Take the time to set up your planning together with the community, so it respects their commitments.
Important for the researchers: don’t comment on information provided (remain neutral and unbiased) and dress appropriately according to traditions, customs and ways of the visited region.
Make sure you share the results of the research with the community so that they can profit from it.
Challenges
Communities might be hesitant to share information, information might be biased, incorrect or incomplete because the community could be afraid the intervention will be stopped. Therefore, it is advisable to use multiple information sources (triangulation)
It is important to protect the identity of the people sharing information with you, to make sure they are not harmed in any way.
Participatory action research
Introduction
When thinking of conducting research, perhaps the image comes to mind of a very time-consuming and extensive job. Participatory action research is different. It is research that is carried out with members of the community. There is room to experiment and test outcomes. This means you are constantly moving and improving as part of the research.
Why
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You may want to choose participatory action research, because it is a collaborative and democratic process, leads to practical solutions, includes all stakeholders and improves the credibility of your work.
What you can expect
In eight steps, we will guide you towards developing your own participatory action research.
Step 1: What is participatory action research?
When thinking of conducting research, perhaps the image comes to mind of a very time-consuming and extensive job. Participatory Action research is different. It is research that is carried out with members of the community. There is room to experiment and test outcomes. This means you are constantly moving and improving as part of the research. That is why we speak of ‘participatory action research’. In Asia, it is also called 'Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)'.
Participatory action research consists of four phases, which succeed each other in a circular process of taking action and reviewing what the action does for the stakeholders. It seeks to constantly increase the positive impact of the action for the beneficiaries.
Planning phase
Action phase
Analysis phase
Conclusion phase
In this toolkit, you will learn how to plan and implement a participatory action research.
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Step 2: Why choose participatory action research?
As a community organisation you are always working to improve the lives of the people in your community. You could benefit from ways to improve and increase your impact, while continuing your actions.
"A praticipatory monitoring & evaluation system aids not only in gaining perspectives of primary stakeholders but also in developing an inclusive & accountable M&E system." Itishree Sahoo, Manager Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning, Oxfam
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Step 3: Define who should be involved
Define roles The uniqueness of participatory action research is that the stakeholders involved in the intervention or project are part of the research, with an emphasis on the beneficiary community. The community members become researcher as well as participant. It is helpful to define the roles clearly, when you have a meeting. The same person from the community may play different roles at different times.
Identify and involve all stakeholders To start, it is a good idea to make a stakeholder list or map with the community, using this worksheet. Include right-holders of the problem or solution, for example village elders, local administration, civil society organisations (faith based organisations, youth groups, women groups, self-help groups, human rights groups, etc.), business community, institutions of learning.
Use the participation ladder to decide how to involve the different stakeholders in the research. Ideally the right-holders should be in level 5, but at minimum at level 3.
Step 4: Plan the research process
Moving without a plan can bring you where you don’t want to be.
Explanation planning of research
Everybody in the community can contribute in participatory action research; as researcher, data analyst, as well as information source and data collector. By taking up different roles, people exchange knowledge and increase capacities. Sharing the outcome of the research with the community is equally important.
Planning the action research
Research phase
What
Who
Planning phase: Identifying the problem and designing the research
Identifying the issue:
Analyse the situation with the target population
Identify problems and solutions
Research design:
Define/explain the research topic
Collect all existing information
Decide how many people will be included and geographical focus
Develop the planning with the communicty members)
Resources
Beneficiaries of the research
Decision making structure
Describe any ethical issues when relevant
Researchers together with community members
Action phase: Data collection
Choose and implement the data collection methodologies, such as social mapping, resource mapping, matrix ranking, questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, observatory methodology (e.g. making videos, pictures) etc.
Researcher or data collector together with the community
Analysis phase: Data analysis
Analyse the quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (narrative) results of the research. You can do this manually or if possible using the technology. Look at both expected and unexpected results.
Data analist
Conclusion phase: Reporting and evaluation
Report the results and give these back to community:
Choose reporting format. What is the best way to share the results with the community members?
Common themes: how to summarise and report them back to the communities?
Evaluation with partners and stakeholders:
Evaluate effectiveness of the research with the community
Researcher
Step 5: Collect your data
For participatory research, you can use several methods to collect data. For example, a resource map, made with the community, looks like this:
Below, you will find a short description of the methods that are used most. We advise you to use multiple methods to collect data, to prevent bias. Click on the method to learn more.
Participatory planning methods
You plan your research with the community through:
Verbal ranking of problems and opportunities, during which a list of problems and opportunities is drawn up
Prioritisation of problems and opportunities, which consists of a broad discussion and reshuffling of the listed problems and opportunities
Listing of activities, based on the prioritised problem and opportunity list
Prioritisation of activities, based on the listed activities and a broad discussion on actual possibilities to carry out such activities
Delegation of responsibility, or WHO should do WHAT.
Social mapping
involves the sketching of houses and other social facilities and infrastructure in a village. It helps to visualise and situate the location of household, social facilities and infrastructure in the village.
Resource mapping
This is a tool that helps us to learn about the community and its resource base, mostly based on the perception of the natural resources found in their community.
Prioritisation matrix or pairwise ranking
This helps villagers to set priorities (problem, needs, action etc). This is usually done with key informants.
Timeline mapping
Here the villagers meet in small groups and discuss the most important events in the community in the past and put in to a timeline. This process reflects discussions on problems, social and technological innovations or on the community’s history of cooperation to solve problems in the past.
Season chart
This method determines patterns and trends throughout the year in a certain village. It can be used to know about rainfall, food availability, agriculture production, income and expenditure, health problems etc. This tool helps to understand how villagers allocate their time to various activities during a year.
We will walk you through the first three methods in the next steps. Download this overview with all of the data collecting tools and links to more information and step-by-step guides.
Step 6: Social mapping
Social mapping is the most popular method in participatory action research. The focus is on the depiction of living conditions and the nature of housing and social infrastructure: roads, drainage system, schools, railway tracks, religious buildings, post office, well, community hall etc. Social mapping is different from other regular maps in significant ways:
It is made by local people and not by experts.
It is not drawn to scale. It depicts what the local people believe to be relevant and important for them.
Follow these steps to make your social map:
Fix the location and time for the exercise in consultation with the local people. Invite them for it.
Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants. Ask them to start off with drawing the prominent physical features of their community. Leave it to them to use whatever materials they choose; local as well as other materials as creatively as possible.
Watch the process alertly. Listen to the discussions carefully. Take notes in as much detail as possible. Avoid chipping in. Your role is limited to facilitation.
Keep track of who is actively involved, which sections of the society they belong to, and who is being left out. Take proactive steps to involve those left out in the process.
Once the mapping is over, ask some people to identify their houses in the map.
At the end, ask questions on the aspects you are not clear about.
Check the map with others in the community.
Download the worksheet for detailed instructions on how to make a social map.
[downloadbutton type=Word size="300px" url="https://www.changethegameacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Worksheet-social-mapping-150221.docx "] Worksheet social mapping[/downloadbutton]
Step 7: Resource mapping
Next to the social map, a resource map is one of the most commonly used methods in participatory action research. While the social map focuses on habitation, community facilities, roads, religious buildings etcetera, the resource map covers the natural resources in the community and depicts land, hills, rivers, fields, vegetation, etc.
Just like a social map, a resource map:
It is made by local people and not by experts.
It is not drawn to scale. It depicts what the local people believe to be relevant and important for them.
Follow these steps to make your resource map:
Fix the location and time for the exercise in consultation with the local people. Invite them for it.
Explain the purpose of the exercise to the participants. Ask them to start off with drawing the prominent physical features of their community. Leave it to them to use whatever materials they choose; local as well as other materials as creatively as possible.
Watch the process alertly. Listen to the discussions carefully. Take notes in as much detail as possible. Avoid chipping in. Your role is limited to facilitation.
Keep track of who is actively involved, which sections of the society they belong to, and who is being left out. Take proactive steps to involve those left out in the process.
Once the mapping is over, ask some people to identify their houses in the map.
At the end, ask questions on the aspects you are not clear about.
Check the map with others in the community.
Download the worksheet for detailed instructions on how to make a resource map.
Matrix ranking will help you to create insight in and make participatory decisions about possible interventions in the community. Ranking methods include:
Preference ranking
Pairwise ranking
Direct matrix ranking
Preference ranking and pairwise ranking are a bit simpler than matrix ranking, but the worksheet will help you through all of the methods. Ranking methods have logical steps to be followed:
Decide upon a set of problems, preferences or solutions to be explored.
Interact with the community members to formulate indicators (only for matrix ranking)
Interact with community members and set his or her favoured items in order of priority. Repeat this exercise with a good number of people.
Tabulate the responses.
Download the worksheet for detailed instructions on how to to set up matrix ranking.
Take the time to set up your planning together with the community, so it respects their commitments.
Important for the researchers: don’t comment on information provided (remain neutral and unbiased) and dress appropriately according to traditions, customs and ways of the visited region.
Make sure you share the results of the research with the community so that they can profit from it.
Challenges
Communities might be hesitant to share information, information might be biased, incorrect or incomplete because the community could be afraid the intervention will be stopped. Therefore, it is advisable to use multiple information sources (triangulation)
It is important to protect the identity of the people sharing information with you, to make sure they are not harmed in any way.
