A participatory action research approach to programme evaluation in a rural society

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Recently, Participatory action research (PAR) has become a common approach tosocial programmes in South Africa. This tendency has created a need to evaluatethis kind of programmes to determine if it really achieves what it sets out to do. Thepurpose of this study was to evaluate an entrepreneurial skills training programme ina rural community where a participatory action research approach was followed.A literature review was undertaken to present an in-depth look into the body ofliterature that surrounds the study. Programme evaluation was discussed as aresearch design, including types and stages of evaluation. The concept ofempowerment was investigated. The review also included a study of literature onPAR, especially the definitions, context and process of PAR. The role ofentrepreneurship in rural development was also investigated as well as theevaluation of entrepreneurial skills training programmes.An entrepreneurial skills training programme was implemented in the rural town ofDarling on the West Coast of South Africa. The PAR approach was followed in theimplementation of the study that was conducted over a period of 15 months.Participants joined the programme that included different projects, voluntarily. Theparticipants were divided into three groups according to their period of participation inthe programme. The researcher facilitated actions as well as reflection meetings withthe group of participants before and after the entrepreneurial skills training course.The researcher made field notes during the implementation of the programme. Theparticipants' empowerment status was measured with a standardized questionnaireusing a pre-test-post-test design. The participants' application of the entrepreneurialskills that were taught in the course was measured during semi-structured interviewsat the end of the research perico. four case studies document the extremes of therespective outcomes of the programme, namely empowerment and entrepreneurship.Statistical analysis showed statistically significant improvements in the micro, macroand total empowerment scores of the total group. Looking at the three groupsseparately, group one showed statistically significant improvements on the micro and interface levels and group two on the micro level. Even though group three showedsmall improvements on all three levels, none of them were statistically significant.Data from the field notes wer:e analyzed according to the PAR concepts ofparticipation, action and reflection. Participation mostly had a collaborative nature;action was aimed at economical change and reflection aimed at practical problemsolving. The interviews revealed that 20 of the 24 participants had micro bakingbusinesses at the end of the research period and they succeeded in the short-termgoal of applying the skills that were taught in the course. The case studies showed nocorrelation between the participants' application of entrepreneurial skills and thechanges in their empowerment status.The findings of the study suggest that the longer participants participate in a PARprogramme, the bigger the improvement in their empowerment status will be.Monitoring of the implementation revealed that the study fell short of the ideal typeof PAR, since participation was not yet collegiate. Actions were only effective ineconomic change and not in social transformation. Reflection resulted in limitedcritical self-awareness among the participants. The PAR approach has proven to besuccessful in the attainment of the short-term goals of an entrepreneurial skillstraining programme. The long-term sustainability of the entrepreneurs' businesseswill have to be followed-up by further research.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University