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Participatory Action Research


CVC
Enrollment is Closed

About This Course

The course’s step-by-step learning approach provides an accessible and friendly introduction to Participatory Action Research, in a nonthreatening educational environment for all participants. PAR encourages active participation of people, citizens and community members, to engage them in the production of scientific knowledge to bring about actions and changes in Society. This course is intended as a starting point to be well-trained in PAR. It does not require following a set of established or rigid steps to produce a PAR study.

What you’ll learn

Together we will learn to:

  • Identify the differences between traditional research and PAR
  • Understand how PAR benefits CBOs and the issues they face
  • Formulate the research questions, objectives and variables
  • Identify and apply appropriate study designs, methods, sampling techniques and instruments of measurement
  • Form a research team and develop a work plan
  • Collect, present, clean and analyse data
  • Write a final report complete with an abstract and executive summary
  • Abide by ethical considerations

Course Staff

Course Staff Image #1

Julia Hasbún – Research and Evaluation Consultant

Julia Hasbún has a technical degree in Psychometry and a bachelor's degree in educational psychology from the Pedro Henriquez Ureña University. As well as postgraduate studies in social research and research methodology from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and John Hopkins University respectively.

Julia has accumulated thirty-seven years working as an external consultant in evaluation and research in health care and social agencies and NGOs in Dominican Republic, English and French Caribbean and Latin America with over fifty organizations. She has worked in programs evaluating and conducting qualitative and quantitative studies in HIV/AIDS/STI, Reproductive Health, Drug Use, Education, Child labour, Migrants, Governmental institutions, Marginalized youth, Sex workers, Men having sex with men, Human Rights, Drugs Use, Gender Issues and others. She usually works with vulnerable populations.

Syllabus (week by week breakdown)

  1. Introduction
  2. Getting started in PAR
  3. Research Questions, Aims and Objectives of the Study
  4. Designing and Applying the Suitable Methodology in PAR
  5. Sampling in PAR
  6. Instruments of Measurement in PAR
  7. Data Collection
  8. Data Analysis
  9. The final written report in PAR

Frequently Asked Questions

Am I suitable to take this course?

This is an introductory course for Community-Based Organisations, so no previous knowledge or training is necessary. There are only three requirements for participants in this course:

  • Basic reading and comprehension abilities
  • Writing skills
  • A desire to learn about PAR and what it offers community groups

Is this course free?

All courses in the CVC Academy catalogue are free, as they are meant to serve vulnerable populations and those who work with and for them. The goal is to offer accessible learning opportunities to gain knowledge and develop useful skills so they can improve the quality of their own lives.

Does this course offer a certificate?

Yes, all courses in the CVC Academy catalog offer a certificate upon successful completion of all mandatory lectures and graded exercises.

What can I use this certificate for?

You can:

  • Add this certificate to your CV
  • Use it as prerequisite to access other CVC Academy advanced tracks
  • Be considered to participate in certain CVC programmes
  • With this particular certificate you gain access to participate for CVC’s research awards