Blog: Developing a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology with those in the care of the SPS

Co-production doesn’t just happen, people that are most excluded from decision making process often need supported to build their skills and confidence so that they can participate. This blog from Matt Maycock shares a project by SPS where participants are supported to gain skills around participatory research.

As an ethnographer by training I have always been very conscious of power dynamics within the research process and have consistently tried to ensure the research I have been involved with is as participatory as possible. For example, during the fieldwork during my PhD in far-west Nepal (published earlier this year), I used a range of participatory methods to engage with the people I lived with. Furthermore, I have revisited the same field site over a number of years in order to be able to feedback the insights from this research.  

In my current role (Learning and Development Researcher at the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) College) I am working on a range of projects to improve the evidence base around the impacts that the SPS has, with a focus on staff learning and development. This includes working with colleagues to develop an innovative approach to Participatory Action Research (PAR) with those in the care of the SPS. PAR is an approach that generates research insights withpeople, as opposed to research undertaken on people. Following the enactment of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, it has become commonplace for Scottish Government departments to seek to empower communities through promoting greater influence on policy and practice, through a range of participatory approaches. PAR is a collaborative methodology used in many user-focused environments such as health or education, although it is infrequently used within prisons. 

Within the UK, there are limited examples of PAR methodologies adapted for prison settings. Of these, the Inside-Out model led by Dr Kate O'Brien (Durham University) is sector-leading. This approach has resulted in a number of research ‘think-tanks’ composed of people in custody working on a range of research projects. Within Scotland, analysis of submissions to the SPS Research Access Ethics Committee indicate that there have been no research projects (either internal or external) that have utilised PAR within the SPS estate between 2012-2016. 

Within this context, the SPS College is currently piloting PAR methodology, developed specifically with, and for, those in the care of the SPS. This PAR model utilises the best evidence available. Professor Michelle Fine (Distinguished Professor, CUNY) has pioneered approaches to PAR within the prison context, through sustained engagement with a group of people in custody in a women’s prison in the US. The approach that Professor Fine has developed provides the empirical and theoretical underpinning for this project. The SPS College is developing ten-week, accredited research skills training with those in our care, in collaboration with a leading Scottish University. Through this collaboration, training will be adapted for the prison context and the educational background of those the care of the SPS. The course is modelled on the research skills training offered within universities to students embarking on an honours dissertation. The course will be accredited, and each participant who completes the course will receive a certificate and credits towards future study. This will be piloted and evaluated at two prisons housing with long-term men and women. Following completion of the initial training, researchers from the SPS College, with support from the prison’s Learning Centre, will regularly engage with, develop and support these communities of researchers. 

The evaluation of the pilot phase will shape any potential roll-out of research skills for those in our care across the estate. It is hoped that engagement in this project will inspire participants to continue engaging with research after they are released, through support from the SPS College researchers.  Recent, peer-reviewed research on PAR within the Arizona Department of Corrections, highlights benefits of this research approach, which go far beyond the research insights gained:

“…our incarcerated interviewers developed a sense of purpose and a sense of confidence…we know this to be true because we read it in the manuscript written entirely by the men…” (Haverkate D. L.  Et al, 2019, 10)

In spring 2020, a participatory learning event will be held with the people in our care who have completed the research skills training, in order that they can share their initial experience and any research undertaken. 

Ultimately, by developing a sensitised approach to research skills training and supporting communities of researchers in custody, this project will provide impactful research insights into the lived experience of prison and therefore improve policy development and implementation for SPS. 

Dr Matt Maycock

Learning and Development Researcher

SPS College