Comparative and International Education Society (44th, San

Since the mid-1970s, participatory research (PR) has provided an alternative approach to those development systems that rely on outside experts and implement predetermined solutions. PR empowers disadvantaged people by recognizing them as co-researchers working together to gather information and implement solutions to their problems. This paper provides a detailed definition of participatory research, outlines the process involved in conducting such research, and presents the application of this information in the context of a PR study conducted in northeastern Brazil. The study evaluated whether a PR study could fulfill its practical and theoretical goals when applied to an educational development project in an urban, low-income community of northeastern Brazil. Consequently, the research team raised three questions: How should this community define its educational needs?; How should it strive to locate resources associated with the previously defined needs?; and How should this initiative continue afte