New York University
Educational Leadership Program
82 Washington Square East, 6th Fl.
New York, NY 10012
Fall Semester, 2012
E10: 2130 Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Instructor:
Office Location:
Telephone
Office Hours:
Gary Anderson
Pless Hall 626
Use email
By appointment
Class Location:
Class Time:
Email Address:
LC7 Tisch Hall (Stern)
Wed. 4:55-6:35
[email protected]
Catalogue description: Introduction to various approaches to Participatory Action
Research (PAR) with an emphasis on approaches that encourage the participation of as
many stakeholders as possible. The course will cover various action research traditions,
including practitioner research, and issues of positionality, methodology, validity and
ethics.
Objectives:
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the various traditions of action
research. (evaluated by Synthesis paper)
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the various insider/outsider
positions along a continuum that researchers can take, and related issues of a
study’s trustworthiness, transferability, and ethics. (Evaluated by double entry
journals)
3. Students will be able to apply these concepts to specific PAR studies.
Grading:
30% Double Entry journals on readings. These typically run from 3 to 4 pages. (See
appendix A)
50% Final Paper (Doctoral students working on dissertation proposals can replace this
assignment with proposal-related work)
20% Class attendance and participation (One emergency absence allowed. You needn’t
contact me for this one; 5 points off for each additional absence)
1
Due Dates:
Due Date
Sept. 26
Oct. 3
Oct. 10
Dec. 12
Assignment
Double Entry Journal (DEJ)
Double Entry Journal (DEJ)
Double Entry Journal (DEJ)
Final Paper
Pages
3-4
3-4
3-4
10-12
Required Texts:
Herr, Kathryn. and Anderson, Gary. L. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide
for students and faculty. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Freire, Paulo. (1970). The pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (fifth Edition)
Washington, D.C.: A.P.A. (All of your papers should follow APA. Guidelines;
All students should own a copy of this manual.)
Not required, but recommended: Any text that reviews basic qualitative data gathering
skills (ie. interviewing, observation, document analysis, discourse analysis, etc.)
See also methods chapter in the Studying Your Own School pdf on Blackboard.
See also (not required):
M. Brinton Lykes’ website on Participatory Action Research:
http://www2.bc.edu/~lykes/research.htm
Action Research Organizations:
Research for Action: http://www.researchforaction.org/index.html
The Institute for Community Research:
http://www.incommunityresearch.org/index.htm
Youth Action Research Group: http://www.yargdc.blogspot.com/
Institute for Participatory Action Research and Design (CUNY):
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/che/start.htm
East St. Louis Action Research Project: http://www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/
Course schedule:
2
Sept. 5: What is Action Research and how is it different from other research?
Issues of Epistemology, Positionality, and Power.
Matt Wayne’s action research video: (This video may no longer be available)
http://www.teachersnetwork.org/teachnetnyc/mattwayne/actionres.htm
Pio Pico Student Researchers Participatory Action Research
http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/castl_k12/ewolk/index.html
Sept. 12: Action Research Paradigms and traditions; Validity criteria for Action
Research and Creating “local” and “public” knowledge through Action Research:
Positionality.
Required readings:
Herr, K. and Anderson, G. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide for students
and faculty. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (Chapters 1, 2 and 3).
See also (not required):
Anderson, G.L. and Herr, K. (1999). The new paradigm wars. Is there room for rigorous
practitioner knowledge in schools and universities? Educational Researcher,
28(5), 12-21.
Sept. 19: Examples of PAR
Video: From the Community to the Classroom
Sept. 26: Getting Started: The evolution of a research question and participants.
Due: Double entry journal on chapter 4 (Kathryn Herr).
Guest speaker: Kathryn Herr
Required readings:
Anderson, G.L., Herr, K., and Nihlen, A. (2007). Studying your own school: An
educator's guide to qualitative, practitioner research, (second edition). Newbury
Park: Corwin Press. (chapter 4 Empowerment and Practitioner Action Research:
An Example). (On Blackboard, scroll down for chapter 4).
See also (not required)
Herr, K. (1999). Private power and privileged education: De/constructing
institutionalized racism. Journal of Inclusive Education, 3 (2). 111-129.
3
Oct. 3: The Power of Voice:
Double Journal Entry of the two Couldry chapters due.
Couldry, Nick (2010). Why voice matters: Culture and politics after neoliberalism.
London: Sage (Chapters 1 and 2).
Pushor, D. and Clandinin, J. (2009). The interconnections between narrative inquiry and
action research. In S. Noffke and B. Somekh (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of
Educational Action Research. Los Angeles: Sage.
Additional readings (not required):
Bullough, R.V. and Pinnegar, S. (2001). Guidelines for quality in autobiographical forms
of self-study research. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 13-22.
Connelly, F.M. and Clandinin, J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry.
Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2-14.
Reed-Danahay, D. (Ed.). (1997) Auto/ethnography: Rewriting the self and the social.
New York: Berg.
Oct. 10: No Class. You will upload a double entry journal discussing “quality” or
“validity” criteria for action research this evening instead of attending class.
Read Chapter Four of The Action Research Dissertation and Peter Reason’s
article, Choice and quality in action research practice and discuss your
reactions to the two approaches.
Herr, K. and Anderson, G. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide for students
and faculty. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (Chapter 4: Quality Criteria for Action
Research: An ongoing conversation)
Reason, P. (2006). Choice and quality in action research practice. Journal of
Management Inquiry, 15(2), 187-203.
Oct. 17: A whole systems approach to PAR
Required reading:
Burns, D. (2007). Systemic action research: A strategy for whole system change. Bristol:
UK: The Policy Press. (chapters 2, 3, and part of 4; pp. 21-68)
Oct. 24: PAR and Paulo Freire.
Due: Double entry journal on chapter 3 of Freire.
4
Required readings:
Freire, Paulo. (1970). The pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. (Focus
especially on chapters 2 & 3)
See also (not required):
Gonzalez, E.R., Lejano, R., Vidales, G. Conner, R. , Kidokoro, Y., Fazeli, B. Cabrales, R.
(2007). Participatory Action Research for environmental health: Encountering
Freire in the urban barrio. Journal of Urban Affairs, 25(1), 77-100.
Reyes, L. and Torres, M. (2007). Decolonizing family literacy in a culture circle:
Reinventing the family literacy educator’s role. The Journal of Early Childhood
literacy, 7, 73-94. (On Blackboard)
Oct. 31: YouthPAR
Cahill, Caitlin (2006) ‘At risk'? The Fed Up Honeys re-present the gentrification of
the Lower East Side. Women Studies Quarterly 34, 1 - 2, 334-363.
Cahill, Caitlin (2007). participatory data analysis and beyond the journal article:
Representations, audience, and the presentation of participatory research (chapters
21 and 23) In Kindon, S., Pain, R., and Kesby, M. Participatory Action Research
Approaches and Methods. New York, Routldege. (Accesible as an e-book though
the NYU library).
Nov. 7: PAR and Technology:
Flicker, S., Maley, O. Ridgley, A., Biscope, S., Lombardo, C. and Skinner, H. (2008). ePAR: Using technology and participatory action research to engage youth in
health promotion. Action Research, 6(3), 285-303.
Video: The War Tapes (www.thewartapes.com)
NPR audio:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=5524323
&m=5524871
See TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_scranton_on_her_war_tapes.html
Interview with Deborah Scranton: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/08/war-tapesfilm-lets-soldiers-tell-their-stories-from-iraq227.html
Nov. 14: PAR and Community organizing
5
Guest Speaker: Donna Nevel, Center for Immigrant Families
Participatory Action Research for Community Organizing.
http://parceo.org/2012/02/14/about-parceo/
A Toolkit for Participatory Action Research from the Community Development Project
http://www.researchfororganizing.org/index.php?page=home
Watch brief videos at:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegoodfight/projects/toxic_tour?video=230324329
Required reading:
Segregated and Unequal: The Public Elementary Schools of District 3 in New York City,
Center for Immigrant Families (on blackboard)
See also (not required):
Tandon, S. D., Kelly, J.G. and Mock L. (2001). Participatory action research as a
resource for developing African American community leadership. In D. Tolman
and M. Brydon-Miller (Eds.) From subjects to subjectivities: A handbook of
interpretive and participatory methods (200-217) New York: New York
University Press.
Nov. 21: Dilemmas of PAR; Ethics of PAR
Nygreen, Kysa (2009-2010). Critical dilemmas in PAR: Toward a new theory of engaged
research for social change. Social Justice, 36(4), 14-35.
Cahill, C. (2007). Repositioning ethical commitments: Participatory Action Research as a
relational praxis of social change. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical
Geographies, 6 (3), 360-373.
Nov. 28: PAR and Organizational Learning.
Herr, K., & Anderson, G. (2008). Teacher research and learning communities: A failure
to theorize power relations? Language Arts, 85(5), 382–391.
6
Anderson, Laurie. (1997). Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and learning [on
line] Available at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/argyris.html
Dec. 5: School Inquiry Teams and Participatory Action Research?
Robinson, M. (November, 2010). School perspectives on collaborative inquiry: Lessons
learned from New York City, 2009-20010. New York: Consortium for Policy
Research in Education (CPRE).
Blogs:
http://edwize.org/inquiring-about-inquiry-teams-can-the-doe-mandate-reflectivepractice/comment-p
http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/inquiry-teams-can-the-department-mandateinnovation-and-creativity-will-the-lure-of-merit-pay-and-the-fear-of-denial-oftenure-foster-collegiality-does-trust-preceed-inquiry/
http://schools.nyc.gov/Teachers/Spotlight/iqtps48m.htm
Dec. 12: Final papers due and final presentations.
Nov. 7: YouthPAR
Cahill, Caitlin (2006) ‘At risk'? The Fed Up Honeys re-present the gentrification of
the Lower East Side. Women Studies Quarterly 34, 1 - 2, 334-363.
Cahill, Caitlin (2007). participatory data analysis and beyond the journal article:
Representations, audience, and the presentation of participatory research (chapters
21 and 23) In Kindon, S., Pain, R., and Kesby, M. Participatory Action Research
Approaches and Methods. New York, Routldege. (Accesible as an e-book though
the NYU library).
Nov. 14: PAR and Community organizing
Guest Speaker: Donna Nevel, Center for Immigrant Families
Participatory Action Research for Community Organizing.
http://parceo.org/2012/02/14/about-parceo/
7
A Toolkit for Participatory Action Research from the Community Development Project
http://www.researchfororganizing.org/index.php?page=home
Watch brief videos at:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegoodfight/projects/toxic_tour?video=230324329
Google: Where we live: The changing face of climate activism.
Required reading:
Segregated and Unequal: The Public Elementary Schools of District 3 in New York City,
Center for Immigrant Families (on blackboard)
See also (not required):
Tandon, S. D., Kelly, J.G. and Mock L. (2001). Participatory action research as a
resource for developing African American community leadership. In D. Tolman
and M. Brydon-Miller (Eds.) From subjects to subjectivities: A handbook of
interpretive and participatory methods (200-217) New York: New York
University Press.
Nov. 21: Dilemmas of PAR; Ethics of PAR (Class?)
Nygreen, Kysa (2009-2010). Critical dilemmas in PAR: Toward a new theory of engaged
research for social change. Social Justice, 36(4), 14-35.
Cahill, C. (2007). Repositioning ethical commitments: Participatory Action Research as a
relational praxis of social change. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical
Geographies, 6 (3), 360-373.
Nov. 28: PAR and Technology:
Flicker, S., Maley, O. Ridgley, A., Biscope, S., Lombardo, C. and Skinner, H. (2008). ePAR: Using technology and participatory action research to engage youth in
health promotion. Action Research, 6(3), 285-303.
Video: The War Tapes (www.thewartapes.com)
NPR audio:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=5524323
&m=5524871
See TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_scranton_on_her_war_tapes.html
Interview with Deborah Scranton: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/08/war-tapesfilm-lets-soldiers-tell-their-stories-from-iraq227.html
8
Dec. 5: School Inquiry Teams, organizational learning and Participatory Action
Research?
Herr, K., & Anderson, G. (2008). Teacher research and learning communities: A failure
to theorize power relations? Language Arts, 85(5), 382–391.
Anderson, Laurie. (1997). Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and learning [on
line] Available at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/argyris.html
See also (not required):
Robinson, M. (November, 2010). School perspectives on collaborative inquiry: Lessons
learned from New York City, 2009-20010. New York: Consortium for Policy
Research in Education (CPRE).
Blogs:
http://edwize.org/inquiring-about-inquiry-teams-can-the-doe-mandate-reflectivepractice/comment-p
http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/inquiry-teams-can-the-department-mandateinnovation-and-creativity-will-the-lure-of-merit-pay-and-the-fear-of-denial-oftenure-foster-collegiality-does-trust-preceed-inquiry/
http://schools.nyc.gov/Teachers/Spotlight/iqtps48m.htm
Dec. 12: Final papers due and final presentations. Meet on Monday.
Appendix A
Suggested format for the Double Entry Journal
1. Author(s), year of publication, title of chapter or article and title of book or journal it came
from, and the location and name of the publisher.
Left-hand side- Objective Summary & Highpoints Right-hand side- Subjective Reflections
2. Full summary of reading (5 or 6 sentences
1. Your thoughts on the overall content of the
someone who hadn't read the reading could
reading.
9
understand)
3. List 6-10 thought provoking points or quotes
from the reading
4. 1 question you have.
2. How did it tie in with your experiences,
beliefs, philosophy, prior knowledge?
3. Have your ideas changed or been confirmed?
These are just prompts for reflection – you
needn’t answer each one.
1. Do you agree or disagree with each point?
2. Are you annoyed, impressed, scared, dazzled
or ?
3. Is there anything more you would like to
know about the topic?
4. Are you aware of any literature or research
that conflicts with the author's position?
5. How did this change your understanding of
this topic?
1. Why is this question important to you?
2. What are the implications of the question?
Appendix B
Assignment Due Dec. 12 (No late papers, as I have to hand in grades):
Compare and contrast the following Action Research Studies: 1) Kathryn Herr’s research
with her middle school students 2) Caitlin Cahill’s study with the Fed Up Honeys; 3) the
School for Pregnant and Parenting Teens School Inquiry Groups and 4) either The War
Tapes or From the Community to the Classroom.
In a paper of 10-12 pages, try to address the following: 1) Which tradition(s) of action
research is each informed by? (See Herr and Anderson, 2005, pp. 10-25); 2) Which
knowledge interests do they represent? (Herr and Anderson, 2005, pp. 26-28); 3) Discuss
the positionality of the researcher(s) (Herr and Anderson, 2005, chapter 3); and 4)
Evaluate the quality of the studies. Based on Herr and Anderson’s (2005) five validity
criteria (pp. 53-57) or Reason’s criteria: How would you evaluate them on EACH
criteria?
10
11