Deconstructing Power Asymmetries through Participation? on Participatory Research in Multimethod Frameworks

This paper explores the implications of combining participatory approaches with other empirical methods. Since its first hours, participatory research has aimed to question, deconstruct, or ‘decolonize’ hierarchical forms of interactions in various research contexts. It has been a means to empower the vulnerable and marginalized, particularly in the Americas (Fals-Borda 1987; Wallerstein et al. 2019) and similar to indigenous methodologies (Kovach 2010). Participatory research aims to foster a critical reflection of power relations, stimulate a process of powersharing, and engage the co-researchers and professional researchers to learn from each other, regardless of individual academic records.

Participatory approaches can reveal social aspects that other methods could miss. Nevertheless, as new studies demonstrate (Bundschuh et al., forthcoming), more than such approaches are needed to understand social mechanisms. This point inevitably leads us to multimethod considerations. However, method combinations also raise questions of whether one method dominates the design and what it means for the power relations between the (co-)researchers. How can we avoid new regimes of dominance in this complexity and the cooperation with co-researchers? Moreover, how can professional researchers secure ethical standards when the participation is foregrounded?

This paper focuses on the multimethod project ‘Participatory Remembrance Education in Koblenz and the surroundings’ that used semi-structured individual and group interviews, ethnographic documentation, and participatory approaches. Among others, the project collaborated with marginalized, migrantized, and racialized young people who frequently visited a youth centre located in a small western German town. Some young people were invited to tell their stories; others participated actively in the research workshops. In this process, an excursion focusing on racism in Germany took place with the young participants. Based on this case study, this paper aims to exemplify the chances and challenges of participatory designs in the multimethod complexities.