#curiouscolab Presentation about research methods for CEnR project connecting minority families with their children's schools for increased student success

2. What is Participatory
Action Research (PAR)?
 An approach to research
 Incorporates an inclusive environment
 Everyone is an ‘expert’, and their knowledge helps
us to answer our questions
 Uses research to promote action and/or change

3. Why PAR?
 All voices need to be heard to adequately support
action
 Considering a community problem, community
involvement is important

4. Applying PAR
 Student success requires support from both the
school and parents.
 If we can get the school and the parents in a
cooperative collaboration, student success will
improve.
 Build a team with families of students and the school
personnel (teachers, administrators, etc.) to work
together to create strategies and solutions that
work for you and might work for other communities

5. Selecting a team
 We need a team that:
 Represents various perspectives
 Is committed and passionate
 Can work through potential conflict
 Communicates well
 Shares a common goal

6. Setting goals and norms
 After the team is established, we need to work
together to set goals and norms
Goals Norms
• What do we want to
accomplish? (Long term
goals)
• Who do we want to
include (or exclude)?
• How will we know what
success looks like?
• What steps along the way
will be our short term
goals?
• How will we operation as
a research team?
• What do we expect of
each other?
• How will we minimize
conflict?
• If conflict arises, how will
we handle it?

7. Data Collection Techniques
 We want to start our research assessing what the
different community members feel.
 What does ‘family involvement’ look like according to
the schools and the family members?
 Data collection can be done in various ways
 Then we want to see how we might better the
communication process.
Observations Interviews Surveys Focus Groups

8. What do we do with what
we learn?
 Create change in our community
 Promote change in other similar communities
 Social media
 Blogs, twitter, facebook
 Videos (youtube)
 Lobbying school boards for adopting policy and
practice changes
 Other ideas?

9. But … It’s Cyclical
Plan
Act
Reflect
Research/Observe

10. Potential challenges
 Commitment of the entire team
 Making sure all voices are heard and respected
 Unforeseen setbacks or barriers
 Following norms and revisiting our goals will help
reduce challenges as much as possible

11. Want to know more?
 http://www.svfreenyc.org/research_factsheet_119.ht
ml
 https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/beacon/PARtoolkit.
pdf
 http://www.researchfororganizing.org/index.php?pa
ge=participatory-action-research