Doing Participatory Action Research and Doing a PhD: Words of Encouragement for Prospective Students

Abstract

Participatory action research (PAR) carries the promise that academics can make a difference, an appealing prospect for many postgraduate students. This paper is written by an early career researcher who 'survived' a PAR PhD. Despite acknowledging the unique challenges faced by students attempting PAR, it argues that these have been overstated in much of the literature. This paper offers a detailed personal insight into the ways in which PAR and PhDs do (and do not) mix, and argues that successful PAR PhDs can be undertaken, contra the prevailing despondent rhetoric. It concludes with suggestions for 'energizing' PAR in graduate geographical education.

Struggling with child domestic work: what can a postcolonial perspective offer?

“…A participatory and action-oriented investigation into child domestic work was conducted in Iringa, Tanzania, from 2005 to 2007 (Klocker 2011(Klocker , 2012b. Data were collected from current and former child domestic workers, their employers, street chairpeople, 4 local government councillors, NGO staff and rural communities.…”

Una investigación participativa en la costa uruguaya: características, desafíos y oportunidades para la enseñanza universitaria

“…Suele decirse que no es compatible realizar IP durante un doctorado ya que el último tiene plazos estrictos a ser cumplidos y la IP lleva más tiempo que una investigación convencional. Sin embargo, como argumenta Klocker (2012), los cuatro años de un doctorado proveen de una muy buena oportunidad para estar dedicado a un único proyecto (algo que es más difícil realizar más adelante en la carrera). De forma de respetar los plazos del NRI, la estudiante debió finalizar la etapa de colecta de información para sus preguntas de investigación, a pesar de que la IP de POPA continuaba.…”

An action research approach for embedding education for sustainability in a university undergraduate curriculum

“…Some authors have pointed out time as a limiting factor to conduct action research projects as part of doctoral studies (Klocker, 2012;Moore, 2004). In her thesis, Moore (2004) Second order action research makes reference to the facilitator and critical friend roles when working with others to facilitate action research (Reason & Bradbury, 2008).…”