This article examines the tensions and challenges of a graduate student maneuvering the institutional hierarchies in her journey of participatory action research (PAR). By using a first-person action research framework, the researcher moves back and forth exploring the prose of others, and revealing her reflexive self-inquiry of underlying assumptions and beliefs. Iterations of insider-outsider positionality, drawing on and integrating paradigms, reconciling multiple roles and perspectives, exploring the complexity of power relations, and uncovering the promises and perils of PAR, moves the researcher toward a partnership with her community of inquiry. First-person action research unfolds a process of self-transformation.
Avramidis, E. , & Smith, B. (1999). An introduction to the major research paradigms and their methodological implications for special needs research . Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties, 4(3), 27-36 .
2.
Baldwin, M. (2001). Working together, learning together: Cooperative inquiry in the development of complex practice by teams of social workers. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 287-293). London: Sage .
3.
Barrett, P. (2001). The early mothering project: What happened when the words ‘action research’ came to life for a group of midwives. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 294-300). London: Sage .
4.
Bell, E. (2001). Infusing race into the US discourse on action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 48-58). London: Sage .
5.
Bradbury, H. (2001). Learning with the natural step: Action research to promote conversations for sustainable development. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 307-313). London: Sage .
6.
Bradbury, H. , & Reason, P. (2001). Conclusion: Broadening the bandwidth of validity: Issues and choice-points for improving the quality of action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 447-456). London: Sage .
7.
Bryant-Lukosius, D. & DiCenso, A. (2004). A framework for the introduction and evaluation of advanced practice nursing roles . Journal of Advanced Nursing, 48(5), 530-540 .
8.
Burgess, J. (1995). Making clients or regenerating citizens: A feminist analysis of community work. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
9.
Chavez, V. , Duran, B. , Baker, Q. , Avila, M. , & Wallerstein, N. (2003) The dance of race and privilege in community based participatory research. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 81-97). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
10.
Fals Borda, O. (2001). Participatory (action) research in social theory: Origins and challenges. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 27-37). London: Sage .
11.
Finlay, L. (2002). ‘Outing’ the research: The provenance, process, and practice of reflexivity . Qualitative Health Research, 12(4), 531-545 .
12.
Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power . Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777-795 .
13.
Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed (new rev. 20th anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum (original published 1970).
14.
Friedman, V. (2001). Action science: Creating communities of inquiry in communities of practice. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 159-170). London: Sage .
15.
Gaventa, J. , & Cornwall, A. (2001). Power and knowledge. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 70-80). London: Sage .
16.
Gibbon, M. (2002). Doing a doctorate using a participatory action research framework in the context of community health . Qualitative Health Research, 12(4), 546-558 .
17.
Greenwood, D. , & Levin, M. (1998). Introduction to action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
18.
Gustavsen, B. (2001). Theory and practice: The mediating discourse. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 17-26). London: Sage .
19.
Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action: Vol. 2. Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionist reason. (T. McCarthy trans.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
20.
Hall, B. (1981). Participatory research, popular knowledge, and power: A personal reflection . Convergence, 14, 6-9 .
21.
Hall, B. (2001). I wish this were a poem of practices of participatory research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp.171-178). London: Sage .
22.
Heen, H. (2005). About feelings in action research . Action Research, 3(3), 263-278 .
23.
Heron, J. (1996). Co-operative inquiry: Research into the human condition. London: Sage .
24.
Heron, J. , & Reason, P. (2001). The practice of co-operative inquiry: Research ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ people. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 179-188). London: Sage .
25.
Hills, M. (2001). Using cooperative inquiry to transform evaluation of nursing students’ clinical practice. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp.340-347). London: Sage .
26.
Israel, B. A. , Schulz, A. J. , Parker, E. A. , Becker, A. B. , Allen III, A. J. , & Guzman, J. R. (2003). Critical issues in developing and following community based participatory research principles. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 53-76). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
27.
Kelly, P. (2005). Practical suggestions for community interventions using participatory action research . Public Health Nursing, 22(1), 65-65 .
28.
Kemmis, S. (2001) Exploring the relevance of critical theory for action research: Emancipatory action research in the footsteps of Jurgen Habermas. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 91-102). London: Sage .
29.
Koch, T. , Mann, S. , Kralik, D. , & van Loon, A. (2005). Focus. Reflection: Look, think and act cycles in participatory action research . Journal of Research in Nursing, 10(3), 261-261 .
30.
Lawson, H. , Anderson-Butcher, D. , Petersen, N. , & Barkdull, C. (2003). Design teams as learning systems for complex systems change: Evaluation data and implications for higher education . Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 7(1/2), 159-179 .
31.
Leslie, H. , & McAllister, M. (2002). The benefits of being a nurse in critical social research practice . Qualitative Health Research, 12(5), 700-712 .
32.
Levin, M. , & Greenwood, D. (2001). Pragmatic action research and the struggle to transform universities into learning communities. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 103-113). London: Sage .
33.
Lincoln, Y. (2001a). Varieties of validity: Quality in qualitative research. In J. Smart & W. Tierney (Eds.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 25-72). New York: Agathon .
34.
Lincoln, Y. (2001b). Engaging sympathies: Relationships between action research and social constructivism. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp.124-132). London: Sage .
35.
Lincoln, Y. , & Guba, E. (2000). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp.163-188). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
36.
Ludema, J. , Cooperrider, D. , & Barrett, F. (2001). In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 189-199). London: Sage .
37.
Maguire, P. (1987). Doing participatory research: A feminist approach. Amherst, MA: The Centre for International Education, School of Education, University of Massachusetts .
38.
Maguire, P. (2001). Uneven ground: Feminisms and action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 59-69). London: Sage .
39.
Marshall, J. (2001). Self-reflective inquiry practice. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp.433-439). London: Sage .
40.
Marshall, J. & Mead, G. (2005). Editorial: Self-reflective practice and first person action research . Action Research, 3(3), 235-244 .
41.
Martin, A. (2001). Large group processes as action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 433-439). London: Sage .
42.
McKnight, J. (1987). Regenerating community . Social Policy, Winter, 54-58 .
43.
McTaggart, R. (1997). Participatory action research: International contexts and consequences. Albany: State University of New York Press .
44.
Minkler, M. (2004). Ethical challenges for the ‘outside’ researcher in community-based participatory research . Health Education & Behavior, 31(6), 684-684 .
45.
Minkler, M. , & Hancock, T. (2003). Community-driven asset identification and issue selection. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 135-152). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
46.
Minkler, M. , & Wallerstein, N. (Eds.) (2003) Community based participatory research for health. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
47.
Mitton, C. , & Patten, S. (2004). Evidence-based priority-setting: What do the decision-makers think?Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 9(3), 146-146 .
48.
Munoz, K. , & Jeris, L. (2005). Learning to be interdisciplinary: An action research approach to boundary spanning . Health Education Journal, 64(1), 5-5 .
49.
Naylor, P. , Wharf-Higgins, J. , Blair, L. , Green, L. , & O’Connor, B. (2002). Evaluating the participatory process in a community-based heart health project . Social Science & Medicine, 55, 1173-1187 .
50.
Nelson, G. , Poland, B. , Murray, M. , & Maticka-Tyndale, E. (2004). Building capacity in community health action research . Action Research, 2(4), 389-408 .
51.
Nolan, P. (2005). From first-person inquiry to radical social action . Action Research, 3(3), 297-312 .
52.
Park, P. (2001). Knowledge and participatory research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 81-90). London: Sage .
53.
Pasmore, W. (2001). Action research in the workplace: The socio-technical perspective. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 38-47). London: Sage .
54.
Public Health Agency of Canada . (2002). The Social Determinants of Health: An Overview of the Implications for Policy and the Role of the Health Sector. Retrieved June 13 2005 from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/phdd/overview_implications/01_overview.html.
55.
Raphael, D. (2003). Social determinants of health: Canadian perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press .
56.
Reason, P. (1988). Human inquiry in action: Developments in new paradigm research. London: Sage .
57.
Reason, P. (1991) Power and conflict in multidisciplinary collaboration . Complementary Medical Research, 3(3), 144-150 .
58.
Reason, P. (1998). Political, epistemological, ecological and spiritual dimensions of participation . Studies in Cultures, Organizations, and Societies, 4(2), 147-167 .
59.
Reason, P. (1999). Integrating action and reflection through cooperative inquiry . Management Learning, 30(2), 207-226 .
60.
Reason, P. , & Bradbury, H. (2001). Introduction: Inquiry and participation in search of world worthy of human aspiration. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 1-14). London: Sage .
61.
Reason, P. , & Marshall, J. (2001) On working with graduate research students. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 413-419). London: Sage .
62.
Reason, P. , & Torbert, W. (2001). The action turn toward a transformational science. Retrieved November 15 2005 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/%7Emnspwr/Papers/TransformationalSocialScience.pdf.
63.
Rowan, J. (2001). A humanistic approach to action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 114-123). London: Sage .
64.
Schein, E. (2001). Clinical inquiry/research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 228-237). London: Sage .
65.
Schwandt, T. A. (2001). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage .
66.
Stoecker, R. (2003). Are academics irrelevant? Approaches and roles for scholars in community based participatory research. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 98-112). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
67.
Sullivan, M. , Chao, S. , Allen, C. , Kone, A. , Pierre-Louis, M. , & Krieger, J. (2003). Community-researcher partnerships: Perspectives from the field. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 113-130). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
68.
Tandon, R. (1988). Social transformation and participatory research . Convergence, 21(2/3), 5-14 .
69.
Themba, M. , & Minkler, M. (2003). Influencing policy through community based participatory research. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 349-369). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
70.
Torbert, W. (2001). The practice of action inquiry. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 250-260). London: Sage .
71.
Treleaven, L. (2001). The turn to action and the linguistic turn: Towards an integrated methodology. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 261-272). London: Sage .
72.
Wadsworth, Y. (2001). The mirror, the magnifying glass, the compass and the map: Facilitating participatory action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 420-432). London: Sage .
73.
Wallerstein, N. , & Duran, B. (2003). The conceptual, historical, and practice toots of community based participatory research and related participatory traditions. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 27-52). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
74.
White, G. W. , Suchowierska, M. , & Campbell, M. (2004). Developing and systematically implementing participatory action research . Arch Physicians Medical Rehabilitation, 85(Suppl. 2), S3-S12 .
75.
Whitehead, D. , Keast, J. , Montgomery, V. , & Hayman, S. (2004). A multidisciplinary osteoporosis service-based action research study . Health Education Journal, 63(4), 347-347 .
76.
Whitehead, D. , Taket, A. , & Smith, P. (2003). Action research in health promotion . Health Education Journal, 62(1), 5-5 .
77.
Whitmore, E. , & McKee, C. (2001). Six street youth who could... In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (pp. 396-402). London: Sage .
78.
World Health Organization . (2003). Social determinant of health: The solid facts. In R. Wilkinson & M. Marmot (Eds.). Retrieved June 2 2005 from http://www.who.dk/document/E81384.pdf.
