Inspired by intergroup dialogue activities and grounded in the principles of Action Research and Participatory Action Research, this paper presents three qualitative interview methods: the fishbowl interview, a ranking and response activity, and a write-and-reflect technique. Developed across two studies, these methods aim to create safe, non-judgmental environments for dialogue, encouraging critical self-reflection, participant leadership, and shared meaning-making. Drawing on reflections from both researchers and participants, this paper outlines the design, benefits, challenges, and limitations of these methods, concluding with recommendations for their use.
This study investigates the potential of co-design in addressing urban conflicts through the development of six pilot child-friendly community parks (RPTRAs) in Jakarta. Utilizing a participatory design framework, the research identifies and analyzes conflicts that arose across five co-design phases: social mapping, initial design, final design, community-supported construction, and participatory activity planning. Drawing on qualitative data from field observations and focus group discussions (FGDs), the study categorizes conflicts into five key themes: representation and inclusion, commitment issues, conflicting needs and priorities, resistance and contestation, and power inequalities. Findings reveal that while co-design processes often trigger conflicts, they also provide mechanisms to address them, fostering negotiation, compromise, and innovation. Aligning these findings with theoretical insights, the study demonstrates that conflicts are not merely obstacles but essential drivers for building inclusive and equitable urban spaces. This research contributes to the understanding of participatory urban planning by highlighting how co-design can transform conflicts into opportunities for empowerment, shared learning, and sustainable outcomes. It underscores the importance of iterative, context-sensitive approaches that balance local needs with broader policy objectives, offering a model for inclusive urban governance in diverse and dynamic contexts.
In this paper, we present insights about the process and outcomes of an initiative designed to engage municipal staff with Black and Indigenous community members to develop a decolonial framework for community engagement within a mid-sized municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Grounded in the framework of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) the project aimed to disrupt dominant Western mental models, envision improved power-sharing in municipal urban planning and decision-making, and start the process of decolonization instead of the dominant municipal engagement practices. A first workshop was conducted by an Indigenous Elder who shared their wisdom about Etuaptmumk . A second workshop invited the participants to apply that approach to the local municipal context and discuss its implication for a decolonial municipal engagement framework. The mixed-racial, mixed-disciplinary research team kept reflective notes throughout the process. The researchers used the powercube by Gaventa to analyse the power dynamics that affected the project negatively. Power dynamics included lack of visible power to influence major decisions, a shift from claimed spaces to invited spaces, hidden power in shaping the agenda, the use of invisible power in shaping the narrative, and a lack of readiness of the municipal leadership to engage meaningfully.
Collaborative, action-oriented approaches to research are uncommon in Asian psychology. This is unfortunate as such approaches can support adaptive social change in Asian settings and enrich mainstream psychology by highlighting the values and principles of Asian countries. To address this, we describe a case study of a four-year participatory action research (PAR) project with a farm in Singapore. The first author worked with farm employees and volunteers to jointly determine research directions and measures, involve them in data analysis and share findings through reports to the government and on social media. True to the iterative nature of collaborative research, we continue to engage with the farm to meet their needs. We discuss three cultural considerations for collaborative, action-oriented research in Singapore, namely the (a) emphasis on group harmony, (b) rigid social roles, and (c) state influence on community organisations, and how they inform a Singaporean PAR approach. We also offer recommendations for practitioners seeking to engage in such research in Singapore and beyond.
Choosing to undertake participatory and action-oriented research within the constraints of a doctoral project remains relatively rare. Yet an increasing number of graduate students are challenging traditional trajectories and academic systems by pursuing degrees with proposed research grounded in such approaches. This article draws on duoethnographic inquiry between two PhD candidates enrolled in a joint doctoral program across institutions in Australia and the United Kingdom. We offer a collaborative account of our ongoing journeys in real time rather than retrospectively, tracing how we navigate challenges while also identifying opportunities. Our methodology is grounded in dialogic exchange, written correspondence, and the co-authoring of each other's narratives, practices that blur the boundary between method and action. By situating our writing within the immediacy of the doctoral process, we foreground the complexity and uncertainty of negotiating institutional demands while remaining committed to participatory and action-oriented values. In doing so, we open space for broader reflection on how doctoral study can be reimagined as a site of collective learning and transformation. Ultimately, this contribution affirms that participatory and action-oriented research is not only possible within doctoral programs, but can also catalyze new ways of challenging and reshaping the institutional cultures in which it is embedded.
Information infrastructures for migration management significantly affect border-crossers' life, yet they are not considered users of those infrastructures. Drawing on material publics and design justice, we hypothesize that border-crossers should be engaged in the (re)design of the classificatory infrastructures usually deployed in migration control. To further this hypothesis we developed a collaborative, role playing, serious game which was conceived as a "design site" to explore alternative classifications and to co-produce knowledge. During the game, players are invited to design an application form containing the personal information of fictional characters. The game was tested with different actors (asylum seekers, activists, lawyers, students) with unexpected results. Participants struggled to "think with" categories and they tended to reproduce the categories commonly deployed in migration infrastructures. Still, the game succeeded in working as "knowledge exposure", as it revealed and increased players' familiarity with the dynamics of migration control. Border-crossers perceived the game as a meaning-making and learning activity, whereas other actors mobilized their own professional skills. We argue that games might be sites where marginalized communities could develop knowledge, skills and resources for reflecting about and changing the technologies affecting their lives.
This paper follows 8 scientists who ventured into the world of psychedelics on a quest to find transformational pathways forward. Each have worked on aspects of global environmental change for decades, and observing environmental crises converging into a global polycrisis/metacrisis with genuine potential for collapse, we have all carried psychological burdens, including fatigue, anxiety, grief, and hopelessness. Psilocybin offers potential for alleviating and transforming these burdens, and for shining light towards creative ways forward. Through professional connections and quiet conversations, we came together to conduct a participatory self-study to directly explore this potential. The study was conducted in Oregon, which offers a legal framework for the administration of psilocybin. We embarked with thoughtful preparation, group intention setting, and integration protocols. This paper recounts our journey together, including vignettes of our experiences; a preliminary synthesis of learnings; and a glimpse of insights that continue today. We emerged with a powerful, common insight: it is impossible to learn “right relations” outside of relationship, and that righting of relations for our transformed, collective future is an act of love. We tell our story in the hope of enlivening conversations, actions, and further investigation of psychedelic-assisted approaches for fostering resilience and realizing transformative change.
When political decision makers become aware of their habitual use of unilateral power, transformation starts. The thesis is this: through self-inquiry regarding habitual power-hoarding, feedback avoidance, and resistance to inquiry, a more participative and inclusive politics is cultured. Though a collective process, the new culture begins with "inner" work of individual politicians. The natural resistance of conventional political structures is acknowledged. Grounded in group relational-psychodynamic theory, developmental friendship becomes an active practice. A new political culture evolves through new habits of feedback and inquiry that increase creative collaboration among additional political actors. The following action research demonstrates a successful evolution of political space within a European context.
The COVID-19 pandemic heightened human pressures on the Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve (MBR), harming biodiversity and polluting water sources. In response, two community-led initiatives, the Save Our Species Eco-Rangers and the Majakaneng hiking trail, catalysed environmental stewardship. Building on these, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project engaged traditional health practitioners and churches using natural spaces for spiritual practices. The overall objective of this article is to demonstrate how PAR can facilitate context-sensitive, transformative environmental management in culturally and spiritually significant landscapes. A key stakeholder matrix, the Nominal Group Technique, photo-elicitation and participatory mapping were used to identify role players, sacred natural sites and determine collective priorities for community-led environmental stewardship. A key theme emerging was access control, implemented through permits, fees, and protocols. At one site introducing bookings and fees for clean-ups and guided hikes improved socio-ecological conditions. Eco-literacy, feedback and engagement were initiated through signage, flyers and sharing on social media but needs to continue and spread to other sites. This iterative, collaborative approach shows how participatory methods can turn environmental threats into opportunities, advancing both environmental sustainability and post-apartheid transformation.
This paper reports on a two-tiered Feminist Participation Action Research (FPAR) study which involved Participant Researchers (PRs) - a cohort of Ugandan women- in conducting research with successful Ugandan businesswomen to support the PRs' own aspirations of owning their own businesses, and the Principal Investigator (PI) in investigating the PRs' research processes and experiences. This project constituted the fifth stage of a longitudinal study (launched in 2004) which has investigated the challenges and opportunities for girls related to secondary school in a rural Ugandan context, as well as the ways in which education has impacted and continues to play a role in their lives as women. Findings are considered through three lenses: 1) contextualizing the relevance of the PRs' research 2) PRs' learnings from the research, both with respect to knowlege gained from SPs as well as fro from the research process itself; 3) PI's learnings from the PRs about FPAR. The paper also considersactions undertaken by PRs as well a further study that resulted from this project. This study demonstrated that supporting women with the tools and resources they need to conduct their own research and build their own networks can be an empowering and trans-formative process.
This paper focuses on an eight-week discussion about the formation of an intergenerational and intercultural Advisory Group for Poetry for Planet. Poetry for Planet is a global, youth-led, creative climate change movement rooted in poetry, aimed at giving voice to poets from the Global South and other indigenous voices. We report our experience of using a shared journal to capture the shadow board members' thoughts and feelings during the eight-weeks. We observed shifts of perception that transcended our original assumptions, and we describe some potential causal mechanisms. These findings are important for similar, dispersed, intergenerational and intercultural global movements. We offer a guide devised across cultures and between generations for 'movement building' with joy, mutual respect and lasting impact. We explore the appearance of 'the voice of the journal', a creaturely, compassionate extra dimension to our writing rising from under the surface of our own words. The phenomena is similar to what Otto Scharmer and Eva Pomeroy (2024) describes as 'fourth person knowing' and we suggest two potential extensions of this idea: 'fourth person healing' and 'fourth person climate consciousness'. Finally, we outline practical steps for setting up and running a shared journal.
Reflexivity is an integral part of action research and is recognized as an important and necessary indicator of study rigour. A key goal of reflexivity is to ensure that research decisions do not replicate existing (or add new) harm to those whom the research describes or involves, however less attention has been paid to potential harms that researchers themselves may face. This paper brings attention to the vulnerabilities of researchers with lived experiences of trauma and structural violence and explicitly integrates Trauma- and Violence-Informed (TVI) principles into the reflexive process. A case example and “how to” guide are provided to assist researchers in creating safe environments not only for their study participants, but also for the researchers and community co-researchers involved, with particular focus on those conducting sensitive studies in highly (re)traumatizing topic areas.
As society tackles the root causes of the meta-crisis, the development of our internal dimensions presents deep leverage points for outer change. While the concept of consciousness remains contested and lacks a universally accepted definition, it may be broadly understood to encompass the full spectrum of inner human dimensions. To address the complex challenges of global sustainability, society will need a myriad of leaders with the advanced meaning-making capacities that can be gained through consciousness development. This paper presents a study that explored the relationship between consciousness development and leadership performance, from the perspective of changemakers, to inform the design of developmental techniques that can be available to all. It utilised a form of action research called co-operative inquiry to explore changemakers' experiences. The paper outlines the key findings and explores one in greater depth, being the effectiveness of subtle leadership for creating the change needed to engage with the complexity of the meta-crisis.
A Authentic equity-centered partnerships between researchers and community teams can generate new evidence and understanding to propel action for improving community health. This study describes a Community/Tribally-Based Participatory Research (C/TBPR) approach to implementing a population estimation and qualitative study aimed at understanding the prevalence and correlates of substance use in two geographically and culturally distinct American Indian Tribal Nations. We describe steps taken to build relationships for trust and collaboration during the global pandemic and lessons learned about feasibility and applicability of the capture/recapture method in reservation contexts. Tenets of CBPR are rooted in action research and liberatory traditions and include attention to power dynamics, bidirectional learning, action-focused research, and prioritizing local knowledge and leadership. These were necessary ingredients for project success. This study reinforces the critical role of community leadership and knowledge in health equity research and highlights how C/TBPR orientations can be useful for promoting Indigenous-centered research and transforming systems of knowledge production.
In this paper we describe the considerations, processes and resulting insights of a trauma-informed Participatory Action Research (PAR) storytelling workshop which aimed to support healing and dignity through strengths-based writing and storytelling with and for people who have been incarcerated in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Activist scholars walked alongside Facilitators and participating Storytellers as a mechanism to offer supports and welcome feedback for continual improvement. This paper describes processes and shares insights from Facilitators and Storytellers on the processes' impacts on individual and collective healing and wellbeing, including concrete ways to create time for relational processes, the risks and potential harms of storytelling about personal trauma and experiences of injustices, and the impacts of COVID-19. Implications for PAR scholars, community organizers and storytelling programmers are shared.
This paper explores the ethical entanglements and tensions that arise when using a decolonial feminist approach to digital participatory action research (DPAR) within the context of bicycling, mobilit(ies), and gender justice in rural Nicaragua. Grounded in a reflexive feminist ethics of care and relational mobilities, I reflect on a collaborative DPAR project with co-researchers that aimed to address the intertwined issues of mobility justice, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and climate change. Through digital methods - such as photovoice and participatory GIS mapping using GoPro cameras - co-researchers mapped specific community spaces marked by SGBV and environmental precarity, revealing the layered dynamics of gendered, racialized and ecological injustice that shaped their everyday mobilities. Drawing on these experiences, I offer critical reflections on the possibilities and tensions of decolonial feminist DPAR, including (1) the necessity of a feminist reflexive ethics of care; and (2) the ethical entanglements involved in using technological interventions that may inadvertently reproduce structural inequalities. While digital technologies may pry open opportunities for collective storytelling and community advocacy, I contend that their use must be guided by ongoing ethical considerations to ensure that relational mobilities and accountabilities - and the voices of co-researchers in DPAR projects - remain central.
