Psychological Research in the Process of Social Change: A Contribution to Community Development

Abstract

Increasingly psychologists in developing countries are expressing dissatisfaction with traditional (Euro-centred) research. They argue for the contextualisation of psychological research within a people-centred development programme in the Third World. This shift in approach requires a new methodology, new research techniques, and a new type of relationship between the researcher and other participants in the research ef fort. This may originally create tensions between the traditionai requirements of scien tific rigour and the demands put on the research process by the involvement of local communities. Participatory research is suggested as an appropriate model for resolving these tensions in that it combines research, education and action and provides for alternative measures of validity.

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