Research design: Participatory Action Research (PAR)
This study uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a research design. The whole research is based on a participatory approach: in collecting data, analysing data, and re-defining the research question and the research method. PAR bridges the gap betwe
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This study uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a research design. The whole research is based on a participatory approach: in collecting data, analysing data, and re-defining the research question and the research method. PAR bridges the gap between theory and practice through community-based participation. It is rooted in social psychology. Kurt Lewin,82 a German-American psychologist, first used the term ‘action research’ in 1944. The word also appears in Lewin’s paper ‘Action Research and Minority Problems’ (1946), in which he defines it as a social research that leads to action. It involves using a systematic and cyclical method of planning, taking action, observing, evaluating, and critically reflecting prior to planning the next cycle. Lewin describes the process of social change in three steps: 1) Unfreezing, meaning the disclosure of a dilemma that needs to be changed; 2) Changing, meaning the diagnosis of the actual situation while new models of behaviour are investigated and tested; and finally 3) Refreezing, meaning the application and adoption of new behaviour (Lewin, 1958: 201-202). According to Lewin, ‘action research’ presents an alternative to conventional ‘irresponsible science’ that causes alienation between theory and praxis. Lewin is nowadays regarded as the inventor of the first generation of ‘action research’. During the 1960s and 70s, a second generation of ‘action research’ evolved. It originated in England and later Australia, and gave a new, socially critical impetus. Scientists emphasised that researchers should understand their tasks as emancipatory and political. In Germany, pedagogues, sociologists, and psychologists were trying to generate alternatives to conventional scientific standards (such as objectivity and neutrality) within the social sciences (Schneider, 1980). However, on a transnational scale they were heavily criticised. The main criticism included the conviction that societal structures did not change after research, but were merely reproduced.83
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Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) is known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organisational, and applied psychology. For more information on the critique, refer to Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005.
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107 © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2016 J. Richter, Human Rights Education Through Ciné Débat, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-12723-7_6
In the spirit of social movements in Latin America and Africa, a third generation of action research shaped the work of social workers, theologians, and pedagogues: Participatory Action Research (PAR). Practitioners like Paulo Freire (1921-1997), Orlando Fals-Borda (1925-2008), and Anisur Rahman (1933) developed the PAR approach, which combines theoretical science and practical social engagement. Fals-Borda remarked that PAR combines the following three aspects: research orientation, adult education, and socio-political action (Fals-Borda, 1990: 3). This form of research tries to advance scientific knowledge while at the same time identifying issues of local importance. One major goal of PAR is to work
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