The Advocacy and Participatory worldview “holds that research inquiry needs to be intertwined with politics and a political agenda” (Creswell, p.9), therefore, there is a specific agenda for a study with this framework that aims for reform. In a study using this framework, social issues pertinent at the time are addressed “such as empowerment, inequality, oppression, domination, suppression, and alienation” (Creswell, p.9), and are really the focus of the study. This type of research offers a voice to participants and gives them the ability to form an agenda for reform.

Kemmis and Wilkinson (1998) offer four key features of the advocacy/participatory framework of inquiry:

1. Participatory actions are focused on bringing about change, and at the end of this type of study, researchers create an action agenda for change.

2. It is focused on freeing individuals from societal constraints, which is why the study begins with an important issue currently in society.

3. It aims to create a political debate so that change will occur.

4. Since advocacy/participatory researchers engage participants as active contributors to the research, it is a collaborative experience.

Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods        Approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Kemmis, S., Wilkinson. M. (1998). Participatory Action Research and the Study of Practice. In B.  Atweh. S. Kemmis, & P. Weeks (Eds.), Action Research in Practice: Partnerships for Social Justice in Education (pp.21-36). New York: Routledge.