Participatory Research Mapping Tool
Who is it for?
Researchers and project managers
Overview:
The tool aims to support researchers to make decisions about: if and how participatory research practices are possible; what role they will serve; and how they might lead to influence and impact. It uses our project framework of space, voice;, audience and power, agency and action (see ‘Understanding Participation’ section of toolkit for more information) as a structure for reflection and planning. It was developed as a means of creating some cohesion across participatory research activities that spanned diverse work streams, research sites and teams. Differing resources, partners, and research questions also all create different conditions and determine what type of participation might be possible. Using this shared framework allowed us to recognise different roles participation may have within our research while retaining a shared understanding of its purpose.
The tool also aims to help people think beyond broad rhetoric about doing ‘participatory research’ and define plans precisely. This can help others to better understand the work and provide a clear overview of the limits and potential of participation, power sharing and influence in our research.
Key strengths:
Key challenges:
For the tool to work well it would benefit from being kept under regularly review. When teams are busy this type of planning can be hard to prioritise. Having a participation lead to take responsibility for this might help use the documents more effectively in the future.
“loads of preparation went in to make like, nine tenths of the work happen beforehand” (Researcher)
“It went well, I would say. It was it was interesting to see again, how from the design or plan to the implementation of a plan. There’s always like a lot of extra challenges, a lot of extra work, but in the end, it was I think it was wonderful. And it was a it was a growing experience in a way.” (Researcher)