Participatory Rural Appraisal as Qualitative Research: Distinguishing Methodological Issues from Participatory Claims

Abstract

Anthropologists and many others are making increasing use of participatory research methods in a variety of applied contexts. While aware of the potential advantages of such methods, this paper outlines a number of methodological issues that need to be carefully considered. Such issues, when taken together with the problem of combining participatory with qualitative and quantitative research, argue strongly not only for caution in using the methods but also for the need to undertake basic research on participatory methods themselves. This paper looks at the development of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) in development research, and critically examines three methods--interviewing, visualization, and ranking/scoring--in terms of their relation to established qualitative research. It then turns to the problems that arise from using PRA techniques. Finally, the validity and reliability of PRA are discussed in relation to arguments about sequencing/triangulating research techniques, an argument which is sh...