Participatory Research: Why and How to Involve People in Research - Paperback

by Dirk Schubotz (Author)

Going beyond a general introduction to offer a hands-on guide, Participatory Research empowers students to feel confident understanding and applying participatory methods to their research projects.

It takes an accessible approach to explaining the theory that grounds participatory research and offers students practical strategies for how and when to choose and apply a wide range of these methods.

Comprehensive yet easy to understand, this book:

- Gives students a thorough grounding in the history and theoretical issues surrounding each method

- Showcases participatory research in action through extensive on-the-ground case studies

- Highlights the importance of ethics in research design, offering guidance on dealing with sensitive considerations in participatory research

With a sustained focus on the impact of digital technologies, this book tackles head-on the need to re-assess the way we involve people in contemporary research. It is an essential guide to better research practice for students and researchers across the social sciences.

Author Biography

Dirk Schubotz grew up in Berlin and holds a Masters in Social Sciences (Dipl Soz) from Humboldt University Berlin and a PhD (Dr Phil) from Kassel University. Dirk has lived and worked in Northern Ireland since 2000. He initially held a Research Fellow post at Ulster University, before moving to Queen's University Belfast in 2003--first as a Research Fellow, and since 2012 as a lecturer/senior lecturer in Social Policy. Since 2003, Dirk has been a member of ARK (www.ark.ac.uk), directing ARK's annual Young Life and Times (YLT) study. Dirk's main research interests are children's young people's lives and their rights, sexual health, sexual and gender identities, and both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Dirk is particularly interested in participatory research methods and has undertaken a number of research projects with young people as coresearchers.