Action research a Handbook for Students

participants of the research process concerning their difficult relationship with 
the police. Previously mentioned studies carried out in Tanzania by Marja-Li-
isa Swantz can serve as another example. For several years she lived in the 
village of Zaramo, where alongside other women she conducted participa-
tory action research aiming at the improvement of these women’s situation, 
among others, in the area of eradicating illiteracy [Swantz, 1970]. In this case, 

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2: The variety of approaches within action research: multiple roads leading to change for the better
a professional researcher joined the local community, becoming one of tribes-
women [Swantz, 2016].
It is highlighted that one of the main problems with participatory action 
research is the lack of connection between professional researchers and other 
participants of the study. It is especially visible when researchers are highly edu-
cated with already established assumptions about life experiences of participants 
which means that they do not learn on the basis of local knowledge which these 
people have [Nyemba, Mayer 2018].
Participation can take many forms. Marta Graça, Manuela Gonçalves and 
António Martins [2018] identify five basic types of cooperation within par-
ticipatory action research: egalitarian (participants of the project become re-
searchers); collaborative (participants of the project take active part in making 
research decisions); cooperative (participants cooperate, but do not get involved 
as researchers); consulting (participants want to be consulted and informed of 
actions); and informative (participants are informed about the course of the pro-
ject). These types belong to a continuum of sorts – from passive attitude of the 
participants, to interactivity, to full mobilisation. Graça, Gonçalves and Martins 
[2018] remark that within participatory action research, numerous forms of par-
ticipants’ involvement can work, mainly because of people’s varying needs as to 
their involvement in the research process. Participants of a PAR-based research 
project can also choose various roles in the process, depending on their skills 
and interests. The authors of this book illustrate this thesis with an example of 
their own research carried out with sex workers in Portugal. In that case, profes-
sional researchers transcribed interviews, analysed the research, dealt with tech-
nological aspects of the project, while sex workers were involved in the process 
of generating topical areas of the research, identifying priorities, obstacles and 
strategies in the process of taking action on the basis of the conducted research. 
Ensuring full participation that allows for equal involvement of all stakeholders 
in the process is difficult, but it is worth it to make the effort so that the process 
can become fully egalitarian and emancipatory.
For more see: Swantz M.-L. (2016), In Search of Living Knowledge, Mkuki 
Na Nyota Publishers, Dar Es Salaam; Argyris C., Schön, D.A. (1989), Partic-
ipatory Action Research and Action Science Compared: A Commentary, „American 
Behavioral Scientist”, no. 32(5), pp. 612–623; Fine M., Torre M. a. E., Boudin 
K., Bowen I., Clark J., Hylton D., Upegui D. (2004),