Introducing Critical Participatory Action Research

Abstract

This chapter begins by describing the thirty-five year history of how this book came to be. It outlines the overall structure of the book and what each chapter is intended to achieve. The authors define critical participatory action research as a collaborative commitment to engaging in iterative cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting to address untoward consequences of social practices, often rooted in global concerns (that is, concerns connected to social movements such as protecting the environment, or advocating for women’s rights). The chapter illustrates what it means to engage in critical participatory action research by presenting Recycling at Braxton High School, one of five examples that recur throughout the book. Critical participatory action research is presented as a crucial contribution to the field of action research that includes a number of different types of action research done for unique purposes by individuals in varied contexts. Further, critical participatory action research requires extension of the roles of researcher-practitioner and theorist-practitioner, and expansion of the conceptual basis of practices and theories of practice.