COMMUNITY

ORGANIZING
PARTICIPATORY ACTION
RESEARCH (COPAR)

Mr. Pedro M. Magadan RM, RN

Faculty, UPM-SHSEC-Baler
What is Participatory Research?
(from CO-PAR, published by the
Institute of Primary Health Care,
Davao City)
• The International Labor Organization defines
Participatory Research as an investigation on
problems and issues concerning the life and
environment of the underprivileged in society by
way of a research collaboration with the
underprivileged, whose representatives participate
in the research process as equal partners, that is, as
researchers themselves rather than having outsiders
do research upon them or upon their problems.
• Given this definition, participatory research
can be viewed as an alternative research
approach in the context of development. It
is alternative because although better
business or government is the end in view
in traditional research, little thought and
effort go to ensuring that the research
project will be used for the benefit of those
researched.
• The central element of Participatory Research is
participation. Here, participation is not the
passive involvement of a person or social group
taking part in certain actions initiated, designed
or controlled by others. Rather, it is an active
process whereby the expected beneficiaries of
research are the main actors in the entire
research process, with the researcher playing a
facilitator’s role. The research is based on a
system of discussion, investigation and analysis
in which the researched are as much part of the
process as the researcher.
• In operational terms, the expected beneficiaries
of research are involved in the formulation of
research design, collection of data and
interpretation of data that should culminate in
the planning, implementation and evaluation of
programs resulting from people’s awareness of
their own condition. Perhaps, this involvement
of the community in the entire research
process is Participatory Research’s most
radical point of departure from traditional
research.
• The organization of the community is part
and parcel of Participatory Research. Several
experiences in Participatory Research have
shown that by bringing a group of
marginalized farmers or fisherfolk together to
analyze their own situation, an organization
of farmers or fishworkers develop. Through
Participatory Research, members of a
community are given the chance to articulate
their problems and work out solutions. Thus,
the community not only gains from the results
of the research but from the process itself.
Participatory Research vis-à-vis
Traditional Research
• Participatory Research is an innovation from the traditional research
approach. Unlike Participatory Research, traditional research
considers people as objects of research rather than active
collaborators of change and development. Whereas traditional
research caters only to the interest of the academe and
development agencies, Participatory Research veers away from
dependence on outside researchers. Because of this dependence
on outside researchers, traditional research fails to come up with the
real desires, aspirations and problems of many backward
communities. Such failures occur because data are analyzed
based on the researcher’s preconceived theoretical
frameworks which in turn determine the methodologies and
research designs to be employed. Unfortunately, the theoretical
framework not only influences the kind of data that will be
gathered, it also dictates what reality will be seen.
In comparing Participatory Research to the
Traditional Approach, there are three issues
to consider:

• Problem identification
• Method of data gathering
• Use of results
Problem Identification
Traditional Research
• the task of identifying what the
problems of a community are is
done by the professional or
outside researcher. If the research
project is being conducted by the
academe, the choice of the
problem is based on the discipline
and interest of the researcher. If
the research is commissioned by
an agency that would like to
determine the feasibility of its
policy, then the problem is chosen
based on the agency’s
administration needs. In both
types of research mentioned, the
research is outside the problem
area.
Participatory Research
• involves the community or group
experiencing the problem in defining
the problem. The choice of the
problem is based on the immediate
problem situation, and not on what
the outside researcher expects the
community should be. The
researcher however, also takes part
in the task. Therefore, in
participatory research, problem
identification is jointly undertaken by
the people, who are the main actors
in the situation, and by the
researcher, who is initiating the
research process. In other words,
the community is assisted and
not dominated by trained outside
researchers.
Method of Data Gathering
Traditional Research
• as demonstrated by most
survey approaches, has
modeled itself after the natural
science research. As a result,
traditional research makes
use of quantitative methods,
which oftentimes fail in
describing meaningfully the
complex social reality.
Considering that the society is
continually changing, the
predominant use of
quantitative methods tends to
present a static picture of the
social milieu.
Participatory Research
• Though participatory research uses a
wide variety of data gathering
methods, including the same methods
used in the traditional research
approach, it does not adhere to any
standard design. Rather,
participatory research is determined
by local culture and is innovative.
Data gathering methods used include
group meetings, use of video tape,
seminars, workshops, surveys
followed by group consultations,
historical mapping, in depth interview
and focus group discussions. The
choice of which method to use is jointly
made by the researcher and the
researched.
Use of Results
Traditional Research
• The utilization of research
findings by the community is
not an integral part of most
traditional survey approaches.
In contrast, research results are
applied by the community in
participatory research.
Traditional research is not
conducive to subsequent
action, and much of the
research outcomes are
published in books, journals and
such reports. Others are
packaged for consumption in
seminars and conferences.
• Results of participatory
research are within the
full control of the people,
and thus, they accrue to
the benefit of the people.
Since the people have a
ready access to the
information, they become
aware of the issues and
problems that affect
them.
The Why of Preparing Graduate Students
To Carry out Participatory Research

• By Dr. Beverly B. Cassara, University of

the District of Columbia
• (Excerpt from “The How and Why of
Preparing Graduate Students To Carry out
Participatory Research”)
• With the ever-increasing sophistication of oppressed
people, whether in Third World Countries or in
marginal populations in industrialized countries,
there is a growing trend in social science to reject
those modes that treat individuals as objects of
research. Further, there is an increasing demand
that the results of social science research serve in a
timely way to improve the situation of those
involved. The developing mode of participatory
research meets these two requirements. However,
participatory research is not a simple method:
neither is it easily explained or carried out. Based as
it is on the principle of optimal and imminent human
development, it requires a value system and a kind
of commitment not necessarily inherent in traditional
social science research.
• Participatory research is a combination of
education, research and action so
intertwined that the three components
cannot really be separated from each
other or approached serially. The purpose
is the empowerment of people by helping
them to determine their own problems,
educate themselves about these, decide
how they wish to prioritize them, learn
about their causes, find out where help is
to be found, decide upon solutions and
take action.
• At this time when the concept of “self-
directed” education is receiving particular
attention as a means of enhancing the
autonomy of the learner in serving his / her
own educational needs most effectively,
one could see “participatory research” as
group self-directed adult education. In both
cases, learners become the responsible
decision makers about values and
priorities. Participatory research is a
democratic idea placing the responsibility
for self-direction unto the group.
• The term Participatory Research is, in a way, a
misnomer, because it does not fully describe
education as an action phase of the total
concept. The name developed in Tanzania in the
mid 1970s, when researchers and researched
decided that traditional social science
researchers often did not help any given group
directly, if at all. At this time, the objection that
traditional research pattern made objects out of
people was felt so keenly that the name
“Participatory Research” was coined as a
counter-concept and has stuck like glue even
though it is not completely descriptive.
• It was inevitable that the academic community would
have difficulty accepting participatory research as true
research. To the traditionalist, research is carried out by
an academician who begins with an hypothesis,
searches the literature for relevant materials, sets up
conditions which can be replicated, carries out the work,
writes up the results and publishes the findings, but has
little or no responsibility for follow-up action. While this is
a most acceptable method for many kinds of research,
this paper will show that none of these attributes apply to
participatory research, and thus a certain amount of
conclusion, criticism and misunderstanding occurred,
especially in the early years. Rajesh Tandon, the
coordinator of the Participatory Research Network of the
International Council for Adult Education, explains that
now, a decade and a half later, participatory research
has proven itself as a useful and valid mode on its own
right.
• Participatory Research has reached a stage of
clearer articulation. It is no more presented as a
critique of traditional social science research, it
has a philosophy and a world view of its own. It
is beginning to articulate questions of
political economy of research such as:
Whose interest does research serve? It is
transcending the petty debate on the issues
of techniques and methods. The practice of
Participatory Research has demonstrated that
the tools and techniques are not central issues.
The issue is control over the process of the
production of knowledge, its storage and its
use. (Tandon 1987)
• Nevertheless, in so far as one of the components of
participatory research is indeed research, it is necessary
to understand its distinctiveness in relation to traditional
research, especially traditional survey research to which
it is a reaction. Dr. Budd Hall, Secretary General of the
International Council for Adult Education based in
Toronto, who is one of the founders of the concept of
participatory research, points out some of the
shortcomings of traditional survey research. According to
Hall, surveys oversimplify social reality by forcing
choices; they reflect poorly the dynamics of a situation
since they present one moment in time and experience
in a changing world; and through testing the individual in
isolation, he believes that survey research can be
dominating, oppressive and alienating. Further, no direct
action results. (Hall1979)
• The basic premise of participatory research is
the democratic principle that oppressed and
marginalized peoples through education,
research and action can transform their social
realities. This kind of empowerment will be
based on their own value systems. The
research methods will be various and
different to fit different situations. Knowledge
will be created, which may or may not be
published in books, but will enhance the
quality of life in this world, however informally
it is dispensed.
• Participatory Research can only be carried
out in societies which allow some minimal
amount of freedom. Participatory research
will not solve all the world’s problems but it
is a logical extension of modern adult
education principles of andragogy – that
adults must be autonomous, self-directed
learners, who engage in educational
situations to solve the problems they pose
themselves.