On the 1st June I had a consultancy with Participatory Action Research specialist Kjetil Hjørnevik. We talked about the basic concepts of the methodology, the cycles of action – reflection – action – reflection, and so on, also how these stages sometimes blend into each other.
Kjetil reminded me about keeping it open as much as possible, to allow the research to emerge from the participants’ actions themselves. But, that it’s also ok to have some predefined parameters, if that’s what is best for the project.
Specially about my research, Kjetil commented on the potential to have the artistic work as knowledge itself.
Then, since I had baby Louise with me, and she was so curious about everything in Kjetil’s office, we joked about how a baby can teach us perfectly about Participatory Action Research: they see something, they go and investigate, explore in different ways, then they see something else and go carry on the exploration, and repeat repeat repeat.
Babies are definitely the best researchers!