Participatory Action Research

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a form of Action Research that deliberately involves the people affected by an issue as active co-researchers throughout the process, rather than as subjects being studied by an outside researcher. The people with lived experience of the problem help define the research questions, shape how data is gathered, interpret findings, and decide what action should follow — collapsing the usual separation between “researcher” and “the researched.”

Participation

PAR is built on the idea that the people closest to a problem often have the deepest, most practical understanding of it, and that meaningful, lasting change is more likely when those people are genuinely involved in shaping the solution rather than having it designed for them. This also shifts the purpose of the research itself ; PAR is usually oriented toward empowerment and social change, not just producing knowledge for its own sake.

graph TD
    A[Identify Issue Together] --> B[Build Relationships]
    B --> C[Co-Design the Inquiry]
    C --> D[Collect Evidence Together]
    D --> E[Collaborative Reflection]
    E --> F[Plan Action Together]
    F --> G[Take Collective Action]
    G --> H[Evaluate Change]
    H --> I[Share Learning]
    I --> C

Cyclical process

Like action research more broadly, PAR typically proceeds through repeated cycles:

The “together” at each stage is the key distinction from standard action research; participation is built into every phase, not added on afterward.

Relevance

This pillar sits under Research Methodologies alongside Action Research and Codesign, all of which share a common thread of involving stakeholders directly in the research or design process; relevant to participatory approaches within Vocational Education and Training and community-facing work more broadly.