Abstract
Action research, citizen science and participatory methods
Participatory research methods are gaining ground in qualitative research within the social sciences and policy practice. Researchers directly involve groups that are part of a social phenomenon in the research process, by allowing them to co-determine the research question or to contribute to the collection and interpretation of data. Participatory methods are applied, for example, in action research. In action research, researchers contribute to changing the social situation they investigate from within by involving participants in both the change and the research process. Participatory methods also are part of citizen science. In citizen science
researchers involve participants to collect large amounts of data or to obtain data that is difficult to access in other ways. Assessing the quality of participatory methods requires criteria that not only do justice to the quality of knowledge, such as credibility and transferability, but also to the role of the researcher in social change, such as honesty, transparency, and the
application of self-examination and self-criticism through meta-reflection.
