Participatory research in education: Epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges

PurposeThe literature review explores how multidisciplinary approaches based on critical pedagogy and participatory research can provide frameworks for equitable partnerships and genuine participation in educational design and research practices. Additionally, the essay aims to expand understandings of equitable engagement within educational research and design based on principles from critical pedagogy.Design/methodology/approachThe essay draws from diverse literature in the learning sciences, health informatics, industrial design, disability studies, ethnic studies, rehabilitation science, and to a lesser extent HCI research to understand how critical pedagogy and participatory research methods can provide useful frameworks for disabled peoples' equitable engagement and genuine participation in educational research and design. The literature reviewed in the paper concern topics such as participatory approaches to community development with disabled adults, the implementation of university-initiated community partnerships, participatory research with students and disabled people, and the importance of culturally-responsive research practices. The design literature in this review explores various arenas such as the co-design of assistive technologies with disabled children and adults and the design of curricula for students with and without disabilities. This review focuses on research practices that engender disabled peoples' participation in educational research and design, with focus on developing multidisciplinary frameworks for such research.FindingsThe literature review concludes that participatory research methods and critical pedagogy provide useful frameworks for disabled peoples’ participation in educational design and research practices. Critical pedagogy and participatory design allow for the genuine participation of disabled people in the research process.Social implicationsEmphases on collaboration and collective knowledge-building in social transformation are present in scholarship concerning critical pedagogy, participatory research, and disability studies. However, these connections have been routinely underexplored in the literature. This paper aims to underscore these integral connections as a means to build solidarity between disabled and other marginalized people.Originality/valueThe connections between participatory research methods, critical pedagogy, and disability studies have been previously underexplored. The literature review proposes a combined approach, which has the potential to radically transform multiple realms of research beyond the learning and information sciences.

There are significant inequalities in the lives of America’s children, including inequalities in the education that these children receive. These educational inequalities include not only disparities in funding per pupil but also in class size, teacher qualification, and resources such as books, labs, libraries, computers, and curriculum, as well as the physical condition of the school and the safety of students within it. While not all schools attended by poor children are bad schools, and not all schools attended by well-off children are good schools, there are clear patterns. Poor children are more likely to attend crowded and poorly equipped schools with less qualified teachers than the children of more affluent families. They are less likely to have computers, books, and advanced placement academic courses. To give one example of the differences in school resources, the wealthiest districts in New York spent more than $25,000 per pupil at the same

Soulevant le paradoxe de l'obligation de l'education civique des enfants et de l'apprentissage des valeurs fondamentales du liberalisme telle que l'autonomie de l'individu, l'A. montre que la permissibilite de l'education civique pose probleme, tant du point de vue de l'autorite de l'ecole en matiere d'enseignement et de l'autorite des parents en matiere d'education, que du point de vue de la legitimite de l'etat liberal au regard du consentement hypothetique des citoyens. Examinant les arguments en faveur de l'education civique developpes par W. Galston et A. Gutmann, ainsi que l'argument instrumental en faveur de l'education falicitant l'autonomie, l'A. montre que le debat souleve la question de la place de la famille religieuse de l'enfant et la question des programmes scolaires dans le cadre limite de la doctrine liberale

The question of whether those who think of themselves as egalitarians really do, or should, value equality has received considerable attention in recent years. Alternative principles have been offered as better capturing those distributive intuitions formerly known as ‘egalitarian’. Some endorse sufficiency—comparisons do not matter; what is important is that all have enough. Others favor giving priority to the worse off. The

How can civic education in a liberal democracy give social diversity its due? Two complementary concerns have informed a lot of liberal thinking on this subject. Liberals like John Stuart Mill worry that "the plea of liberty" by parents not block "the fulfillment by the State of its duties" to children. They also worry that civic education not be conceived or conducted in such a way as to stifle "diversity in opinions and modes of conduct."' Some prominent contemporary theorists add a new and interesting twist to these common--concerns. They criticize liberals like Mill and Kant for contributing to one of the central problems, the stifling of social diversity, that they are trying to resolve.2 The comprehensive liberal aim of educating children not only for citizenship but also for individuality or autonomy, these political liberals argue, does not leave enough room for social diversity. Would a civic educational program consistent with political liberalism accommodate significantly more social diversity than one guided by comprehensive liberalism?3 Political liberals claim that it would, and some recommend political liberalism to us largely on this basis. This article shows that political liberalism need not, and often does not, accommodate more social diversity through its civic educational program than comprehensive liberalism. Section I examines the defining difference between political and comprehensive liberalism and suggests why we might expect to find a significant difference in the accommodation of social diversity by political and comprehensive liberalism through civic education.

INTRODUCTION. Educational research is a source of proven information and evidence for improving classroom teaching. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the concept of teacher motivation to engage in educational research. METHOD. This study examined the levels of interest and participation in educational research of a sample of 429 teachers. RESULTS. The results showed that there is a high correlation between all variables (participation, research competencies, motivation, and research knowledge) and three distinct teacher clusters/groups were determined. The first cluster was characterized by a high level of interest in research and active participation in research activities. The second cluster had a moderate level of interest and believed that research was positive and necessary but did not participate in research. Finally, the third cluster had no interest in research and did not participate in research activities. DISCUSSION. These results have important implications for promoting research in the education field and suggest that efforts are needed to specifically engage the teachers who are currently not interested in research or are not involved in research activities.

This article explores various questions through examining such postmodern thinkers as Derrida, Lacan and, in particular, Levinas. Can educational research be an ethical practice? Should educational research be about putting the other first? What is the responsibility of the educational researcher for the educators' responsibility? What is the place of educational research – does it help or hinder an exploration of the most effective expressions of the educationalist desire to help? Is it possible to bring out the good and the goods? Is it possible to have justice and action? Are most theories merely perpetuating violence? Have educational theories and research with fields of knowledge, territories and ownership of educational subject disciplines replaced traditional thinking? Are we part of the new academic police attempting to control language, thought and culture – appropriating differences? Instead, is there a basis on which educational researchers can assist educators to educate in an embodied way so that they help others not do violence to others? Is it possible for researchers and educators ‘not to interrupt their own and other continuity, not to play roles in which they no longer recognise themselves and whereby they betray not only their commitments, but their own substance?’ Can our ethical postmodern practice stop educational research from reverting to technique-orientated mechanism of professional vested interests and, instead, find a better way for us all to put the other first?

In (post) modern society children are seen as active subjects and participants who have a legitimate basis in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. As a consequence of this, children are able to play an active role in the planning of/and participation in both education and research in their own preschool settings. This article offers an argument based on theory and practical examples for the inclusion of children in education and educational research. It also introduces some of the problems which warrant consideration if researchers are to understand and cooperate with children as co-researchers. The author portrays the educational process and the research process as a possible way for the democratisation of children.

This chapter argues that principles of ethical practice of educational research must be informed by broader epistemological and political analyses. Ethics and the relationship between researcher and researched have evolved as the vulnerability of participants has been recognised. Increased community participation in research as it has developed in educational participatory action research provides guidance because of: (i) its strong commitment to participation, and (ii) its active engagement in educational and social change that generates very challenging ethical dilemmas considered only tangentially by other research approaches. The history of advocacy for participation in educational research shows the articulation of ‘principles of procedure’ in ‘democratic’ evaluation and participatory action research. Some sub-practices of participatory action research are used to illustrate how ethical dilemmas of research and their links to educational practice can only be resolved through careful and disciplined self-reflection by participants.

L'auteur souhaite faire un bilan des methodes de collectes des donnees en education comparee. Ce bilan permet de repondre a cinq questions : La methodologie de recherche fait-elle partie des discussions dans ce champs de recherche? Quelles sont les strategies de recherche de ceux qui publient actuellement en education comparee? La variete des strategies de recherche est-elle reduite dans ce domaine? Les zones geographiques concernees par les travaux se sont-elles elargies? De la recherche qualitative ou de la recherche quantitative, laquelle tient le plus de place? Les sources de l'auteur pour realiser cette synthese sont essentiellement les periodiques specialises : Comparative education review, Comparative education et International Journal of educational development. L'auteur definit une typologie des recherches et procede a l'analyse de contenu des publications du point de vue des strategies de recherche de 1960 a 1995.

Collective biography writing (CBW) involves the co-construction of narratives of memory. The narrator tells a story which, at the prompting of the co-participants, is suffused with emotional and sensory details as it is re-written. CBW is fundamentally concerned with the social construction of the self, in turns, that enables the possibility of becoming critically aware of ourselves in order to question that which is taken for granted. It is particularly useful in opening up methodological and philosophical spaces in which to discuss questions of justice, equality and diversity in the contexts of education and learning. Focus of this chapter is the narrative Steering the Pilot Boat which illustrates the sort of data generated in CBW and acts as the focus of the interpretations discussed in this chapter. The narrative may be seen as emphasising the autonomy of the girl who is demonstrating what she has learned – here, how to steer the boat – the CBW process enables a poststructuralist interpretation that calls attention to the context-specific contingency of her learning. Steering the Pilot Boat is concerned with informal learning but the insights obtained through this narrative can usefully illuminate more formal teaching and learning situations. Working collectively with narratives can be a powerful tool in becoming aware of how knowledge is constructed, and it is a methodology that is therefore highly pertinent to education and educational research.

The paper develops a critical reflection upon the methodological and ethical challenges of researching the food practices of low-income families with children. We draw on data and fieldwork experience in Portugal, within a recently completed European research project. The study aimed to understand children’s experiences and views about the place of food in their lives, drawing on sociological approaches to childhood that conceptualize children as social agents, active participants within families and competent experts on their own social and interactional worlds. These assertions underlie the project’s mixed-method approach (in-person interviews, questionnaires and photo-elicitation). We argue that beyond well-known ethical challenges (such as gatekeeping, power asymmetries, reciprocity and active participation), food and food poverty bring forth unique dilemmas, which may affect children’s participation in research. Following the dimensions suggested by Tracy, our contribution offers a reflexive account of ethics-in-practice of how we dealt with ethical dilemmas on the field.

When people come together in community to practice critical inquiry, they develop a capacity to see, reflect, and become subjects of their own development. This article describes arts-based participatory action research in partnership with a nongovernmental organization in Central America. Creative art therapy was culturally adapted and practiced on the macro level to facilitate a community's art-based research, achieving outcomes that contributed to social action and transformation. Popular education, a grassroots pedagogy that aims to transform oppressive power structures, reinforced group norms and facilitation. The results showed that community-based creative art therapy in participatory action research strengthened the personal, spiritual, and social development of the co-researchers, which in turn multiplied broader impacts on their communities.

To the Editor: Older adults remain underrepresented in cancer clinical trials because of frequent comorbidities and related trial ineligibility but also because physicians are less likely to discuss this option with them.1, 2 Physicians might perceive that older adults are less able to provide consent because they tend to be less actively involved in decision-making than their younger counterparts.3 The lower health literacy levels of older adults may also play a role.4 To the knowledge of the authors, no study focused on older adults' decision-making regarding research participation. The aim of the current study was to compare the desire for involvement regarding research participation of older (≥65) and younger individuals with cancer, controlling for education level and research literacy. A questionnaire was mailed to 745 individuals treated for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, or a hematological malignancy at a French regional cancer center.5 A logistic model was used to study the factors associated with a wish for completely passive involvement ("I would let the doctor make the decision alone") in a hypothetical decision to participate in a medical research.6 Subjects' research literacy was estimated using a single question about basic knowledge of clinical trial procedures ("Do you think French law makes signed consent necessary for patient participation in a clinical trial?"). Of 574 respondents (aged 20–89), 190 (33.1%) were aged 65 and older (65–74, 21.4%; 75–84, 10.3%; ≥85, 1.4%). Older adults were more likely to be male, to have been treated for colorectal cancer, and have lower education and research literacy levels (Table 1). There were no age differences in self-reported participation in treatment trials (≥65, 5.5% vs <65, 7.6%, P = .35). Older adults would more frequently let their physician decide alone about their participation in hypothetical medical research (10.5%, vs 5.4% for younger, P = .03), although after adjustment for education or research literacy level, older age was no longer significantly associated with a wish for completely passive involvement (Table 1). The majority of participants wanted to be involved in decision-making about research participation, although one in 10 older adults would prefer that their doctor make a decision for them. This wish for a passive role is likely to be an effect of lower health literacy rather than age, because the age effect disappeared after controlling for education or research literacy level. Improving older adults' knowledge of research and clinical trials might empower them to be more involved in the decision-making process. Although some older adults may initially not want to be actively involved and would rather defer the decision to participate in research to their trusted doctor, it is important to discuss the options with them and explain why participation in research is a personal decision. Increasing involvement, even when it is not explicitly desired, has been associated with greater satisfaction,7 and lack of involvement in the decision to participate in a trial might cause decisional regret.6 A recent study examined older adults' (≥80) participation in health decisions and found that barriers to greater participation in decision-making could potentially be removed by spending additional time eliciting their values, goals, and preferences,8 and decision support tools may need to be developed to achieve this.9 Other factors significantly associated with less involvement in decision-making were a diagnosis of hematological malignancy and not being in a relationship (Table 1). The complexity of hematological disease might overwhelm individuals and explain why they might not feel ready to be involved in decision-making. Individuals living alone were more likely to let their physician decide regardless of their age. Even if families of older adults might be opposed to their participation in research,1 the presence of a companion has been shown to positively affect the involvement of older adults in consultations.10 The current study included only older adults able to respond to a questionnaire, which are likely to be the fittest older adults, relied on the measurement of preferences regarding a hypothetical decision, and did not include a standardized measure of health or research literacy. Despite its limitations, it highlights that older adults would like to be involved in decision-making about research participation. The involvement of older adults with lower levels of education and health literacy in decision-making about research participation could potentially be improved by informing them better about medical research and trial procedures. Lack of knowledge and understanding should not be a barrier to participation in medical research, and as soon as they are eligible, older adults should be invited to participate. This survey was partly supported by Institut Paoli-Calmettes and by a Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique from French Ministry of Health (Grant PHRC 2006 24.17) to CC. JM's collaboration with JJ (CeMPED) was made possible by Professor Phyllis Butow and supported through mobility grants by Fondation ARC, Fondation de France, and ADEREM. JJ is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council early career fellowship (n° 1037028). Conflict of Interest: The editor in chief has reviewed the conflict of interest checklist provided by the authors and has determined that the authors have no financial or any other kind of personal conflicts with this paper. Author Contributions: Study concept and design: Mancini, Julian-Reynier, Chabannon. Acquisition of subjects and data: Mancini, Julian-Reynier, Bechlian, Vey, Chabannon. Analysis and interpretation of data: Mancini, Jansen, Julian-Reynier, Bechlian, Vey, Chabannon. Statistical analysis: Mancini. Funding and supervision: Mancini, Julian-Reynier, Chabannon. Drafting of manuscript: Mancini, Jansen. Critical revision of manuscript for important intellectual content: Julian-Reynier, Bechlian, Vey, Chabannon. Sponsor's Role: None.

Participation is recognised as having a key role in health, for increasing the relevance and effectiveness of health interventions, for the health promoting benefits of community empowerment and as an ethical imperative. Participatory approaches to health research are also increasingly valued for bringing the insights of lived experience, and more relevant research and action. In this paper, we explore key remaining issues in participatory action research highlighted by scholars, practitioners and published literature, and highlight some useful conceptual resources which help to better understand them. We distinguish participatory action research as a paradigm involving those most affected throughout the research process, contrasting it with the more limited use of participatory tools and methods. We outline several aspects of participatory action research in health that would benefit from further theoretical and practical development, including: shifting power in the research process; the compatibility of participatory research with biomedical research; linking local inquiry and action to broader changes in policy and practice; and working with experiential knowledge in a rigorous research process. We highlight useful theory from a range of disciplines (including beyond the participatory research literature) that helps to understand some of the key processes and dynamics implicated in the issues highlighted and how this affects the outcomes achieved. We outline and share these conceptual/theoretical resources, identified as part of preparation for conducting a realist review on participatory action research in health, to contribute to ongoing reflection and development in the field.