Editing Participatory design (section)

== Research methodology ==
Increasingly researchers are focusing on co-design as a way of doing research, and therefore are developing parts of its research methodology. For instance, in the field of generative co-design Vandekerckhove et al.<ref name="Vandekerckhove e38350">{{Cite journal |last1=Vandekerckhove |first1=Pieter |last2=Timmermans |first2=Job |last3=Bont |first3=Antoinette de |last4=Mul |first4=Marleen de |date=2023-02-14 |title=Diversity in Stakeholder Groups in Generative Co-design for Digital Health: Assembly Procedure and Preliminary Assessment |journal=JMIR Human Factors |language=EN |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=e38350 |doi=10.2196/38350|pmid=36787170 |pmc=9975926 |s2cid=254628500 |doi-access=free }}</ref> have proposed a methodology to assemble a group of stakeholders to participate in generative co-design activities in the early innovation process. They propose first to sample a group of potential stakeholders through snowball sampling, afterwards interview these people and assess their knowledge and inference experience, lastly they propose to assemble a diverse group of stakeholders according to their knowledge and inference experience.<ref name="Vandekerckhove e38350"/>

Though not completely synonymous, research methods of Participatory Design can be defined under Participatory Research (PR):<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Vaughn |first1=Lisa M. |last2=Jacquez |first2=Farrah |date=2020-07-21 |title=Participatory Research Methods – Choice Points in the Research Process |url=https://jprm.scholasticahq.com/article/13244-participatory-research-methods-choice-points-in-the-research-process |journal=Journal of Participatory Research Methods |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |doi=10.35844/001c.13244|doi-access=free }}</ref> a term for research designs and frameworks using direct collaboration with those affected by the studied issue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cargo |first1=Margaret |last2=Mercer |first2=Shawna L. |date=2008-04-01 |title=The Value and Challenges of Participatory Research: Strengthening Its Practice |journal=Annual Review of Public Health |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=325–350 |doi=10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.091307.083824 |pmid=18173388 |issn=0163-7525|doi-access=free }}</ref> More specifically, Participatory Design has evolved from [[Community-based participatory research|Community-Based Research]] and [[Participatory action research|Participatory Action Research]] (PAR). PAR is a qualitative research methodology involving: "three types of change, including critical consciousness development of researchers and participants, improvement of lives of those participating in research, and transformation of societal 'decolonizing' research methods with the power of healing and social justice".<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Laura |last2=Currie |first2=Vanessa |last3=Saied |first3=Neveen |last4=Wright |first4=Laura |date=2020-02-01 |title=Journey to hope, self-expression and community engagement: Youth-led arts-based participatory action research |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919305535 |journal=Children and Youth Services Review |language=en |volume=109 |pages=104581 |doi=10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104581 |s2cid=213446853 |issn=0190-7409}}</ref> Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a subset of Community-Based Research aimed explicitly at including participants and empowering people to create measurable action.<ref name=":4" /> PAR practices across various disciplines, with research in Participatory Design being an application of its different qualitative methodologies. Just as PAR is often used in social sciences, for example, to investigate a person's lived experience concerning systemic structures and social power relations, Participatory Design seeks to deeply understand stakeholders' experiences by directly engaging them in the problem-defining and solving processes. Therefore, in Participatory Design, research methods extend beyond simple qualitative and quantitative data collection. Rather than being concentrated within data collection, research methods of Participatory Design are tools and techniques used throughout co-designing research questions, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, knowledge dissemination, and enacting change.<ref name=":3" />

When facilitating research in Participatory Design, decisions are made in all research phases to assess what will produce genuine stakeholder participation.<ref name=":3" /> By doing so, one of Participatory Design's goals is to dismantle the power imbalance existing between 'designers' and 'users.' Applying PR and PAR research methods seeks to engage communities and question power hierarchies, which "makes us aware of the always contingent character of our presumptions and truths... truths are logical, contingent and intersubjective... not directed toward some specific and predetermined end goal... committed to denying us the (seeming) firmness of our commonsensical assumptions".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230106154 |title=Service-Learning in Theory and Practice |date=2010 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230106154 |last1=Butin |first1=Dan W. |isbn=978-0-230-62251-7 }}</ref> Participatory design offers this denial of our "commonsensical assumptions" because it forces designers to consider knowledge beyond their craft and education. Therefore, a designer conducting research for Participatory Design assumes the role of facilitator and co-creator.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Golsby-Smith |first=Tony |date=1996 |title=Fourth Order Design: A Practical Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1511742 |journal=Design Issues |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=5–25 |doi=10.2307/1511742 |jstor=1511742 |issn=0747-9360}}</ref>