The Building Together Research Collective is based on the principles of Participatory Action Research. According to Colombian sociologist Eduardo Fals Borda:

 

This experiential methodology implies the acquisition of serious and reliable knowledge upon which to construct power, or countervailing power, for the poor, oppressed and exploited groups and social classes—the grassroots—and for their authentic organizations and movements” (Fals Borda 1991:3).

 

Based on this view, our research projects aim to promote:

 

• Inclusivity: We welcome and help create the conditions for inclusion of all members of the research “community” in the design of research questions and methods and the analysis and dissemination of disseminate results (Minkler and Wallerstein 2011).

•  Dialogical reflexivity: Through a collective process of knowledge production we create safe and respectful spaces in which diverse members of the research community can reflect critically on the data, discuss their own lived experiences and reactions, and work together to produce knowledge about their lives and society more generally (Yuval Davis 2012).

•  Political and Social Change: Research should help address structural and symbolic forms of inequality and promote the needs and concerns of the research population (Kemmis, McTaggart and Nixon 2013).