Participatory research in community development

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study focuses on the use of participatory research in community development settings.Participatory research, which is normally referred to by the abbreviation PR, is a relatively newsocial research methodology that arose out of a general sense of dissatisfaction with the waythat traditional research was being conducted in development. Participatory research consistsof a large variety of related research methodologies that emphasize participation, social learningand action.Epistemologically it is founded on the metatheories of critical theory and to a lesser extentphenomenology and feminism. It is primarily based on the idea of allowing people to participateas full researchers in their own research process so as to create knowledge about their ownsocial reality with which they can initiate change. By creating their own social knowledge, whichthey use to address and change their social reality, participants become part of a continuouscycle of analysis - action - reflection. By participating as full co-researchers, participantsbecome part of their own dialogical process of social praxis that allows them to enter into acontinuous cycle of social learning, capacity building and conscientisation that gives them anincreased sense of empowerment which in turn makes them able to engage in their own selfreliantsustainable development initiatives.Both community development and participatory research are grassroot level developmentinitiatives. They both form part of the people-centered, participatory and social learning process- approaches to development. Both share a commitment to: realizing concrete and abstractgoals, a social learning process, participation, empowerment, conscientisation, andsustainability. Both these development initiatives are orientated around operating in smallhomogenous groups as opposed to working with the whole community. In both participatoryresearch and community development the person from outside the community who is initiatingthe development is required to fulfil the role of guide, advisor, advocate, enabler, and facilitator.Community development and participatory research share a similar research cycle that consistsof the following stages: contact making, formal need identification, planning or analysis,implementation or action, and evaluation or reflection. Both research cycles are also committedto the same objectives namely: creating a community profile and need and problem profile, todraw up strategies to address some of the needs and problems, and to monitor and evaluatethe strategies that were implemented.Both community development and participatory research therefore share a number ofsimilarities in their objectives and goals, the most important of which is their shared commitmentto development in which participation leads to an increase in social learning, capacity buildingand conscientisation that in tum results in participants experiencing an increased sense ofempowerment which allows them to undertake their own self-reliant, sustainable developmentinitiatives. Consequently this study concludes that participatory research is suitable for andbeneficial to the practice of research in community development.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University