Participatory action research is a form of action research that involves practitioners as both subjects and co-researchers. It isbased on the proposition put forward by Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) that causal inferences about human behaviour are morelikely to be valid if the relevant humans participate in building and testing them. Participatory action research arose partly outof recognition that a gap often exists between the completion and publication of high-quality research and the implementationof findings. Researchers do their job and wait for the findings to be acted on by someone else. The view espoused by partic-ipatory action research is that it is important for the advancement of science to devise strategies in which research and actionare closely linked. Participatory action research involves research participants in the research process working alongside theresearcher from the first steps of designing the study through to research outcomes.(19) The participatory perspective wasadded by Heron and Reason(11) to Guba and Lincoln’s(1) lists of the major paradigms that frame research, and was laterincluded by Guba and Lincoln themselves.(17) The participatory perspective underpins forms of act

Ethics is concerned with rules of conduct and principles relating to moral behaviour. Researchers are responsible for ethicaldecisions from formulation through to the dissemination of research. As discussed above, the type of research frameworkinfluences how ethics is regarded in the study, as well as appreciating other ‘realities’ and empowering voices otherwise notheard. All types of study involve making ethical decisions about what is right for the research participant, as well as consider-ing the interests of the researcher, the funding body and the study itself. Ethical decisions are based on the values of the re-searchers and the research community, and those who hold access to the data the researchers hope to gather. Althoughthere are codes of ethics covering all types of professional research, it is not possible to provide a list of rules that should beapplied to every study as each piece of research will be individual and will require different solutions.The emergence of research ethics came about after the end of the Second World War, when details of horrific medical ex-periments came to light during the Nuremberg trials. The Nuremberg Code (1947) was published two years later, followed bythe Declaration of Helsinki (1964) and the World Medical Association(39) (which amended the declaration of Helsinki), whichestablished ethical principles for research involving humans.Social research has proceeded in two ways:• deontological approaches to morality (Immanuel Kant 1724–1804)• consequentialism (Jeremy Bentham 1748–1832).Deontological approaches to ethics follow a set of principles that guide research. One such principle is that of ‘informedconsent’, which was enshrined in the Nuremberg Code. Informed consent includes providing all relevant information aboutthe study and what taking part will involve, including risks. The research subject must be able to comprehend the informationand be competent to make a decision about involvement, and agreement to take part should be voluntary, free of coercion orinfluence. This also involves taking steps to ensure the participant is protected from any consequences of being in the studyby ensuring that the research protects the identity of the participant. Deontological approaches reject the notion that what ismorally right can be considered by assessing consequ