Lights, Camera...Action Research

It is dress rehearsal. Along with 20 Filipino domestic workers, a handful of Filipino American cast members, director, lights person, media and prop staff, I walk into the theater at Hunter College. Our light technician turns on the lights on the stage to see if they work and we take in a few seconds to look at one another to see if Diwang Pinay, the play about the transnational lives of domestic workers in NYC, is actually happening.

We all walk around the stage to inspect our new home for the weekend. Our light technician turns the lights off again. The stage and the theater is blacked out. She turns it on again. And as I look around at the cast members around me, I am tickled to laughter as all of the women and cast members are giving their best on-stage face, complete with drama, off-to-the-distance stares, pouts and magic in their eyes. We all realize we're doing the same face and burst out in laughter.

This play, a product of years of participatory research, was the action component of the project. For 2 years, the lives of Filipino women migrants working as domestic workers in New York City who are active in families in the Philippines was the topic of a participatory action research (PAR) project in New York City. Along with the Filipino migrants, 1.5 and second generation Filipino Americans who were youth, students and professionals in NYC also took part in learning how to do research, conducting kuwentohan or talk-story sessions, and then producing a play as a form of disseminating findings. 

The article, "Ang Ating Iisang Kuwento" Our Collective Story: Migrant Filipino Workers and Participatory Action Research, explores the dynamics in creating new methods through participatory action research. The article considers Filipino cultural values of kuwentohan and theater as epistemologically significant to Filipino women as they conduct research on the institutions and social forces that produce their transnational families.

With 5,000 Filipinos leaving the Philippines daily, a little than over half of them being women, this story of separation and migration will continue. The women who experience the pain of migration and who come together to hold one another, must be at the forefront of telling their stories. This article explores how scholars can partner migrants and community members to take on the task. Dr. Tere Castillo Burguete writes, “Migrants are commonly a vulnerable population, and women are part of that as an even more exposed group. It is necessary to hear their stories. It is important to know about the political potential of PAR. That is the challenge that the author of this article undertook, i.e., to pave a portion of the long road that still needs to be traveled."

This article is a one of a number of ways the findings of this PAR project is being disseminated. As you read through the article, view pictures and clips of the play, I want to continue thinking about these questions: How do PAR researchers use play, creativity and artistry as a research method? What role does art play in our research projects, for our research collaborators, for us as scholars? What can social science learn from performance? And vice versa?

I look forward to continuing this discussion with you. Please feel free to offer comments or questions below. 
Valerie Francisco

FREE access to this article for the next 30 days is available through this link. 

A book for all stages: a review of Building in Research and Evaluation: Human Inquiry for Living Systems

In this post, Dian Chase, a PhD Candidate at Oregon Health and Science University, reviews Dr. Yoland Wadsworth's book, Building in Research and Evaluation: Human Inquiry for Living Systems.

 Yoland Wadsworth (2010).  Building in research and evaluation: human inquiry for living systems.  Action Research Press, Hawthorn and Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

What questions do you have about participatory research?  As a student, researcher and teacher, I have many.  From the why to the wherefore, from abstract to the concrete, Dr. Wadsworth’s book provides insights and answers.  This is a book with many purposes.  Bringing together concepts from systems theory, traditional inquiry, organizational behavior, and quality improvement, this book provides an intellectual basis for action resource.  Using metaphor (the inquiry cycle as a house was especially apt), checklists, and concrete examples, the concepts are accessible and useful for students, researchers and instructors.  And by her evident passion for working with, rather than on, people, Dr. Wadsworth reminds us of our motivation to pursue this work.

Like a map, this book provides a road map for meaningful inquiry; like a mirror, it reminds us of the need to build time for reflection into our planning rather than proceeding blindly down a pathway.  From that reflection, we draw insights that guide our actions.  By asking questions, we can broaden our insights and include others in our journey.  By focusing on fixing problems, we often create other problems.  By understanding the processes, we can create change that is meaningful and lasting.  This book is a guide to doing just that.

This book will be useful to me in many ways.  As a student, it helps tie together concepts and provide a framework for understanding.  As a researcher, the reminders, checklists and conceptual cycles (would that things would ever go linearly) provide touchstones for where my focus should be.  And as a teacher, the examples will help me make participatory research come alive.  It will have a place on my desk, rather than my bookshelf – a work for all stages of growth rather than a one time read.

Dian Chase

You can get more information about Dr. Wadsworth's book at the book's website. This book can be found in Europe,  UK, USA, and the Middle East at the publisher's site right here and in Australia, NZ, and Asia from the publisher at this link.  We'd be interested to hear your thoughts and comments as well!