Participatory Action Research

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    The next gen project: A global study on training, teaching and learning community-based research (CBR)
    (The Canadia Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE), 2016-07) Lepore, Walter; Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
    While policies and practices regarding the creation of structures to facilitate community-university research partnerships are emerging and there is a rich literature on methodology of CBR, little research has been done at a global level on the training opportunities for building capacities in CBR within universities and community organisations. This led the UNESCO Chair in CBR and Social Responsibility in Higher Education to undertake the Next Gen project to analyze the current state-of-the art in pedagogies and strategies for building CBR capacities. This paper synthesizes the main findings of the project and proposes a series of pedagogical principles for the training of CBR.
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    Society for participatory research in Asia
    (1999) Tandon, Rajesh
    This press release is about the Bhopal Sammelan, a three-day gathering held in November 1999 that brought together about 1400 people from over 400 organisations and elected panchayat leaders across sixteen states. Organised by the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) with its partners, and hosted by Samarthan in Bhopal, the event drew social activists, development workers, trade unionists, tribal and women leaders, students and youth to build solidarity through cross-state exchange. Discussions were held around five themes: citizenship, empowerment, new leadership, accountable local self-governance and participatory social development. The Sammelan planned actions to hold public officials accountable, educate citizens on their rights, recognise emerging leadership among women, dalits and adivasis, and push for local control over land, forests and water. The event also marked the release of the India findings from the global study Citizens and Governance, conducted by PRIA and partners across ten states.
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    Participatory research- An exploratory statement
    (0000) Tandon, Rajesh
    In this paper, Dr. Rajesh Tandon examines the limitations of conventional research that contributed to the emergence of Participatory Research. He identifies concerns such as the emphasis on objectivity, limited attention to the use of knowledge, the assumption that research is value-neutral, and the concentration of control over the research process and its outcomes in the hands of researchers. The paper distinguishes Participatory Research from academic, policy, and evaluation research by comparing who influences the selection of research problems, methods, and outcomes at different stages. It outlines an ideal participatory process based on shared decision-making, collaborative research design, and the joint collection and interpretation of data. Tandon also differentiates Participatory Research from Action Research by highlighting the researcher's explicit ideological position and the active involvement and control of participants throughout the inquiry. The paper concludes by identifying questions related to the validation of knowledge beyond conventional standards, the broader outcomes of participatory inquiry, and the political nature of research in social settings; presenting these as issues to be explored through participatory practice rather than resolved conceptually.
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    Participatory research as a contribution to cultural reconstruction
    (1980) Tandon, Rajesh
    In this paper, Rajesh Tandon outlines the key characteristics of participatory research and discusses its contribution to cultural reconstruction, drawing on the case of the Commune of Pozzuoli, Italy, where a prolonged state of emergency had disrupted social, economic and cultural life. The paper examines how participatory research counters the dominance of expert-controlled knowledge by linking the acquisition of knowledge to community action, encouraging collective reflection and analysis, and recognizing the validity of ordinary people's experience alongside scientific expertise. Empowerment, understood as a shift from dependence to collective self-confidence, is identified as the central outcome of this methodology. In the context of Pozzuoli, the paper considers how participatory research can help stakeholders build a shared understanding of the crisis, recover historical and cultural roots through methods such as oral histories and personal narratives, and work toward a desirable cultural future. The paper closes by describing participatory research as a modest but useful contribution to cultural reconstruction, dependent on ownership and control remaining with ordinary people rather than experts or administrators, and not intended as a complete solution on its own.
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    Beyond partnerships: Embracing complexity to understand and improve research collaboration for global development
    (2021) Fransman, Jude; Hall, Budd L; Hayman, Rachel; Narayanan, Pradeep; Newman, Kate; Tandon, Rajesh
    While there is a burgeoning literature on the benefits of research collaboration for development, it tends to promote the idea of the ‘partnership’ as a bounded site in which interventions to improve collaborative practice can be made. This article draws on complexity theory and systems thinking to argue that such an assumption is problematic, divorcing collaboration from wider systems of research and practice. Instead, a systemic framework for understanding and evaluating collaboration is proposed. This framework is used to reflect on a set of principles for fair and equitable research collaboration that emerged from a programme of strategic research and capacity strengthening conducted by the Rethinking Research Collaborative (RRC) for the United Kingdom (UK)’s primary research funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The article concludes that a systemic conceptualisation of collaboration is more responsive than a ‘partnership’ approach, both to the principles of fairness and equity and also to uncertain futures.
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    Should participatory research be taught in a university?
    (Society for Participatory Research In Asia (PRIA), 2003) Tandon, Rajesh
    This excerpt is based on a keynote address delivered by Rajesh Tandon in February 2003, reflecting on whether and how participatory research can be taught. It questions the limits of conventional research, opens up debates on methodology and power, and invites readers to think of knowledge as something shaped through dialogue rather than instruction.
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    Notes on participatory research methodology for forest studies
    (1982-09) Tandon, Rajesh
    This document outlines a participatory research framework for studying the impact of forest legislation on forest-dwelling communities in India. It emphasizes involving local activists and residents directly in data collection, analysis, and reporting so that research becomes both documentation and a tool for mobilization.
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    Community participation
    (2000) Tandon, Rajesh
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    Participatory research
    (0000) Tandon, Rajesh
    This article by Dr. Rajesh Tandon examines the relationship between development with knowledge and research in the context of developing countries, arguing that mainstream development strategies have largely remained Western-centric, adopting a top-down, technology-driven approach and being detached from the lived realities of marginalized communities. He critiques post-WWII development strategies as primarily dependent on knowledge that is controlled by the monopoly of elite researchers to serve the interests of those in power- under the guise of objectivity and neutrality. The article further criticises the irrelevance of sophisticated research methodologies and ethical issues that arise due to seeing humans as mere subjects, and presents participatory research as an emerging alternative. It emphasises the role of ordinary people in generating and utilising their own knowledge to bring socio-economic changes.