Maintaining the Authenticity of Co-Researcher Voice Using FPAR Principles

Abstract

This descriptive paper addresses the issue of co-researcher voice suppression, among others, through disclosing my process of presenting the data of a participatory community-based research project at an academic conference. The project in discussion investigated the perceptions of women, who live in Toronto public housing, about what makes a community. Feminist participatory action research (FPAR) and narrative methods are briefly reviewed in this paper as they are influential to the trajectory of presenting this data. The voices of the women who engaged in the project of focus were heard, without compromise, vis-a-vis the approaches and method we used to conduct our research and to communicate their stories to the conference audience. As a doctoral student researcher, I aimed to present this project at the conference in a way that aligned with social justice principles of FPAR, particularly the notion of "powerwith," as discussed by Ponic, Reid, and Frisby (2010). In disclosing this process, I hope to provide insight, in a clear and accessible fashion, to others who will conduct and present participatory research in similar settings.Ewan: Maintaining the Authenticity of Co-Researcher Voice Using FPAR Principles Art. 18, page 2 of 11 I paid attention to these issues and ensured they were accentuated while presenting our project at conferences and also now while writing this paper. I also discovered other difficulties found in the literature about conducting community-based research that we were able to avoid because of certain particularities of our project -namely, pre-existing relationships and mutual understandings of problems -alongside the use of FPAR principles. CBPAR Benefits and ChallengesTremblay (2009) and Curnow (2017) have provided perspectives on some benefits and challenges that may arise from community-university partnerships in community-based research. Tremblay (2009) wrote about the empowering aspects of community-based participatory research. She stated how it is a collaborative approach that involves each partner throughout the whole research process. Also noted is how this research "increases community capacities, broader stakeholder participation in decision-making, and promotes social justice" (p. 1). More specifically, Tremblay (2009) asserted that empowerment through research takes place when researchers control the development of the project, and also when they gain social influence through becoming confident about their own capabilities.Conversely, Curnow (2017) interrogated the general narrative of community-university partnerships and implementation of community-based research that mainly consists of positive experiences. He has argued that experiences with this approach resulted in his co-researchers feeling isolated, powerless, and disempowered. The sentiments of the researchers were due to discussions they had with their neighbours about certain issues that existed within their communities. Curnow (2017) asserted that the co-researchers greatly depended on the university researche...