Methods
Participatory action research, community-based participatory research, photovoice, participatory mapping and the typologies used to judge how participatory a project really is.
- Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR): The Nine Principles and How They Work in Practice
The principles of community-based participatory research as set out by Barbara Israel and colleagues from 1998 onwards, what each one means for a real partnership, how CBPR differs from ordinary community-placed research, and how funders such as NIH and PCORI approach it.
- How Participatory Is Your Project? Arnstein's Ladder and Other Participation Typologies
Sherry Arnstein's 1969 ladder of citizen participation explained rung by rung, with the later typologies researchers use to judge participation (Hart's ladder for children, the IAP2 spectrum, Biggs, and the contributory-collaborative-co-created models of citizen science) and how to use them honestly.
- Participatory Action Research: Origins, the Research Cycle and How to Run a Project
What participatory action research (PAR) is, where it comes from (Lewin, Freire, Fals-Borda), how the plan-act-observe-reflect cycle works in practice, who does what in a PAR team, and the common pitfalls, with sources.
- Participatory Mapping: How Communities Map Their Own Places, From Sketch Maps to GIS
A practical guide to participatory mapping and participatory GIS: where the methods come from, the main techniques (sketch maps, transect walks, scale models, GPS and open mapping), how to run a mapping workshop, and the ethical risks of putting community knowledge on a map.
- Photovoice: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Participatory Photography Method
How photovoice works: its origins in Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris's work in the 1990s, the three goals of the method, a step-by-step project plan, the SHOWeD discussion questions, consent and ethics when photographing people, and how to take the results to decision-makers.




