Praxis: action <-> research

In this post I will be talking about the concept of praxis. In short, praxis means action through research, and research through action (thus, the funny little <-> arrows in the title). This is one of the main ideals of participatory research, and is also underlying to participatory action research - which is PR but with a focus on action. However, that's a somewhat different approach - but the concept is still applicable here. Praxis, as we will see, is closely linked to the concept of conscientization which was discussed previously.

In contrast to mainstream scientific method, which attempts to control the effects of the researcher’s presence (as much as possible to the extent that the research is not there at all), the PR approach views the effects that a researcher has on the research intervention as something that is impossible to deny or overcome, and thus researcher’s effect on the intervention should be taken into account.

Practitioners of the PR approach suggest that just be asking a person questions, there is a possibility to invoke within them different ways to view a specific situation. This type of thinking may have a ‘reflexive effect’ on the research participators; the term reflexive  here is closely linked to the concept of conscientization, in that it refers to the way in which the research process is conducted can have an influence upon the context of the research.

Followers of the participatory research approach also believe that the entire research process is reflexive in that the theories developed and the outcomes of research projects influence our perception of what possible actions are available to take. Similarly, they believe that when participants (either an individual or members of a community) are involved in a research process they develop a self-understanding which has a possibility to affect the actions they may take.

The process involved in an individual or a community attempting to analyze their own problems is seen by practitioners of the PR approach as the beginning of a possible path to action.

Participatory researchers attempt to harness this reflexivity and use it as a vehicle of change. The interactive relationship that exists between research and action is called ‘praxis’. Thus, praxis can be defined as a form of social intervention that is at one and the same time an idea and an action.

It has been suggested that for praxis to be possible, not only must theory illuminate the lived experience of progressive social groups, it must also be illuminated by their struggles. This can be extended to suggest that PR researchers using the concept of praxis should be open-ended, non-dogmatic, informing, grounded in everyday life events, and have a desire to better those some researchers term the ‘dispossessed’.

For persons, as autonomous beings, have a moral right to participate in decisions that claim to generate knowledge about them… such a right protects them… from being managed and manipulated… the moral principle of respect for persons is most fully honoured when power is shared not only in the application… but also in the generation of knowledge. 

In the next post, I will be discussing the concepts of distaciation and empathetic understanding (also known as Verstehen).