Class meets twice a week for 6 weeks.
| WEEK # | CLASS DESCRIPTIONS |
|---|---|
| 1: Defining PAR |
Class 1: Many PAR researchers define their work as inquiry grounded in lived experience and ideas. We will explore the philosophical and intellectual groundings of PAR, including its connection to Aristotle’s idea of phronesis (a Greek word for the intelligence that allows us to discern how and why to act virtuously). We’ll also look at the history of PAR, particularly the way it has been used in the Global South. Class 2: We will explore basic ideas about scientific knowledge and arguments for and against PAR / case study research as science. What is knowledge? How does social science research create knowledge? Is PAR scientific? |
| 2: Case Study Method, Data Gathering, and Strategies and Principles of PAR | Class 3, 4: PAR almost always focuses on one place or one group, and the way it is trying to handle a problem or make a decision. Applied social scientists working in a PAR-like fashion have a choice of methods they can use to help a client group or community. While both quantitative and qualitative methods can come into play, ethnographic methods are most often used in a case study fashion. Mixed methods, though, are certainly possible. What is the case study method and what is it most useful for in social science research? What are the strategies and principles that ought to be used in selecting cases? What are good practices for data gathering in action research? |
| 3: Narrative Analysis & Knowledge Co-Production; Ethical Implications |
Class 5: Narrative analysis is a critical skill of the PAR researcher. It enables a systematic harvesting of knowledge from storytelling—one of the most basic forms of human communication. We will focus on representativeness in narrative analysis and review thematic analysis, structural analysis, dialogic and performance analysis, and visual analysis. Class 6: We will examine the Public Science Project’s PAR map and look closely at a variety of methods for co-producing knowledge with communities who are engaged in social justice projects. We will explore the commitments and assumptions underlying the methods, and the critical / ethical questions that arise when researchers use these and other PAR methods. Narrative Analysis Due |
| 4: Reflective Practice |
Class 7: The skills of reflection are a crucial part of any PAR practitioner’s toolkit. The PAR practitioner must be able to turn the beam of observation back on herself to better understand her own role and responsibilities in efforts to bring about social justice. Class 8: Continued from above. Students should view the videos on reflective practice produced by CoLab. We will try to summarize the tools of reflection that PAR practitioners can and should use. |
| 5: Case Analyses–Student Presentations |
In the final two weeks of this course, students will do PAR case study presentations, providing analyses that return to the core questions of PAR as outlined in the course thus far. Issues to be considered include: Placing power at the core of analysis; the normative stance of the research; getting close to the research subject without getting lost as a researcher; dilemmas of representation / engaging in dialogue with a “polyphony of voices”; ethical dilemmas in PAR. Final PAR Case Study due. |
| 6: Case Analyses–Student Presentations |
Student presentations (cont.) Final PAR Case Study due. |
