ABSTRACT

As wider social and societal changes have led to moves towards equality as a response to a better understanding of inequalities, ethical considerations in research are now more consciously focussed on power dynamics. As a consequence, participatory research methods have gained traction. Simultaneously, artistic and creative methods are used within such projects to such an extent that arts-based, creative research has become equated with participatory research. In this article, I draw on three case studies to pursue three arguments: Firstly, I argue that the current understanding of community-based participatory action research is not the only potential for participatory methods, and indeed should not be. Depending on the design participatory research needs to be seen as a continuum from being minimally participatory to being fully egalitarian, whereby realistically most participatory research designs are situated somewhere in between the two with the level of participation changing throughout the process. Secondly, I argue that the employment of arts-based methods for data collection or dissemination does not automatically translate into a participatory research design. Thirdly, I argue that for ethical reasons researchers should not aim for fully egalitarian research to maintain participants’ interests and wellbeing.

摘要

随着更广泛的社会和社会变化导致向平等迈进，作为对不平等更好理解的回应，研究中的伦理考虑现在更加有意识地关注权力动态。因此，参与式研究方法受到了关注。同时，在此类项目中使用了艺术和创造性方法，以至于以艺术为基础的创造性研究已经等同于参与性研究。在本文中，我利用三个案例研究来寻求三个论点：首先，我认为当前对基于社区的参与性行动研究的理解并不是参与性方法的唯一潜力，而且确实不应该是。根据设计，参与式研究需要被视为从最低限度参与到完全平等的连续统一体，实际上，大多数参与性研究设计位于两者之间，参与程度在整个过程中都在变化。其次，我认为使用基于艺术的数据收集或传播方法不会自动转化为参与式研究设计。第三，我认为出于伦理原因，研究人员不应该以完全平等主义的研究为目标来维护参与者的利益和福祉。