ASTK18489U Participatory Methods in Social Science Research

Volume 2026/2027
Education

Full-degree students enrolled at the Department of Political Science, UCPH

  • MSc in Political Science
  • MSc in Social Science
  • MSc in Security Risk Management
  • Bachelor in Political Science

 

Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH 

  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology 
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Economics
  • Master Programme in Social Data Science

 

The course is open to:

  • Exchange and Guest students from abroad
  • Credit students from Danish Universities
  • Open University students
Content

Discussions of how to democratize and decolonize academia are all the rage right now, and often participatory research, action research and citizen engagement are seen as some of the solutions. Especially when our research centers around marginalized communities and social movements. Participatory and action research approaches can be used within many different fields and faculties, and the course aims to demonstrate both the versatility and the limits of these approaches within the social sciences.

But what does it mean to do democratize knowledge production? And what does it mean to do participatory research? What does participation even mean, and for what purpose do we ask people to give us their time?

This course aims to give the students a better understanding of what it means to conduct participatory and action-focused research, that does not only serve the needs of academia, but also the needs of communities. However, such approaches are not perfect, and this course will also equip the students to critically assess participatory and action focused research. After this course, the students will be familiar with the historical and theoretical background of these approaches and be prepared to engage in such research, and assess whether it is feasible.

We start with the critiques of the university which inspired these approaches, from feminist, decolonial and indigenous scholars (and scholars who are all of the above), before we move onto looking at the literature behind the different approaches and their critiques. We end the course by looking at different concrete examples of projects, classic examples and ones that might challenge assumptions about how participatory or action focused research looks. Lastly, we will discuss the ethical dilemmas that we as researchers can face in participatory and action research, and when not to choose participatory or action research.

The aim is for the course itself to be shaped by the students, both to adhere to the ethics of participatory approaches and create meta-learning opportunities. This is why some of the modules and parts of the curriculum is left open, as these are meant to be decided by the students in the course to adapt it to their interests and be the most useful in their future academic careers.

Lastly, the students are tasked with, individually or in groups, to come up with fictional projects, and the final paper will be an abbreviated research proposal with a focus on methodology. Throughout the course the students will work on their paper, and they will receive feedback both from the lecturers and from their peers on their work. The students will be required to give short presentation at the end of the course, on the development of their project throughout the course, to equip them better for oral presentations of their academic work.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Knowledge of the historical and theoretical background of participatory- and action-focused research approaches
  • Knowledge of the different ways of doing participatory- and action-focused research
  • Basic knowledge of how different social science methods can fit within participatory- and action-focused research

 

Skills:

  • Assessing whether PAR approaches are right for a specific project
  • Initiating a PAR project
  • Assessing which methods are right for a PAR project
  • Critically assessing their own role as a researcher within a PAR project
  • Critically assessing power dynamics within PAR projects

 

Competences:

  • Planning participatory projects
  • Critically assessing participatory processes

The reading list has been abbreviated to fit the website. Full version with all the readings will be made available for enrolled students.

 

Module 7 and 13: Field visits and/or guest lecturers will bedecided together during the course.

Module 12 and 14: Additional readings and additional examples will be added based on the interests of the students.

 

Module 1: Why do we do research?

Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Otago University Press, chapter 2-3, chapter 5-7

Harding, S. (2011). Interrogating the Modernity vs. Tradition Contrast: Whose Science and Technology for Whose Social Progress? In H. E. Grasswick (Ed.), Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge (pp. 85–108). Springer Netherlands.

Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409–427.

Cox, L. (2019). Pedagogy from and for Social Movements: A Conversation Between Theory and Practice. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 30(1), 70–88.

 

Module 2: Decolonial and indigenous critiques

Mbembe, A. (2015). Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive [Lecture].

Mignolo, W. D. (2011). Epistemic Disobedience and the Decolonial Option: A Manifesto. Transmodernity, 1(2), 44–66.

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40.

Grosfoguel, R. (2013). The Structure of Knowledge in Westernized Universities: Epistemic Racism/Sexism and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long 16th Century. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, 11(1).

Owusu-Ansah, F. E., & Mji, G. (2013). African Indigenous Knowledge and research. African Journal of Disability, 2(1), Art. #30.

 

Module 3: Feminist critiques

Anderson, E. (2004). Uses of Value Judgments in Science: A General Argument, with Lessons from a Case Study of Feminist Research on Divorce. Hypatia, 19(1), 1–24.

Dalmiya, & Alcoff, L. (1992). Are ‘Old Wives’ Tales’ Justified? In L. Alcoff & E. Potter (Eds.), Feminist Epistemologies (Thinking Gender) (pp. 217–244). Routledge.

Wylie, A. (2003). Why Standpoint Matters. In S. Harding (Ed.), The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader (pp. 339–351). Routledge.

hooks, bell. (1991). Theory as Liberatory Practice. Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, 4(1), 1–12.

Harding, S. (2008). Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities (1st edition). Duke University Press, chapter 4 and 6

 

Module 4: Action research

Lewin, K. (1946). Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), 34–46.

Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2005). The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty. In SAGE Publications (CA). SAGE Publications., chapter 1-2, 5

Tallbear, K. (2014). Standing With and Speaking as Faith: A Feminist-Indigenous Approach to Inquiry. Journal of Research Practice, 10(2), 1–7.

Morell, M. F. (2009). Action research: Mapping the nexus of research and political action. Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements, 1(1), 21–44.

 

Module 5: Participatory Action Research

Fals Borda, O. (1999). Kinsey Dialogue Series #1: The Origins and Challenges of Participatory Action Research. Participatory Research & Practice, 10(1), iv–30.

Wakeford, T., & Rodriguez, J. S. (2018). Participatory Action Research: Towards A More Fruitful Knowledge. University of Bristol and the AHRC Connected, p. 11-44

Pain, R., Kindon, S., & Kesby, M. (2007). Participatory Action Research: Making a difference to theory, practice and action. In S. Kindon, R. Pain, & M. Kesby (Eds.), Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods: Connecting people, participation and place (pp. 26–32). Routledge.’

Kindon, S., Pain, R., & Kesby, M. (2007). Participatory Action Research: Origins, approaches and methods. In S. Kindon, R. Pain, & M. Kesby (Eds), Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods. Routledge.

 

Module 6: Critiquesof participatory research and action research approaches

Janes, J. E. (2016). Democratic encounters? Epistemic privilege, power, and community-based participatory action research. Action Research, 14(1), 72–87.

Openjuru, G. L., Jaitli, N., Tandon, R., & Hall, B. (2015). Despite knowledge democracy and community-based participatory action research: Voices from the global south and excluded north still missing. Action Research, 13(3), 219–229.

Milgroom, J., & Claeys, P. (2025). Participation is not the answer: Epistemic violence and authoritarian practices in conservation-forced displacement. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 52(1), 74–100.

Guishard, M. (2009). The False Paths, the Endless Labors, the Turns Now This Way and Now That: Participatory Action Research, Mutual Vulnerability, and the Politics of Inquiry. The Urban Review, 41(1), 85–105.

 

Module 7: Field visit/Guest lecturer

 

Module 8: The role of the participants

Choudry, A., & Kapoor, D. (2010). Learning from the Ground Up: Global Perspectives on Social Movements and Knowledge Production. In A. Choudry & D. Kapoor (Eds.), Learning from the Ground Up: Global Perspectives on Social Movements and Knowledge Production (pp. 1–13). Palgrave Macmillan.

Arribas Lozano, A. (2018). Knowledge co-production with social movement networks. Redefining grassroots politics, rethinking research. Social Movement Studies, 17(4), 451–463.

Casas-Cortés, M. I., Osterweil, M., & Powell, D. E. (2008). Blurring boundaries: Recognizing knowledge-practices in the study of social movements. Anthropological Quarterly, 81(1), 17–58.

Thapar-Björkert, S., & Henry, M. (2004). Reassessing the research relationship: Location, position and power in fieldwork accounts. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(5), 363–381.

 

Module 9: The role of the researcher

Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2005). The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty. In SAGE Publications (CA). SAGE Publications., chapter 3

Muhammad, M., Wallerstein, N., Sussman, A. L., Avila, M., Belone, L., & Duran, B. (2015). Reflections on Researcher Identity and Power: The Impact of Positionality on Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Processes and Outcomes. Critical Sociology, 41(7–8), 1045–1063.

Anderson, C., & McLachlan, S. M. (2016). Transformative research as knowledge mobilization: Transmedia, bridges and layers. Action Research, 14(3), 295–317.

Pulido, L. (2008). 13. FAQs: Frequently (Un)Asked Questions about Being a Scholar Activist. In C. R. Hale (Ed.), Engaging Contradictions: Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship (pp. 341–366). University of California Press.

 

Module10: Challenges and failures

Sterling, E. J., Zellner, M., Jenni, K. E., Leong, K., Glynn, P. D., BenDor, T. K., Bommel, P., Hubacek, K., Jetter, A. J., Jordan, R., Olabisi, L. S., Paolisso, M., & Gray, S. (2019). Try, try again: Lessons learned from success and failure in participatory modeling. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 7, 1–13.

Wathne, S. (2026). Success in failure: Doing Participatory Action Research during the Covid-19 pandemic, Forskning og forandring, 9, 1, p. 66-87

Dawson, M. C., & Sinwell, L. (2012). Ethical and Political Challenges of Participatory Action Research in the Academy: Reflections on Social Movements and Knowledge Production in South Africa. Social Movement Studies, 11(2), 177–191.

 

Module 11:Real world examples and methods

Bezner Kerr, R., Young, S. L., Young, C., Santoso, M. V., Magalasi, M., Entz, M., Lupafya, E., Dakishoni, L., Morrone, V., Wolfe, D., & Snapp, S. S. (2019). Farming for change: Developing a participatory curriculum on agroecology, nutrition, climate change and social equity in Malawi and Tanzania. Agriculture and Human Values, 36(3), 549–566.

MASIPAG. (2013). About MASIPAG. Masipag.Org. https:/​/​masipag.org/​about-masipag/​

Brem-Wilson, J., & Nicholson, P. (2017). La Vía Campesina and academia: A snapshot. In People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective (Ed.), Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system. Coventry University.

 

Module 12: Real world examples and methods

Cahil, based on work with the Fed up Honeys, C. (2010). Participatory data analysis. In S. Kindon & M. Kesby (Eds.), Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods: Connecting people, participation and place (pp. 181–187). Routledge.

Edwards, H. A., Monroe, D. Y., & Mullins, C. D. (2020). Six ways to foster community-engaged research during times of societal crises. Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, 9(16), 1101–1104.

Fenge, L.-A. (2010). Striving towards Inclusive Research: An Example of Participatory Action Research with Older Lesbians and Gay Men. The British Journal of Social Work, 40(3), 878–894.

Redman-MacLaren, M., & Mills, J. (2015). Transformational Grounded Theory: Theory, Voice, and Action. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14(3), 1–12.

 

Module 13: Field visit/Guest lecturer

 

Module 14: Presentations, evaluation

Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2005). The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty. In SAGE Publications (CA). SAGE Publications., chapter 4

 

 

 

The course is designed to be project-based teaching and will have both lectures and student participation. The students will work on their final paper throughout the course, supported by specific prompts, and will give each other feedback in groups. The students will be divided into these groups by the teacher.
The students are expected to participate actively and will have to work collaboratively in each lesson toward their final paper. Students are encouraged to base their projects on previous or upcoming work.
Moreover, in their groups the students will be expected to be responsible for a part of the course. This can be by for example inviting a guest lecturer, directing a class discussion on a certain topic or text, giving a short presentation on a certain topic or text, deciding which other fields to read examples of PAR from, or suggesting a field trip to a project, ect. In this way the course aims to also be participatory and be shaped by the students.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 123
  • Exercises
  • 15
  • Exam
  • 40
  • Total
  • 206
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Free written assignment
See the section regarding exam forms in the program curriculum for more information on guidelines and scope.
Aid
All aids allowed except Generative AI
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

Winter 2026/27

Re-exam

In the semester where the course takes place: Free written assignment

In subsequent semesters: Free written assignment

Criteria for exam assesment

Meet the subject's knowledge, skill and competence criteria, as described in the goal description, which demonstrates the minimally acceptable degree of fulfillment of the subject's learning outcome.

Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings

Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings

Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner