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Participatory Action Research (PAR) is “initiated by people coming together to address issues or problems in their lives. Action gives a clear purpose for research and research findings inform actions and solutions” (Highlander Research and Education Center).

Examples in our work

In 2023, when working to create a theory of change with Tech Goes Home (TGH), a digital inclusion organization that brings computers, internet, and training to individuals and families throughout Massachusetts, we collaborated closely with TGH staff, instructors, and learners to identify the organization’s inputs, activities, and outputs in an iterative review process. Learn more

The Digital Equity Research Center worked with Black Brilliance Research Project and the Benton Institute for Broadband Society to launch the Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship in 2021. The DEAR Fellowship helped young adults, ages 19–24, learn participatory action research skills to examine and address the root causes of digital inequities in their communities.

In 2015, Dr. Rhinesmith used PAR with his graduate students at the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies and youth in Moore, Oklahoma to re-design the teen space at their public library. The Youth Community Informatics Studio employed ethnographic action research, as a form of PAR, in the Teen Space Architects program to incorporate the everyday needs and aspirations of youth as an historically marginalized population within public library spaces.

Explore PAR

• In this Nature Reviews Methods Primer on Participatory Action Research, Cornish et al. (2023) present an overview of PAR as “an approach to research that prioritizes the value of experiential knowledge for tackling problems caused by unequal and harmful social systems, and for envisioning and implementing alternatives.”
• The Participatory Action Research Toolkit published by the University of Reading in June 2023, can assist community researchers, local organizations, students, and academic researchers in making decisions about why and how they might facilitate a PAR project.
• How Community Leads the Way with Participatory Action Research (PAR), a podcast episode from the Collective Impact Forum featuring the work of NoLa CARES: a collaborative of childcare organizations that focuses on creating access, resources, and equity for the success of Black and Latine women in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• The Journal of Participatory Research Methods provides a forum for researchers across disciplines to disseminate the methods, techniques and strategies they use in participatory research.