PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH AS A MODEL FOR CONDUCTING FAMILY RESEARCH

We discuss a participatory action research (PAR) approach to conductin g family research. We conceptualize participatory action research as a collaborative process among researchers and stakeholders throughout t he entire research sequence. Based on our five years of implementing P AR, we describe potential PAR advantages and challenges that need to b e documented in future research. We propose a model of PAR implementat ion levels including the options of family members as research leaders and researchers as ongoing advisors, researchers and family members a s coresearchers, and researchers as leaders and family members as ongo ing advisors. Finally, we discuss key implementation issues (i.e., def ining stakeholders to include in the PAX process, maximizing benefits and minimizing drawbacks of diverse expertise, and addressing logistic al considerations) with suggestions for effectively addressing them.