Towards participatory action design research : adapting action research and design science research methods for urban informatics

This paper proposes a new research method, Participatory Action Design Research (PADR), for studies in the Urban Informatics domain. PADR supports Urban Informatics research in developing new technological means (e.g. using mobile and ubiquitous computing) to resolve contemporary issues or support everyday life in urban environments. The paper discusses the nature, aims and inherent methodological needs of Urban Informatics research, and proposes PADR as a method to address these needs. Situated in a socio-technical context, Urban Informatics requires a close dialogue between social and design-oriented fields of research as well as their methods. PADR combines Action Research and Design Science Research, both of which are used in Information Systems, another field with a strong socio-technical emphasis, and further adapts them to the cross-disciplinary needs and research context of Urban Informatics.

Improving public spaces for young people : the contribution of participatory research

The objectives of this chapter are to examine the contribution of public spaces to the wellbeing of young people and how participatory action research can be used as a process tool for contextually responsive, collaborative, iterative and multi-method community level practice. The addition of a spatial frame to practice can open up unexpected alliances and opportunities for enhancing the wellbeing of people.

Connecting the space between design and research: Explorations in participatory research supervision

In this article we offer a single case study using an action research method for gathering and analysing data offering insights valuable to both design and research supervision practice. We do not attempt to generalise from this single case, but offer it as an instance that can improve our understanding of research supervision practice. We question the conventional ‘dyadic’ models of research supervision and outline a more collaborative model, based on the signature pedagogy of architecture: the design studio. A novel approach to the supervision of creatively oriented post-graduate students is proposed, including new approaches to design methods and participatory supervision that draw on established design studio practices. This model collapses the distance between design and research activities. Our case study involving Research Masters student supervision in the discipline of Architecture, shows how ‘connected learning’ emerges from this approach. This type of learning builds strong elements of creativity and fun, which promote and enhance student engagement. The results of our action research suggests that students learn to research more easily in such an environment and supervisory practices are enhanced when we apply the techniques and characteristics of design studio pedagogy to the more conventional research pedagogies imported from the humanities. We believe that other creative disciplines can apply similar tactics to enrich both the creative practice of research and the supervision of HDR students.

The Self-Conscious Researcher - Post-modern Perspectives of Participatory Research with Young People

Research in young people by young people is a growing trend and considered a democratic approach to exploring their lives. Qualitative research is also seen as a way of redistributing power; with participatory research positioned by many as a democratic paradigm of qualitative inquiry. Although participatory research may grant a view on another world, it is fraught with a range of relationships that require negotiation and which necessitate constant self-reflection. Drawing on experiential accounts of participatory research with young people, this paper will explore the power relationship from the perspective of the adult researcher, the young peer researcher and also that of the researched. It will explore the self-conscious exchange of power; and describe how it is relinquished and reclaimed with increasing degrees of compliance as confidence and security develops. Co-authored by a peer researcher and adult researchers, this paper will illustrate a range of practical examples of participatory research with young people, decode the power struggle and consider the implications. It will argue that although the initial stages of the research process are artificial, self-conscious and undemocratic it concludes that the end may justify the means with the creation of social agency knowledge, experience and reality.

Health, education and community: Assets and needs of a small urban community in north east Tamaulipas, Mexico: A community based participatory research assessment

This study explored the health, education, social assets, needs, attitudes, and behaviors of residents of Ferrocarril #4, a small urban community in Tamaulipas, Mexico. A collaborative Participatory Action Research approach was used to emphasize community involvement. Using Triangulation to ensure validity, qualitative methods included key informant in depth interviews, participant observation and participatory discussion groups with women and men. A personal interview with a probability sample of women was done. The median age of interviewees was 37 years. The majority was married or had a partner. Over half of respondents completed grades 6-9. Employed women (25%) earned a median weekly salary equivalent to ∼56 USD. Women with health insurance (67.7%) were covered mainly through Social Security and Seguro Popular. One in 5 reported bad health. Barriers to care were primarily money and transportation. To improve health care, women wanted a full service clinic in or close to the community and affordable health care. Socially, 28% of respondents had no close friends in the community and most did not participate in beneficial community activities. Many women did not socialize with others and help from neighbors was situational. Primary school teachers lacked parental support and it interfered with classroom efforts. Healthy community discussion groups focused on personal and environmental hygiene and safety. Valuable assets exist in the community. To date, collaborative efforts resulted in a school First Aid station, a school nurse visit weekly, posting of emergency contact phone numbers in the school and community center, and development of a student health information form. ^

Perceptions of institutional support of community -based participatory research within prevention research centers

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on the future of health care states that the focus on health needs to shift to the management and prevention of chronic illnesses and that academic health centers (AHCs) should play an active role in this process through community partnerships (IOM, 2002). Grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the creation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Research Centers (PRC) across the county represent a transition toward more proactively seeking out community partnerships to better design and disseminate health promotion programs (Green, 2001). ^ The focus of the PRCs is to conduct rigorous, community-based, prevention research, to seek outcomes applicable to public health programs and policies. The PRCs work is to create and foster partnerships among public health and community organizations, to address health promotion and disease prevention issues (CDC, 2003). ^ The W.K. Kellogg Foundation defines CBPR as "a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health." ^ In 1995, CDC asked the IOM to review the PRC program to examine the extent to which the program is providing the public health community with strategies to address public health problems in disease prevention and health promotion (IOM, 1997). No comprehensive evaluation n of the individual PRCs had ever been done (IOM, 1997). ^ The CDC was interested in understanding how it could better support the PRC program through improved management and oversight to influence the program's success. The CDC only represents one of the entities that influence the success of a PRC. Another key entity to consider is the support of and influence of the Schools of Public Health in which the PRCs reside. Using evaluation criteria similar to those that were developed by the IOM, this study examined how aspects of structural capacity of the Schools of Public Health in which the PRCs reside are perceived to influence PRC community-based research activities. ^

Harnessing the potential of community-based participatory research approaches in bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND: Despite the rapid growth in the sophistication of research on bipolar disorder (BD), the field faces challenges in improving quality of life (QoL) and symptom outcomes, adapting treatments for marginalized communities, and disseminating research insights into real-world practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR)-research that is conducted as a partnership between researchers and community members-has helped address similar gaps in other health conditions. This paper aims to improve awareness of the potential benefits of CBPR in BD research. METHODS: This paper is a product of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) Taskforce on Community Engagement which includes academic researchers, healthcare providers, people with lived experience of BD, and stakeholders from BD community agencies. Illustrative examples of CBPR in action are provided from two established centres that specialize in community engagement in BD research: the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in BD (CREST.BD) in Canada, and the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research in the United Kingdom. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We describe the philosophy of CBPR and then introduce four core research areas the BD community has prioritized for research: new treatment approaches, more comprehensive outcome assessments, tackling stigma, and enhanced understanding of positive outcomes. We then describe ways in which CBPR is ideal for advancing each of these research areas and provide specific examples of ways that CBPR has already been successfully applied in these areas. We end by noting potential challenges and mitigation strategies in the application of CBPR in BD research. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that CBPR approaches have significant potential value for the BD research community. The observations and concerns of people with BD, their family members, and supports clearly represent a rich source of information. CBPR approaches provide a collaborative, equitable, empowering orientation to research that builds on the diversity of strengths amongst community stakeholders. Despite the potential merits of this approach, CBPR is as yet not widely used in the BD research field, representing a missed opportunity.

The challenges of participatory research with ‘tech-savvy’ youth

This paper focuses on participatory research and how it can be understood and employed when researching children and youth. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded discussion of participatory research methodologies with respect to investigating the dynamic and evolving phenomenon of young people growing up in networked societies. Initially, we review the nature of participatory research and how other researchers have endeavoured to involve young people (children and youth) in their research projects. Our review of these approaches aims to elucidate what we see as recurring and emerging issues with respect to the methodological design of involving young people as co-researchers. In the light of these issues and in keeping with our aim, we offer a case study of our own research project that seeks to understand the ways in which high school students use new media and network ICT systems (Internet, mobile phone applications, social networking sites) to construct identities, form social relations, and engage in creative practices as part of their everyday lives. The article concludes by offering an assessment of our tripartite model of participatory research that may benefit other researchers who share a similar interest in youth and new media.

Tech-Savvy Youth and Participatory Research in “iScapes”

This chapter provides a theoretically and empirically grounded discussion of participatory research methodologies with respect to investigating the dynamic and evolving phenomenon of young people constructing identities and social relations in “iScapes”. We coin the term iScapes to refer to the online/offline interconnectedness of spaces in the fabric of everyday life. Specifically, we offer a critical analysis of the participatory research methods we used in our own research project to understand the ways in which high school students use new media and information communication technologies (ICTs) to construct identities, form social relations, and engage in creative practices as part of their everyday lives. The chapter concludes with reflexive deliberations on our approach to participatory research that may benefit other researchers who share a similar interest in youth and new media.

Reconceptualizing digital service quality : a call-to-action and research approach

The nature of services and service delivery has been changing rapidly since the 1980’s when many seminal papers in services research were published. Services are increasingly digital, or have a digital component. Further, a large and heterogeneous literature, with competing and overlapping definitions, many of which are dated and inappropriate to contemporary digital services offerings is impeding progress in digital services research. In this conceptual paper, we offer a critical review of some existing conceptualizations of services and digital services. We argue that an inductive approach to understanding cognition about digital services is required to develop a taxonomy of digital services and a new vocabulary. We argue that this is a pre-requisite to theorizing about digital services, including understanding quality drivers, value propositions, and quality determinants for different digital service types. We propose a research approach for reconceptualising digital services and service quality, and outline methodological approaches and outcomes.

Participatory research in giant clam farming

Research into developing farming methods for giant clams at the ICLARM Coastal Aquaculture Centre in the Solomon Islands has proceeded in parallel with a program of village-based trials. This program is an attempt to involve the envisaged recipients of technology at a very early stage. The considerations, design and initial implementation of this program from 1988 to 1990 are described in this article. The expansion, impact and results of the program will be the subject of future publications by the scientists involved.

Developing a health and wellbeing platform in a living lab setting: An action design research study

The world’s population is rapidly aging, which affects healthcare budgets, resources, pensions and social security systems. Although most older adults prefer to live independently in their own home as long as possible, smart living solutions to support elderly people at home did not reach mass adoption, yet. To support people age-in-place a Living Lab is established in one of the metropolitan areas in the Netherlands. The main goal of the Living Lab is to develop an online health and wellbeing platform that matches service providers, caretakers and users and to implement that platform in one particular city district. In this paper we describe the narrative of the action design research process that will give researchers insight how to deal with complex multi-stakeholder design projects as well as cooperation issues to develop an artifact in a real-life setting.

Action design research: a comparison with canonical action research and design science

This research in progress paper addresses the IS issue in relation to conducting relevant research while keeping academic rigor. In particular, it contributes to the ongoing academic conversation around the investigation on how to incor-porate action in design science research. In this document the philosophical underpinnings of the recently proposed methodology called Action Design Re-search [1] are derived, outlined and integrated into Burrel and Morgan’s Par-adigmatic Framework (1979)[6]. The results so far show how Action Design Research can be considered as a particular case of Design Science Research (rather than a methodology closely related to Action Research) although they can assume two different epistemological positions. From these philosophical perspectives, future works will involve the inclusion of actual research projects using the three different methodologies. The final goal is to outline and structure the divergences and similarities of Action Design Research with Design Science Research and Canonical Action Research.