Participatory Research: A Tool for Extension Educators

Given their positions in communities across the United States, Extension educators are poised to have meaningful partnerships with the communities they serve. This article presents a case for the use of participatory research, which is a departure from more conventional forms of research based on objectivity, researcher distance, and social control over the research process. Participatory research embraces principles such as equitable relations between the researcher and study participants, the production of knowledge, and reflexivity. This article details these principles in more detail and offers some practical applications for Extension educators