Introduction

To introduce their book, Chevalier and Buckles provide an overview of the central theme of Participatory Action Research (PAR), which is to reconnect science and society. They outline their own approach to developing robust and critical ways to engage with non-academics in creating a better understanding of the world by trying to make it better as well. The authors explain how their work bridges the worlds of action inquiry and action research – bringing together group-based initiatives to assess and address social problems with efforts to advance general knowledge on substantive topics, the nature of science and the foundations and practice of PAR. The Introduction goes on to describe the new contributions of the current edition and connects readers to the online companion Handbook for Participatory Action Research, Planning and Evaluation (www.sas2.net).