This book addresses a key issue in higher learning, university education and scientific research: the widespread difficulty researchers, experts and students from all disciplines face when trying to ...contribute to change in complex social settings characterized by uncertainty and the unknown. More than ever, researchers need flexible means and grounded theory to combine people-based and evidence-based inquiry into challenging situations that keep evolving and do not lend themselves to straightforward technical explanations and solutions.
In this book, the authors propose innovative strategies for engaged inquiry building on insights from many disciplines and lessons from the history of Participatory Action Research (PAR), including French psychosociology. The ongoing evolution of PAR has had a lasting legacy in fields ranging from community development to education, public engagement, natural resource management and problem solving in the workplace. All formulations have in common the idea that research must be done ‘with’ people and not ‘on’ or ‘for’ people. Inquiry of this kind makes sense of the world through efforts to transform it, as opposed to simply observing and studying human behaviour and people’s views about reality, in the hope that meaningful change will happen somewhere down the road.
The book contributes many new tools and conceptual foundations to this longstanding tradition, grounded in real-life examples of collective fact-finding, analysis and decision-making from around the world. It provides a modular textbook on participatory action research and related methods, theory and practice, suitable for a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as working professionals.
Introduction: Engaging with Participatory Action Research
1. Action Research History 2. Society, Experience, Knowledge
Module One: Grounding and Uncertainty
3. Creating an Action Learning System 4. Managing Complexity 5. Mapping the Process 6. Walking the Talk
Module Two: Fact Finding and Listening
7. Reinventions of the Wheel 8. Seeking Evidence and Consensus
Module Three: Exploring Problems
9. Getting to the Root 10. Factors and Reasons
Module 4: Knowing the Actors
11. Stakeholder Identification 12. Stakeholder Analysis 13. Positions and Values
Module Five: Assessing Options
14. Blue Sky Thinking 15. Into the Future
Module Six: Understanding Systems
16. Contributing to Change 17. System Dynamics 18. Domain Analysis 19. Breaking the Dependency on Tobacco Production
Conclusion: Rethinking Higher Education and the Discovery Process
"This book is a must for anyone seriously committed to research that ensures the authentic participation and empowerment of people from all walks of life, be they from oral or textual traditions, women or men, old or young, articulate or hesitant, outspoken or reserved." – Farida Akhter, Executive Director, UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternative), Dhaka, Bangladesh
" This exciting and innovative book shows the patterns and processes that connect people and their social, practical and conceptual worlds in action. Its key themes of interdependence, relationship, and the need for dialogue make it a book today for tomorrow’s world. It should be on all reading lists as a key resource for developing socially-oriented pedagogies for a more peaceful, productive and interconnected world." – Jean McNiff, Professor of Educational Research at York St John University, York, UK and author of 'Action Research: Principles and Practice', now in its third edition (Routledge, 2013)
"...a wonderful compendium, replete with practical tools and techniques that bring rigour and vigour to the international dialogue among action researchers... This is a serious volume worth the time of any action researcher who is curious about how western (including francophone) perspectives on PAR come alive. This volume makes a significant contribution to the collective craft of scholarly-practice among action researchers." – Hilary Bradbury-Huang, Professor in the Division of Management at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA and Editor of the journal Action Research
Jacques M. Chevalier is Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Daniel J. Buckles is Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, and an independent consultant.
Purpose: Although driving by persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an important public health concern, we know little about the attitudes and perceptions of key stakeholders regarding driving ...safety in these individuals or the factors that precipitate and influence driving assessment and cessation decisions. Design and Methods: We convened 10 focus groups composed of persons intimately involved in driving decisions for older adults to identify and compare beliefs and perceptions concerning AD and driving and to identify effective strategies to limit or cease unsafe driving. The 68 focus-group participants included health professionals, transportation and law-enforcement professionals, current and former drivers with AD, and family caregivers of current and former drivers with the disease. Results: With few exceptions, participants said that a diagnosis of very mild AD alone did not preclude driving. Most regarded family members as pivotal in monitoring and managing unsafe driving and recognized their need for institutional and medical support, especially support from physicians in counseling and evaluation of health-related fitness of older drivers. Members of each group acknowledged their own roles and responsibilities in driving decisions and described difficulties they experienced in making assessments and implementing decisions to limit or stop the driving of given individuals with AD. Implications: Education of families, professionals, and transportation specialists is needed to understand the influence of AD severity on driving abilities, identify problem driving behaviors, make appropriate referrals of unsafe drivers, and access available resources for drivers with AD and those most responsible for their safety.
SAS2: A Guide to Collaborative Inquiry and Social Engagement represents a groundbreaking international effort to support the creation and mobilization of practical, authentic knowledge for social ...change. The guiding principle behind SAS2 (Social Analysis Systems, www.sas2.net) is that group dialogue and social inquiry are crucial for local and global development. Social issues must be addressed socially and in a multistakeholder mode, not by private interests and experts alone, and the insights that emerge must be fully integrated into processes of knowledge production, planning, and decision-making.
Part 1 outlines the concepts and skillful means needed to support multistakeholder dialogue and engagement. It also provides detailed instructions on how to integrate and ground collaborative inquiry in the projects, plans, evaluations and activities of multiple stakeholders. Part 2 presents a selection of techniques for collaborative inquiry and examples of real-life applications in South Asia and Latin America. The examples focus on a range of issues including land tenure, local economic development, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and organizational development.
This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, consultants, facilitators and activists working with people to solve problems and support inclusive inquiry and decision-making. It will also be useful to scholars and academics studying and teaching participatory action research in the social sciences.
SAS2 Chevalier, Jacques M; Buckles, Daniel J
2008
eBook
Analysis Systems offers a new approach to creating and using knowledge for the common good. Its purpose is to broaden and deepen the range of concepts, tools, and transferable skills to support ...dialogue and democratic engagement in the sphere of knowledge. The materials presented in the guide support a shift towards flexibly-structured processes to engage people in inquiry sustained by experience, adapted to context, and responsive to important needs. This approach bridges the gap between conventional inquiry based on 'hard evidence' and participatory methods that emphasize 'building consensus' at any cost.
SAS2: A Guide to Collaborative Inquiry and Social Engagement represents a groundbreaking international effort to support the creation and mobilization of practical, authentic knowledge for social ...change. The guiding principle behind SAS2 (Social Analysis Systems, www.sas2.net) is that group dialogue and social inquiry are crucial for local and global development. Social issues must be addressed socially and in a multistakeholder mode, not by private interests and experts alone, and the insights that emerge must be fully integrated into processes of knowledge production, planning, and decision-making.
Part 1 outlines the concepts and skillful means needed to support multistakeholder dialogue and engagement. It also provides detailed instructions on how to integrate and ground collaborative inquiry in the projects, plans, evaluations and activities of multiple stakeholders. Part 2 presents a selection of techniques for collaborative inquiry and examples of real-life applications in South Asia and Latin America. The examples focus on a range of issues including land tenure, local economic development, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and organizational development.
This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, consultants, facilitators and activists working with people to solve problems and support inclusive inquiry and decision-making. It will also be useful to scholars and academics studying and teaching participatory action research in the social sciences.
Clinicopathological evidence suggests that the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins many years before the appearance of cognitive symptoms. Biomarkers are required to identify affected ...individuals during this asymptomatic ("preclinical") stage to permit intervention with potential disease-modifying therapies designed to preserve normal brain function. Studies of families with autosomal-dominant AD (ADAD) mutations provide a unique and powerful means to investigate AD biomarker changes during the asymptomatic period. In this biomarker study, we collected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma, and in vivo amyloid imaging cross-sectional data at baseline in individuals from ADAD families enrolled in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network. Our study revealed reduced concentrations of CSF amyloid-β1-42 (Aβ1-42) associated with the presence of Aβ plaques, and elevated concentrations of CSF tau, ptau181 (phosphorylated tau181), and VILIP-1 (visinin-like protein-1), markers of neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal injury/death, in asymptomatic mutation carriers 10 to 20 years before their estimated age at symptom onset (EAO) and before the detection of cognitive deficits. When compared longitudinally, however, the concentrations of CSF biomarkers of neuronal injury/death within individuals decreased after their EAO, suggesting a slowing of acute neurodegenerative processes with symptomatic disease progression. These results emphasize the importance of longitudinal, within-person assessment when modeling biomarker trajectories across the course of the disease. If corroborated, this pattern may influence the definition of a positive neurodegenerative biomarker outcome in clinical trials.
The order and magnitude of pathologic processes in Alzheimer's disease are not well understood, partly because the disease develops over many years. Autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease has a ...predictable age at onset and provides an opportunity to determine the sequence and magnitude of pathologic changes that culminate in symptomatic disease.
In this prospective, longitudinal study, we analyzed data from 128 participants who underwent baseline clinical and cognitive assessments, brain imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood tests. We used the participant's age at baseline assessment and the parent's age at the onset of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease to calculate the estimated years from expected symptom onset (age of the participant minus parent's age at symptom onset). We conducted cross-sectional analyses of baseline data in relation to estimated years from expected symptom onset in order to determine the relative order and magnitude of pathophysiological changes.
Concentrations of amyloid-beta (Aβ)(42) in the CSF appeared to decline 25 years before expected symptom onset. Aβ deposition, as measured by positron-emission tomography with the use of Pittsburgh compound B, was detected 15 years before expected symptom onset. Increased concentrations of tau protein in the CSF and an increase in brain atrophy were detected 15 years before expected symptom onset. Cerebral hypometabolism and impaired episodic memory were observed 10 years before expected symptom onset. Global cognitive impairment, as measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clinical Dementia Rating scale, was detected 5 years before expected symptom onset, and patients met diagnostic criteria for dementia at an average of 3 years after expected symptom onset.
We found that autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease was associated with a series of pathophysiological changes over decades in CSF biochemical markers of Alzheimer's disease, brain amyloid deposition, and brain metabolism as well as progressive cognitive impairment. Our results require confirmation with the use of longitudinal data and may not apply to patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging and others; DIAN ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00869817.).
Society, experience, knowledge Chevalier, Jacques M.; Buckles, Daniel J.
Participatory Action Research,
2013
Book Chapter
One such concern, of direct relevance to engaged research, pertains to the creative
tension that brings together two basic aims in PAR: acknowledging the multiple con -
structions of reality, and ...seeking a framework or theory to acknowledge and promote
this multiplicity. Researchers bring forth this tension whenever they facilitate coinvestigation grounded in real life at the same time as they offer their own expert framing
of PAR in action. Paradoxically, they are experts at helping groups tap into their own
individual and collective expertise.
To achieve our purpose, we question the split between theory (epistêmê) and
technique (technê) or the notion that inquiry essentially divides into substance and
process. From this conventional ...viewpoint, substance stands as the subject matter of
thought, that which is to be known, has real content and feeds into existing bodies
of knowledge, theoretical or empirical. This is truth understood as cognitive output, the
end-goal of the inquisitive mind – the research outcome that matters, is actively pursued
and has value in the end. By contrast, process speaks to the journey, not the destination.
It is the path to knowledge guided by ‘small-m methods’ and devices, the technical
ways, step-wise procedures and technology used to gain a solid grasp over phenomena
that are deemed to be real. When split from substance, tools to investigate reality cannot
be ends in themselves. Rather, they are the instruments and means of advancing
knowledge of the world.
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