Participatory Research Methodologies: Development and Post-Disaster/Conflict Reconstruction

Participatory research methodologies have, since the 1970s, been used as a tool to garner accurate information about communities in which development practitioners operate. However, their usefulness as a collection of research techniques has been evident in academic disciplines such as politics, sociology, anthropology and economics, among others. This useful text assesses the use of participatory methods as a research tool in the contexts of development and reconstruction after conflict and disasters through identifying the cross-cutting themes and establishing a comparative lessons learned framework that can help inform future uses of them, both for practitioners and researchers. More importantly, rather than adopting a prescriptive perspective, this book provides a critical analysis of such methodologies. Specifically, the reader will benefit from the bringing together of the experiences of those who utilise participatory research methods in different countries and contexts, and from different academic and practitioner perspectives.