Making power explicit: Using values and power mapping to guide power-diverse Participatory Action Research processes

Participatory action research (PAR) is a research methodology that uses collective and endemic knowledge to inform action and address social concerns. The aim of this study was to understand how one PAR team (comprised of university and community researchers) navigated power dynamics, especially considering the team's power differentials.

Drawing upon phenomenological and case study methodologies, this qualitative study used loosely structured interviews and journaling with all members of the PAR team (N = 5) to explore explored how the team navigated power throughout the PAR process.

This study found that PAR team members navigated the PAR process using values as a constant guide, especially in negotiating power and resource realities and when distinguishing equity from equality.

This paper offers a set of power and values mapping practices which may guide power-diverse PAR teams by addressing power and values realities in their own unique and contextually bound PAR processes.