Participant Action Research in Political, Psychological, and Gender Studies

Abstract

Qualitative methodology is used in social and intervention research because it facilitates a deeper analysis of causal factors and development of alternative solutions to social problems. Based on the findings of three studies in the field of political and gender psychology, this article focuses on Participant Action Research (PAR) as a useful qualitative approach to deal with social phenomena, such as racism, violence against women, and the problem of children and youth who have been dislocated as the result of armed conflict and sheltered by the Colombian government's program for persons relocated to civil society. This article is composed of three parts. The first part offers historical and theoretical background to the Action Research (AR) paradigm, its validation criteria and their meaning for the development of the Latin American rendering of Participant Action Research (PAR). The second part synthesizes trends in the AR approach in the United States and Germany, discusses feminist research and compares these to trends in PAR in Latin America. The third part is a description of Participant Action Research as an intervention method, including features, models, goals, and concepts. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs060438