Action research evaluation

See our privacy policy and user agreement for ence between action research and program this presentation? Related slideshares at ence between action research and program adu, phd, methodology hed on mar 10, ence between action research and program you sure you want message goes the first to the first to like ence between action research and program ence between action research and program research program tion  an action research is a systematic process of identifying cal problem, collecting and analyzing data to tand the problem (which may sometimes enting an initial intervention to see its effect), the findings to develop an action plan to address the. A program evaluation is a systematic process ing the worth of a program through ation of the beneficiaries’ needs, and ties, goals and e  the main purpose of conducting an action research is s a practical problem (which could be defined as that a practitioner has directly or indirectly he/she was carrying out his/her professional duties). The main purpose of conducting an action research is the efficacy of a program (which could be yet-to-. Summative evaluation is done  after entation of the  the focus could be:O understanding a problem. Clients’/participants’) needs, program activities,Program goals and/or ale  action research could be conducted with or without ention but it should always be based on a specific. Stakeholders (such as participants and those who ed by or concern about the problem) are less the development of the action plan. Stakeholders (such as beneficiaries, and rs and implementers) are more involved in ation of the evaluation te goal  the ultimate goal is to address the practical fied so as to improve a professional practice. Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your can see my ting action can we be sure about the value and quality of an action research project? To answer these questions, this book focuses on the evaluation of action research rather than evaluation within the cycle. To evaluate quality and value the authors suggest that the cycles of research and action build together to make informed transformations of practice in line with the purpose of the project. These transformations are then evaluated in terms of the outcomes that make them visible; the processes that account for the transforming; and their generative evaluation of action research needs to use appropriate methods and criteria, such as authenticity, relevancy, involvement, methodological rigour, practical improvement, and transformation of consciousness; that is, understanding, learning, development, and personal growth. To show how this can be achieved, this book provides not only theoretical underpinnings for the evaluation of action research but also brings these underpinnings to life through the diverse examples provided through the wide range of projects that are the key themes that thread throughout is the use of qualitative research methods for evaluation.

For each method the authors provide a definition, purpose, explanation, application, and analysis, as well as outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each is the authors’ hope that this book will prompt enhanced understanding and dialogue about the evaluation of action piggot-irvine is the associate professor of action research and director of the new zealand action research and review centre at unitec in auckland. She was formerly director of the new zealand principal and leadership centre at massey n bartlett is head of the school of cognition, language and special education and a research theme leader of the centre for applied language, literacy and communication studies at griffith university in ng research her: nzcer ation type: : : brendan bartlett author: eileen a skilltable of taking actiontroubleshooting guide. Model for getting change ses of best ibe to bout the tool to use the tool esworkstation sign ity check box evaluation ity ng & ng curriculum - order » table of contents » evaluating community programs and initiatives » chapter 36. About community-based participatory research: what it is, why it can be effective, who might use it, and how to set up and conduct is community-based participatory research? Della decided to conduct some research to use as a base for realized that in order to collect accurate data, she needed to find researchers who would be trusted by people in the neighborhoods she was concerned about. Within two weeks, she had gathered a group of neighborhood residents who were willing to act as researchers. Della conducted workshops in research methods and in such basic skills as how to record interviews and observations. The report helped to convince the city to provide incentives to supermarket chains to locate in neighborhoods where healthy food was hard to group that della had recruited had become a community-based participatory research team. Because they were part of the community, they were trusted by residents; because they shared other residents’ experience, they knew what questions to ask and fully understood the answers, as well as what they were seeing when they section is about participatory action research: what it is, why it can be effective, who might use it, and how to set up and conduct is community-based participatory research? Simplest terms, community-based participatory research (for convenience, we’ll primarily call it cbpr for the rest of this section) enlists those who are most affected by a community issue – typically in collaboration or partnership with others who have research skills – to conduct research on and analyze that issue, with the goal of devising strategies to resolve it. In other words, community-based participatory research adds to or replaces academic and other professional research with research done by community members, so that research results both come from and go directly back to the people who need them most and can make the best use of are several levels of participatory research. At one end of the spectrum is academic or government research that nonetheless gathers information directly from community members. At the same time, this type of participatory research is still a long step from research that is done at second or third hand, where all the information about a group of people is gathered from statistics, census data, and the reports of observers or of human service or health professionals.

Another level, academic or other researchers recruit or hire members of an affected group – often because they are familiar with and known by the community – to collect data. Third level of participatory research has academic, government, or other professional researchers recruiting members of an affected group as partners in a research project. The community members work with the researchers as colleagues, participating in the conception and design of the project, data collection, and data analysis. At this level, there is usually – though not always – an assumption that the research group is planning to use its research to take action on an issue that needs to be opposite end of the participatory research continuum from the first level described involves community members creating their own research group – although they might seldom think of it as such – to find out about and take action on a community issue that affects them this section, we’ll concern ourselves with the latter two types of participatory research – those that involve community members directly in planning and carrying out research, and that lead to some action that can influence the issue studied. There are certainly scenarios where other types of participatory research are more appropriate, or easier to employ in particular situations, but it’s cbpr that we’ll discuss ing cbpr for purposes of either evaluation or long-term change can be a good idea for reasons of practicality, personal development, and the practical side, community-based participatory research can often get you the best information possible about the issue, for at least reasons including:People in an affected population are more liable to be willing to talk and give straight answers to researchers whom they know, or whom they know to be in circumstances similar to their own, than to outsiders with whom they have little in who have actually experienced the effects of an issue – or an intervention – may have ideas and information about aspects of it that wouldn’t occur to anyone studying it from outside. Thus, action researchers from the community may focus on elements of the issue, or ask questions or follow-ups, that outside researchers wouldn’t, and get crucial information that other researchers might find only by accident, or perhaps not at who are deeply affected by an issue, or participants in a program, may know intuitively, or more directly, what’s important when they see or hear it. What seems an offhand comment to an outside researcher might reveal its real importance to someone who is part of the same population as person who made the researchers from the community are on the scene all the time. Their contact both with the issue or intervention and with the population affected by it is constant, and, as a result, they may find information even when they’re not officially engaged in gs may receive more community support because community members know that the research was conducted by people in the same circumstances as their you’re conducting an evaluation, these advantages can provide you with a more accurate picture of the intervention or initiative and its effects. And that, of course, is the true goal of community research – to identify and resolve an issue or problem, and to improve the quality of life for the community as a the personal development sphere, cbpr can have profound effects on the development and lives of the community researchers, particularly when those who benefit from an intervention, or who are affected by an issue, are poor or otherwise disadvantaged, lack education or basic skills, and/or feel that the issue is far beyond their influence. By engaging in research, they not only learn new skills, but see themselves in a position of competence, obtain valuable knowledge and information about a subject important to them, and gain the power and the confidence to exercise control over this aspect of their common political results of the cbpr process:Through community-based participatory research, citizens can take more control of the direction of their ity researchers – especially those who are poor or otherwise disadvantaged – come to be viewed differently by professionals and those in positions of power. Furthermore, the research and other skills and the self-confidence that people acquire in a community-based participatory research process can carry over into other parts of their lives, giving them the ability and the assurance to understand and work to control the forces that affect them. Research skills, discipline, and analytical thinking often translate into job skills, making participatory action researchers more employable. Most important, people who have always seen themselves as bystanders or victims gain the capacity to become activists who can transform their lives and ity-based participatory research has much in common with the work of the brazilian political and educational theoretician and activist, paulo freire.

Many people see this as the “true” and only reason for supporting action research, but we see many other reasons for doing so, and list some of them both above and research is often used to consider social problems – welfare reform or homelessness, for example – but can be turned to any number of areas with positive environment. Action research can be helpful in both undeveloped and developed societies in collecting information about health practices, tracking an epidemic, or mapping the occurrence of a particular condition, to name three of numerous cal and economic issues. Citizen activists often do their own research to catch corrupt politicians or corporations, trace campaign contributions, as it can be used for different purposes, cbpr can be structured in different ways. The differences have largely to do with who comes up with the idea in the first place, and with who controls, or makes the decisions about, the research. Any of these possibilities might involve a collaboration or partnership, and a community group might well hire or recruit as a volunteer someone with research skills to help guide their common scenarios:Academic or other researchers devise and construct a study, and employ community people as data collectors and/or analysts. Problem or issue is identified by a researcher or other entity (a human service organization, for instance), and community people are recruited to engage in research on it and develop a solution. Problem is identified by a community member or group, others who are affected and concerned gather around to help, and the resulting group sets out to research and solve the problem on its would you use community-based participatory research? We’ll repeat them briefly here, and introduce others as research yields better and more nearly complete and accurate information from the will speak more freely to peers, especially those they know personally, than to chers who are members of the community know the history and relationships surrounding a program or an issue, and can therefore place it in experiencing an issue or participating in an intervention know what’s important to them about it – what it disrupts, what parts of their lives it touches, how they have changed as a result, etc. That knowledge helps them to formulate interview questions that get to the heart of what they – as researchers – are trying to ing the community in research is more likely to meet community research makes a reasonable resolution or accurate evaluation more probable in two ways. It’s equitable, philosophically consistent for most grassroots and community-based organizations, and practical in that it usually yields the best research, by involving community members, creates more visibility for the effort in the chers are familiar to the community, will talk about what they’re doing (as will their friends and relatives), and will thus spread the word about the ity members are more likely to accept the legitimacy of the research and buy into its findings if they know it was conducted by people like themselves, perhaps even people they ns are more apt to trust both the truthfulness and the motives of their friends and neighbors than those of research trains citizen researchers who can turn their skills to other problems as who discover the power of research to explain conditions in their communities, and to uncover what’s really going on, realize that they can conduct research in other areas than the one covered by their cbpr project. Thus, the action research process may benefit the community not only by addressing particular issues, but by – over the long term – creating a core of people dedicated to improving the overall quality of its citizens’ ement in cbpr changes people’s perceptions of themselves and of what they can action research project can have profound effects on community researchers who are disadvantaged economically, educationally, or in other ways. Such an expanded vision leads to an increased willingness to take action, and to an increase in their control over their learned in the course of action research carry over into other areas of researchers’ the skills and the confidence gained in a cbpr project can be transferred to employment, education, child-rearing, and other aspects of life, greatly improving people’s prospects and well-being. Participatory action research process can help to break down racial, ethnic, and class can remove barriers in two ways.

In addition, as integral contributors to a research or evaluation effort, community researchers interact with professionals, academics, and community leaders on equal footing. Well, lo and behold, i did, and seeing it through other people’s eyes i found that i, too, had to make some changes in my research helps people better understand the forces that influence their as paulo freire found in his work in latin america, community researchers, sometimes as a direct result of their research, and sometimes as a side benefit, begin to analyze and understand how larger economic, political, and social forces affect their own lives. This understanding helps them to use and control the effects of those forces, and to gain more control over their own ity based action research can move communities toward positive social of the above rationales described reasons for employing cbpr act to restructure the relationships and the lines of power in a community. They contribute to the mutual respect and understanding among community members and the deep understanding of issues that in turn lead to significant and positive social should be involved in community-based participatory research? That support is much more likely to be forthcoming if they’ve been involved in research or members of the affected population. Businessman from the portuguese community in a small city was an invaluable member of an action research team examining the need for services in that community. They usually have research skills as well, and can help to train other team members. At the same time, they can learn a great deal from community-based researchers – about the community and communities in general, about approaching people, about putting assumptions and preconceptions aside – and perhaps, as a result, increase the effectiveness of their own ’s important that they be treated, and treat everyone else, as equals. Both the quality of the research and the long-term learning by team members will benefit greatly from the effort. When community members are hired as researchers, for instance, the academic or other researcher who pays the bills has to exercise some control over the process. That statement covers the knowledge, skills, and talent that different people bring to the endeavor; the importance of buy-in by all sectors of the community if any long-term change is to be accomplished; and what team members learn and bring back to their families, friends, and neighbors as a result of their should you employ community-based participatory research? Are times when action research may not be appropriate, and there are times when it’s the best choice. Criterion is the amount of time you have to do the research on the issue or intervention.

Action research may take longer than traditional methods, because of the need for training, and because of the time it often takes for community researchers to adjust to the situation (i. If your time is limited, cbpr may not be the right r consideration is the type of research that’s necessary. If you’re obligated to deliver complicated, quantitative results to a funder, for instance, you may want to depend on professional researchers or evaluators. This isn’t to say that action research teams can’t do quantitative research, but simply that it requires more training, and therefore time, and may require an outside source or an academic team member to crunch the numbers. The results of qualitative research are usually expressed as a narrative or set of conclusions, with the analysis backed up by quotes, observation notes, and other non-numerical data. Qualitative research, however, relies on elements that can’t be adequately – or, in many cases, at all – described numerically. These numbers are usually then processed through one or more statistical operations to tell researchers exactly what they mean. Some statistics may, for instance, help researchers determine precisely what part of an intervention was responsible for a particular behavior change. May seem that quantitative research is more accurate, but that’s not always the case, especially when the research deals with human beings, who don’t always do what you expect them to. Often, a mix of the two will yield the richest and most accurate ’s probably best and most effective to use action research when:There’s time to properly train and acclimate community research and analysis necessary relies on interviews, experience, knowledge of the community, and an understanding of the issue or intervention from the inside, rather than on academic skills or an understanding of statistics (unless you have the time and resources to teach those skills or the team includes someone who has them). Need an entry to the community or group from whom the information is being ’re concerned with buy-in and support from the of the purpose of using cbpr is to have an effect on and empower the community of the purpose of using cbpr is to set the stage for long-term social do you institute and carry out community-based participatory research? You’ve decided to conduct an action research project, there are a number of steps to take to get it up and running. You have to find and train the participants; determine exactly what information you’re looking for and how to go about finding it; plan and carry out your research; analyze and report on your findings; translate the findings into recommendations; take, or bring about, action based on those recommendations; evaluate the process; and follow follows assumes an ideal action research project with a structure, perhaps one initiated by a health or human service organization.

A community group that comes together out of common interest probably would recruit by people already involved pulling in their friends, and probably wouldn’t do any formal training unless they invited a researcher to help them specifically in that way. The nature of your group will help you determine how – or whether – you follow each of the steps t a community research you recruit a team will depend on the purpose of the project as well as on who might be most effective in gaining and analyzing information. Those numbers both assure good contact with the population from which information needs to be gathered, and makes it less likely that community researchers will be overwhelmed or intimidated by other (professional) team members or by the ting from within an organization or program may be relatively simple, because the pool of potential researchers is somewhat of a captive audience: you know where to find them, and you already have a relationship with them. Don’t wait for them to come to all this, the best recruitment method is still face-to-face contact by someone familiar to the person being and train the research ation and training may be part of the same process, or they might be separate. Orientation is meant to give people a chance to ask questions and an overall picture of what is ation might include:Introductions all around, and an introductory activity to help team members get to know one ation of community-based participatory research, and basic information about this project or ipants’ time commitment and the support available to them, if any. Opportunity to ask questions, or to discuss any part of the project or evaluation that team members don’t understand or agree ally if the team is diverse, and especially if that diversity is one of education and research experience, an important aspect of the orientation is to start building the team, and to ensure that everyone sees it as a team of colleagues, rather than as one group leading or dominating or – even worse – simply tolerating another. Emphasizing that from the beginning may be necessary, not only to keep more educated members from dominating, but also to encourage less educated members not to be afraid to ask questions and give their ng is meant to pass on specific information and skills that people will need in order to carry out the work of the research. It’s better for people’s concentration to take a three-minute break every half hour than a 20-minute break every three ure the space for maximum participation and interaction - chairs in a circle, room to move around, the ways in which material is presented. Training is a golden opportunity for people to get to know and trust one another, and to absorb the guiding principles for the actual content of the training will, of course, depend on the project you’re undertaking, but general areas should probably include:Necessary research skills. These might include interview techniques, internet searching, constructing a survey, and other basic research and information-gathering ant information about the community or the intervention in g and negotiation skills. Depending upon the team members, a flow chart, a slide show, a video, or a collage might be informative and powerful ways to convey research results, as might oral testimony or a sound a presentation. Knowing what to expect, and learning how to make a clear and cogent presentation can make the difference between having your findings and recommendations accepted or ine the questions the research or evaluation is meant to questions you choose to answer will shape your research. There are many types of answers in either of these evaluation can focus on process: what is actually being done, and how does that compare with what the intervention or initiative set out to do?

An evaluation may also aim to identify specific elements of the process that have to be changed, or to identify a whole new process to replace one that doesn’t seem to be ch on a community issue also may be approached in a number of ways. You may be seeking a particular outcome, and the research questions you ask may be designed to help you reach that and structure your research your time constraints, the capacity of your team, and the questions you’re considering, plan your plan should include:The kind and amount of information-gathering that best suits your project (e. Deadlines for completing each phase of the and by whom the information will be the report of the research or evaluation will look , how, and to whom the report will be pate and prepare contingency plans for problems that might action research group, like any other, can have internal conflicts, as well as conflicts with external forces. There will need to be guidelines to deal with each of these and other potential ent your research that you've completed your planning, it's time to carry it e and present your report and report, as explained previously, may be a written document, or may be in some alternative form. If it’s an evaluation, it might be presented in one way to the staff of the intervention being evaluated, and in another to funders or the community, depending upon your possibilities for presentation include:A community presentation. Written report to funders and/or other interested , or try to bring about, appropriate action on the issue or can range from adjusting a single element of an intervention as a result of an evaluation, to writing letters to the editor, advocating with legislators, taking direct action (a demonstration, a lawsuit), and starting a community initiative that grows into a national movement. In most cases, a cbpr effort is meant to lead to some kind of action, even if that action is simply further action research project doesn’t end with the presentation, or even with action. The purpose of the research often has as much to do with the learning of the team members as it does with research results. Even where that’s not the case, the skills and methods that action researchers learn need to be cemented, so they can carry over to other te the research process. Benefits to the community or group that came about (or may come about) as a result of the research process. These may have to do with action, with making the community more aware of particular issues, or with creating more community fy team members’ learning and perceptions of changes in themselves. There are a number of ways to keep the momentum of a cbpr team going, including starting another project, if there’s a reason to do so; encouraging team members to be active on other issues they care about (and to suggest some potential areas, and perhaps make introductions that make it easier for them to do so); keeping the group together as a (paid) research consortium; or consulting, as a group, with other organizations interested in conducting action  is not always the right choice for an initiative or evaluation, but it’s always worthy of consideration. If you can employ it in a given situation, the rewards can be ity-based participatory research can serve many purposes.

And, perhaps most important, it can lead to long-term social change that improves the quality of life for ity-based participatory research is a process conducted by and for the people most affected by the issue or intervention being studied or evaluated. Thus, training and support – both technical and personal – are crucial elements in any action research process. With proper preparation, however, participatory action research can yield not only excellent research results, but huge benefits for the community over the long action catalogue is an online decision support tool that is intended to enable researchers, policy-makers and others wanting to conduct inclusive research, to find the method best suited for their specific project research electronic reader offers articles and links from the graduate college of management, southern cross university, new south wales, iative inquiry as a mode of action research for community psychology by neil m. In this article, the authors highlight the potential for rethinking approaches to community and social change interventions that draw on participatory action research at the organizational and community guide to evaluation is a website that provides links to information about specific aspects of evaluation including methods, logic models, and overcoming major evaluation toolkit is a detailed resource provided by the aapcho. It is intended to be a handbook for community health centers and researchers interested in collaborative research evaluation resources provides an extensive list of resources for evaluation, as well as links to professional associations and key ity-based participatory research is a website designed by the national institutes of health to assist in integrating community-based participatory research into ping and sustaining community-based participatory research partnerships: a skill building curriculum provides guidance for developing and sustaining community-based participatory research nder research and education center is the grandfather of popular education and participatory action research organizations (founded in 1932). Highlander was a mainstay of the civil rights movement in the us, and continues to provide training and support for participatory action research and social society for community research and action (scra), division 27 of the american psychological association, is an international organization devoted to advancing theory, research, and social  interactive cbpr conceptual model is a product of "research for improved health: a national study of community-university partnerships", an in-depth investigation of promoters and barriers to successful community based participatory research. 1) an instrument matrix consisting of measurement tools that have been used, adapted or sampled by cbpr practitioners, and 2) a variable matrix consisting of specific individual items that have been used, adapted or sampled by cbpr practitioners based on ational center for tropical agriculture provides information on the use of local action research groups to improve the lives of farmers and others in latin : community partnership center from the university of tennessee, knoxville links university resources with urban and rural grassroots community groups to understand and address the core problems facing low- and moderate-income ipatory methods is a website that provides resources to generate ideas and action for inclusive development and social tions on a participatory research project: young people of refugee background in an arts-based program from melbourne, australia. Short note on participatory research provides a good synopsis of the principles of participatory -building curriculum is an extensive online resource to community-based participatory research developed by the university of ipatory action research by caitlin ipatory approach to research provides good information on levels of participatory involvement from the community adaptation and sustainable livelihoods program of the international institute for sustainable ipatory research provides participatory research links from dr. Of ples of community change, second edition, a cdc resource, is an online book that provides the principles for community  research for organizing toolkit is designed for organizations and individuals that want to use participatory action research (par) to support their work towards social justice. In this toolkit you will find case studies, workshops, worksheets and templates that you can download and tailor to meet your role of community-based participatory research is a comprehensive website developed by the u. Department of health and human services that is dedicated to providing information on participation in evaluation research - urban youth building community: social change and participatory research in schools, homes, and community-based -led participatory action research is an innovative approach to positive youth and community development based in social justice principles in which young people are trained to conduct systematic research to improve their lives, their communities, and the institutions intended to serve , m. Ibe to it, contact bob ask for a subscription research and evaluation on line, is available in two formats, both free. Week public course offered twice a year as a public service , the action learning action research association an alternative, most of the materials from that course are ble on the web -- the links below will take you to is less often revised, and lacks some of the resource materials of the n.

Also, it doesn't offer the email interaction you can have with ipants in the email version. Session 1 gives an overview research, and describes some processes which of the features of action research and similar n 2 describes the overall change process. The change process and action research is done more for the action than the ns 3 to 5 cover issues especially relevant here. Addresses the issue which is relevant to the research aspects research, especially those issues that are most research-oriented action research. To 12 deal specifically with an action research style tion, using the snyder evaluation process as a.