Goff, Susan, and associates (1998) Restraint of love: participatory action research into the meaning of family violence to young people. Lismore: Southern Cross University Press.The book Restraint of love is a description of participatory action research (PAR) in practice. Included are a selection of writings from the participants of a project which was funded by the Crime Prevention Unit within the Attorney General's Office in SA. The project used PAR to explore the meaning of family violence to young people. The purpose of the project was to extend the assumptions underpinning youth work and domestic violence intervention about this issue, in order to stimulate more effective intervention strategies.
The book offers a complete integration of research methodology and the development of knowledge about a particular issue which the methodology fosters. It does this by equally balancing papers about the issue with those about the method of research, and moreover, inviting facilitators of research as well as the researchers themselves to comment equally on method and knowledge content.
From a methodological perspective the writers promote the facilitation of participatory action research. This amounts to specialised facilitators who use PAR to develop PAR within a variety of contexts of application. It sets their expertise quite apart from the co-researchers and critical reference group participants, whose focus is largely to do with the issues with which they are living and working. As the project matures however, the competence with self facilitation of research method develops to enable a sustainable outcome and the facilitators become less evident in the project. The book thus covers the following ground:
- a definition of participatory action research referenced to constructivism
- a description of the various aspects of facilitation of research method
- a description of new understanding about the issues associated with family violence from the perspectives of survivors and service providers of various disciplines and sectors
- a personal/scientific/professional language which transcends traditional ways of developing the issue and the methodology.
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