Truncating Agency: Peer Review and Participatory Research

Abstract

In this manuscript we explore the ways in which current constructions of the formal peer review process (as played out in article review) in the science education community truncates the participatory research process and thus the research participants' agencies. In making this case, we share our own story of participatory research in an urban middle school. We use our story to establish a set of claims about the purposes and goals of participatory research. We then contrast our purposes and goals with the peer review process to show how peer review, as it is currently practiced, truncates participatory research by valuing voices, intentions, and outcomes/products of research that do not quite match the purposes and goals of participatory research. We conclude our manuscript by arguing that the science education community must grapple with epistemological tensions in the peer review process if we are to value participatory research and the individuals involved in the process.