Table 1.

Differences between the Utilitarian and Liberatory Traditions of Participatory Research

Views and Assumptions	Utilitarian Tradition	Liberatory Tradition
Decision making	Open, rational	Closed, based on politics and power
Stakeholders	Non-hierarchical, roughly equal resources and power	Hierarchical, inequitable distribution of resources and power
Problem solving	Cooperative and consensual	Conflictual, the powerful and powerless are opposed
Role of the researcher	Discover facts and create knowledge to use in decision making	Advise and assist the less powerful in creating their own knowledge for advocacy, network building, and reflection