A new journal article co-authored by Matthew Wolfgram, a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) in UW–Madison’s School of Education, argues that participatory action research offers a powerful and ethical framework for engaging refugees in higher education and improving services for refugee communities.

Published in Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, the article — “Participatory Action Research as a Pedagogical Framework for Refugee Engagement in Higher Education” — examines two classroom-based studies that placed refugee community members at the center of research design, storytelling, and advocacy.

Wolfgram and co-author Curtis Vineyard, a UW–Madison graduate student in educational leadership and policy analysis, show how this alternative teaching and research approach can counter ethical problems associated with traditional top-down pedagogies involving refugee testimony, which have been criticized for reinforcing power imbalances, extracting emotional labor, and potentially re-traumatizing participants.

Instead, participatory action research emphasizes equitable collaboration, co-construction of knowledge and community empowerment, ensuring refugee partners help shape research questions, methods and outcomes. This approach “positions community members as equal, leading contributors throughout the process,” according to the paper.

Research described in the article was funded by the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Seed Grant, with additional support from the Morgridge Center for Public Service.

Why Participatory Action Research?

Participatory action research is a collaborative approach that supports social change and treats community members as co-researchers. It centers lived experiences and community knowledge in the research process.

In the article, Wolfgram argues that the approach is particularly relevant for refugee engagement because refugees are often excluded from research design created around their experiences. One impactful tool used in the approach, known as autoethnographic reflexive interviewing, enabled refugee partners to help design the questions they later answered, resulting in queries that are “more culturally appropriate, insightful, and oriented toward goals of community empowerment,” Wolfgram says.

Two Classroom-Based Projects Demonstrate Method Strengths

The article describes two recent classroom-based, refugee-engaged studies conducted as the research practicum component of a participatory action research course Wolfgram taught in the UW–Madison Department of Educational Policy Studies in 2023 and 2024.

Study 1: Navigational Barriers and Strategies for Refugees in Higher Education

In 2023, a study team made up of Wolfgram, 12 students, and two individuals with refugee backgrounds who worked as refugee resettlement caseworkers collaborated to investigate the barriers refugee newcomers face when pursuing higher education. Through weekly participatory-design sessions, the team developed the research question:

“What are the barriers, resources, and strategies that refugees experience and employ to access and succeed in higher education?”

Refugee partners identified barriers including inadequate English translation support, credential recognition, financial constraints, discrimination, and gaps in cultural-orientation resources.

To overcome barriers, refugees used strategies such as intergenerational support, social networks and self-advocacy, including seeking better support for English learning or other academic support from peers, advisors and instructors. The study team used these findings to craft recommendations for strengthening resettlement services, creating mentorship opportunities and building better pathways into higher education.

Study 2: Palestinian Life-Histories as Counter-Media Community Advocacy

In 2024, during the ongoing war in Gaza, Wolfgram and 13 students partnered with three Palestinian immigrants in Wisconsin who were organizing community education events. Together, they developed and conducted life-history interviews to document personal narratives of occupation, displacement and resettlement for use in public advocacy.

The goal was to create narratives that humanized Palestinian experiences and challenged what they saw as biased portrayals in U.S. news coverage. The Palestinian partners co-designed their interview questions, shaping narratives that emphasized their resilience, faith, courage and empowerment.

The Palestinian partners chose not to publish written narratives due to safety concerns but shared their testimonies at a campus event. Researchers said the project highlights the need for narrative approaches that counter deficit-based representations while minimizing risk to participants. Future research could determine strategies that best achieve this balance.

About the Student-Engaged Participatory Action Research Center (SEPARC)

SEPARC is a group of participatory action researchers and research projects housed within WCER at UW–Madison. Participatory action research is a partnership that emphasizes involvement of community members most affected by the research phenomenon. The research highlighted in this article was done through SEPARC, under its now-completed Classroom-based Participatory Action Research project. Learn more about SEPARC.

About the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)

The Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW–Madison’s #1-ranked School of Education is one of the world’s oldest and most productive education research centers. It has assisted scholars and practitioners in developing, submitting, conducting and sharing grant-funded education research for over 60 years. Visit the WCER website for more information.