By Danielle Perry, Ph.D
Introduction
Participatory Action Research (PAR) allows us to examine power and positionality (McIntyre, 2007; Baum, MacDougall, and Smith, 2006; Yull, Blitz, Thompson, and Murray, 2014), shifting the generation of knowledge from researcher to the communities most impacted. PAR involves collaboration and active engagement of research participants in every stage of the research process (e.g., identification of phenomenon to be studied, development of research questions and data collection tools, emic data analysis methods, and plans for dissemination). PAR engages participants in an ongoing cycle of reflection, action, and evaluation to ensure that all data produced is authentic to community experience and is tied to action that is appropriate and has meaning (Payne, 2017; RodrÃguez and Brown, 2009). Through this process, PAR can bring about social change by empowering individuals and communities to take control of their own narrative and address issues that affect them.
In this research brief, I document the PAR methods utilized to explore the lives of teenagers living in Chicago. Guided by an interpretive approach, this study addressed:
1. How do Black youth engaged in the project see their neighborhoods? How does this perception influence the way they think about themselves, their families, and their community members?
2. With whom in their perceived neighborhoods are Black youth sharing their future aspirations?
3. Where in their perceived neighborhoods do Black youth engaged in the project go for academic and socioemotional support? How do these places differ from each other?