I do not separate my scientific inquiry from my life. For me it is really a quest for life, to understand life and to create what I call living knowledge—knowledge which is valid for the people with whom I work and for myself. Marja­Liisa Swantz Knowledge is always gained through action and for action. From this starting point, to question the validity of social knowledge is to question, not ho...

In this paper I analyse the potential that participatory action research holds for educating pre-service teachers to become more critically reflective and socially conscious. I also describe the rationale for and process of engaging pre-service teachers in their teacher education programme. Involving these candidate teachers in participatory action research (PAR) projects may provide opportunit...

When dealing with environmental plans, participation is considered crucial but hard work still has to be done in order to make participatory knowledge really operative. Tools and approaches to knowledge management are required that make participatory knowledge, which is produced, shared, and used along the planning action, available to the action itself. Starting from an experience of participa...

Background: Pre-dialysis education that leads to decisions on treatment has traditionally been ad hoc, with programmes lacking a theoretical or evidence basis. A multidisciplinary and service user participatory action research study developed and delivered a self-efficacy, theory based pre-dialysis education intervention. A core principle of action research methodology is critical reflection. A...

As preceding chapters have highlighted, many examples exist of the varying ways in which Participatory Action Researchers work closely with groups to identify needs, plan action research projects, consult and then strive collectively to ‘action’ their findings. The three of us are all involved to varying degrees in such participatory activities, we would define ourselves not as just as action r...