Participatory action research is found in the various fields of the social sciences.
These fields of study comprise the complex nature of human beings and often use a
mixed-methods design. Action research can be broken down further into subcategories
based on the research question in study. For example, critical action research looks at
social injustice, whereas classroom research focuses on inquiry and data that teachers
collect to improve their own teaching methodologies (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). Mixedmethod
designs are often used because the data give a better understanding of the
research questions. Since some research questions cannot be adequately answered with
quantitative or qualitative data alone, they therefore require the combined information to
gather a complete picture of the research. Education is multifaceted, and a mixed