Participatory Research

"This implies breaking the monopoly of knowledge in the hands of the elites--i.e. giving the people their right to assert their existing knowledge to start with, giving them the opportunity and assistance, if needed, to advance their self-knowledge through self-enquiry as the basis of their action, and to review themselves and their experiences from action to further advance their self-knowledge. In this reflection-action-reflection of the people, professional knowledge can be useful only in a dialogue with people's knowledge on an equal footing through which both can be enriched, and not in the arrogance of assumed superior wisdom. Altering thus the relations of knowledge ... is a central commitment of what is being termed as 'participatory research'."

(Breaking the Monopoly of Knowledge, Anisur Rahman)