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About Our Research
Power differences exist and, within this economic period, grow. They are material and ideological, formal and formal, and they both inhibit and complicate participatory processes. Power is expressed within physical environments through human activity that occurs inside of structural and organisational hierarchies. It is we, human beings, who generate and reproduce power relations through regulations and policies designed to apply those regulations within our service development and delivery.
At the same time, it is also we who can interrogate, challenge and even alter those power relations within our individual and group interactions – but, first of all, we have to decide that we want to make changes happen.
RAPAR began to reach the national media with our research about what was happening to people seeking asylum from both Iraq (2003) and Somalia (2004) and to their local communities here. However, during 2004-5, RAPAR faced highly concentrated - and highly placed - efforts to stop its work in its tracks; see 2011 University of Oxford PhD thesis by Joshua Hatton entitled How and why did migration and refugee studies (MARS) facilitate migration control? (click here for pdf) particularly section 4.3. on power and practice (pp.254-278).
Sustaining RAPAR’s commitment to ‘participation as equals’ within our practice demands that, as practitioners ourselves, we continuously reflect-in-action. In our approach with participants, we aim to model the very attitudes, behaviours and actions that enable participatory learning to begin and grow: do as I do, not as I say you should do! RAPAR's work led to the publishing of the first ever book anywhere in the world on Doing Research With Refugees. This included a set of guidelines funded by the ESRC. With our commissioners and participants, we co-construct and then sustain temporarily safe environments within which to:
At the same time, it is also we who can interrogate, challenge and even alter those power relations within our individual and group interactions – but, first of all, we have to decide that we want to make changes happen.
RAPAR began to reach the national media with our research about what was happening to people seeking asylum from both Iraq (2003) and Somalia (2004) and to their local communities here. However, during 2004-5, RAPAR faced highly concentrated - and highly placed - efforts to stop its work in its tracks; see 2011 University of Oxford PhD thesis by Joshua Hatton entitled How and why did migration and refugee studies (MARS) facilitate migration control? (click here for pdf) particularly section 4.3. on power and practice (pp.254-278).
Sustaining RAPAR’s commitment to ‘participation as equals’ within our practice demands that, as practitioners ourselves, we continuously reflect-in-action. In our approach with participants, we aim to model the very attitudes, behaviours and actions that enable participatory learning to begin and grow: do as I do, not as I say you should do! RAPAR's work led to the publishing of the first ever book anywhere in the world on Doing Research With Refugees. This included a set of guidelines funded by the ESRC. With our commissioners and participants, we co-construct and then sustain temporarily safe environments within which to:
- unpack the challenges together: What are they? Where are they coming from? What about them do we want to be different?
- make explicit our individual and collective, professional and personal, relationships to these challenges: Whose interests do they serve? Why do we need to tackle these challenges?
- explore what we want to do - and can do - to work around them and through them to reach our goals.
Methodologies
Our Participatory Action Research approach (the 'PAR' of 'RAPAR') combines the principles of Action Research first expressed by Lewin (1946) with those of Action Learning, as explained by Revans in his ABC of Action Learning (1998). Lewin asserts that ways of doing action research - as opposed to purely academic research - should be consciously developed so that constructive changes can take place in the real world during the life of the research itself. Revans focuses on the inseparability of action and learning and he identifies that participation in action learning processes is “the child, not of power, but of communal need" (1976).
However, becoming able to participate in culturally sensitive ways is vital. In RAPAR we adapt the techniques developed through participatory rural appraisal in ‘developing’ countries and the modifications of that approach which have been explored through asset based community development in the ‘developed’ world.
People participate when they realise that they have to if they want positive changes to take place. Ideally, that participation should include representatives of all the different groups that are involved in the thing that needs to change.
However, becoming able to participate in culturally sensitive ways is vital. In RAPAR we adapt the techniques developed through participatory rural appraisal in ‘developing’ countries and the modifications of that approach which have been explored through asset based community development in the ‘developed’ world.
People participate when they realise that they have to if they want positive changes to take place. Ideally, that participation should include representatives of all the different groups that are involved in the thing that needs to change.
Research Guidelines
What is RAPAR Research?
An approach to finding out about any issue by involving the people who are affected by it, throughout the research process. These people can include clients and practitioners as well as managers, policy writers and policy ratifiers.
Who is the RAPAR Research Team?
Interested in developing research with and about, not for or on, vulnerable people, we range from highly academically qualified researchers to deeply experienced and rooted, community based researchers.
Women and men, ranging in age from our early 20’s to approaching 60, we come from a wide range of different cultural, religious and social backgrounds and, between us, we can speak and write in a number of different languages.
Some of us have particular expertise in research that is transcultural. Others are very experienced in research that is action-orientated.
Our research skills, abilities, experiences, and networks mean that, in practice, RAPAR can research about issues that involve people who may be very hard to reach and, themselves, involved in very complex issues.
How does RAPAR Research work?
We centralise the people who are directly affected by the issue under study, be they the subjects of that issue - for example young people excluded from education or families exposed to violent attack - or workers who are grappling with that issue. RAPAR enables their involvement in designing, developing and delivering research and then, with the findings gathered, deciding what findings are most important for what they can tell us, and how those findings can and should be communicated.
We very much enjoy working in collaborative research partnerships with other organizations and are always open to approaches for joint bidding.
For further information, or to discuss an idea, please Contact Us.
RAPAR Research
Research capacities:
An approach to finding out about any issue by involving the people who are affected by it, throughout the research process. These people can include clients and practitioners as well as managers, policy writers and policy ratifiers.
Who is the RAPAR Research Team?
Interested in developing research with and about, not for or on, vulnerable people, we range from highly academically qualified researchers to deeply experienced and rooted, community based researchers.
Women and men, ranging in age from our early 20’s to approaching 60, we come from a wide range of different cultural, religious and social backgrounds and, between us, we can speak and write in a number of different languages.
Some of us have particular expertise in research that is transcultural. Others are very experienced in research that is action-orientated.
Our research skills, abilities, experiences, and networks mean that, in practice, RAPAR can research about issues that involve people who may be very hard to reach and, themselves, involved in very complex issues.
How does RAPAR Research work?
We centralise the people who are directly affected by the issue under study, be they the subjects of that issue - for example young people excluded from education or families exposed to violent attack - or workers who are grappling with that issue. RAPAR enables their involvement in designing, developing and delivering research and then, with the findings gathered, deciding what findings are most important for what they can tell us, and how those findings can and should be communicated.
We very much enjoy working in collaborative research partnerships with other organizations and are always open to approaches for joint bidding.
For further information, or to discuss an idea, please Contact Us.
RAPAR Research
- Lived experience: discrimination, human rights violation, oppression
Research capacities:
- Extensive language resources.
- Particularly good at connecting with exclusively vulnerable.
- Mediate trans-cultural flows.
- Able to deliver qualitative/quantitative methodologies.
- Particular expertise around action oriented action research.
- Very interested in relationship between theory and practise.
Research publication archive
RAPAR is a researching organisation. Since our inception we have published articles, book chapters, research reports and books about our participatory action research. Click here to read more.
