Article
Practical, Epistemological, and Ethical Challenges of Participatory Action Research: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature
Journal of Higher Education and Outreach
(2018)
Abstract
This article extends recent discussions on the practical, epistemological, and ethical challenges of participatory action research (PAR) for community engaged scholars through a cross-disciplinary literature review. It focuses on how practitioners across fields define power, engage with conventional research approval processes, and manage risk. The review demonstrates that PAR can be a valuable research approach for community engaged scholars, but that problematic practices and disparities must be addressed. For instance, while PAR practitioners consistently articulate a commitment to empowering the community and shifting structures of oppression, contradictions around how to define and respond to power, engage with standard IRB practices, and cope with high levels of risk are prevalent. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations, highlighting the need for more transparent and self-reflexive methods, transdisciplinary practices, metrics designed to assess risk, inclusion, and power-sharing, ongoing dialogues across disciplinary and institutional divides, and inclusive authorship and open-access publishing practices.
Keywords
- participatory action research,
- ethical challenges,
- interdisciplinarity,
- IRB,
- power,
- risk,
- community engaged scholarship
Disciplines
- Arts and Humanities,
- Ethics and Political Philosophy,
- Feminist Philosophy,
- Applied Ethics,
- Education,
- Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research,
- Educational Methods,
- Higher Education,
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,
- Organization Development and
- Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Publication Date
October, 2018
Citation Information
Danielle L Lake and Joel Wendland. "Practical, Epistemological, and Ethical Challenges of Participatory Action Research: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature" Journal of Higher Education and Outreach Vol. 22 Iss. 3 (2018) p. 11 - 42 ISSN: 1534-6104 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/danielle_lake/47/