Structured sessions where participants make, map or discuss together, shaping the research as well as supplying data.
- +Fits Feminist Epistemology, Constructivist Epistemology, Pragmatist Epistemology
- –Tension with Positivist Epistemology
Key thinkers: Robert Chambers, Paulo Freire, Elizabeth Sanders
The longer story
Participatory workshops bring people together to generate research data collaboratively. Not focus groups (discussion) but active making—mapping, prototyping, scenario-building, collective design. Participants are co-researchers, not subjects. Methods draw on participatory design, community development, and arts-based approaches. The process surfaces knowledge that individuals couldn't articulate alone. Power dynamics matter: who sets the agenda? Whose voices dominate? When done well, workshops generate data while building relationships and capacity.