sadly, this is especially true for disadvantaged or minority communities, "even when they are the subject of the research" ("The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research: Creating Partnerships, Improving Health," 2003, AHRQ). Traditional scientific research raises troubling issues about a community being used to benefit more affluent subjects. The Agency offers a unique form of Participatory Research as an antidote, what it calls Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), which means actively involves the community being studied in the research and "promises to directly benefit the people studied" ("The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research: Creating Partnerships, Improving Health," 2003, AHRQ). It is specifically concerned about the impact of research upon community health and education ("The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research: Creating Partnerships, Improving Health," 2003, AHRQ).

Through this formulation of participatory research, community-based sources should help researchers to recruit subjects, subjects should not be recruited directly by the university, and these community institutions must make the subject them active partners in the study and clearly inform them of the uses of their research. Educational institutions have often rendered certain populations, specifically populations of color, alienated subjects in a way that has alienated communities from the healthcare professions in general. This is tragic because quite often certain ailments, such as diabetes, disproportionately affect persons of color. "Community health centers...have been slow to join with university researchers because of barriers such as mistrust that kept the two groups apart," but a community-based approach has created a "stronger relationship between the city's Latino and African-American communities, both of whom suffer from a high incidence of this illness" of Type II Diabetes because of diet and lifestyle issues ("The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research: Creating Partnerships, Improving Health," 2003, AHRQ). By taking this approach, not only will diabetes research be more ethical in its construction, but it will also help break down community barriers that create resistance and fear towards the health care systems, provide care to the economically disadvantaged, and thus act as a force for social change and good.

The example of diabetes treatment and research is an excellent example of research that is vital and important to a community, pertains to cultural acts and rituals like food are affected by social circumstances like the availability to exercise, and shows that a participatory approach is not merely theoretical but realistic in the field. Park's theoretical endorsement of research as a co-creative act with a potential to create social justice is not limited to health care education, but religious education as well. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier discusses how the participatory approach can bridge cultural differences even in the intractable field of religious dialogue. "Kushnud Azariah, the first ordained woman in Pakistan and a pioneer of a variety of endeavors in her country, was moved to grapple with the problem of religious intolerance in the curriculum of the schools. Her approach was to create spaces for the dialogue among school administrators, teachers, students, and parents who are Muslim, Hindu, and Christian," when she was attempting to create a more effective curriculum to address academic and social concerns (Conde-Frazier, 2006: 1).