ADVANCES AND TRENDS IN PARTICIPATION
RESEARCH
The field that we call “participation research” is largely
heterogeneous, because research on participation has
developed from many different thematic interests, ranging
from health care and urban planning to environmental
management and information technology development, and
has also been found scattered through a range of disciplines
including political science, sociology, social-psychology, as
well as engineering, architecture, and management. Now, over
40 years after Arnstein’s (1969) much quoted article on
participation, the field of research is maturing. We are now at
the stage in which some responses to our focal questions have
been provided, and across the various thematic foci and
original disciplines of the field, a number of new research
strands are evolving. For each of our three focal questions, we
first give a general overview of its treatment in the literature
and then present crosscutting research trends that show current
movements in participation research. We then also summarize
which articles in this special feature touch upon these trends
and/or develop them further.
Question 1: research on benefits of participation
Overview
Scholars such as Fiorino (1990), Laird (1993), Renn et al.
(1995), or Beierle and Cayford (2002) have identified various
benefits of participation ranging from increased legitimacy of
decisions, to the development of participatory democracy, in
addition to representative democracy. Some of these and other
benefits occur as a product of learning. During interaction,
participants learn about the issues discussed and others’ points
of view. They are also able to discover new common ground
and to enhance their social interaction skills. As a result of this
learning, the following benefits are ascribed to participation:
l Better quality decisions: When the knowledge of
different actors, including experts, is brought together
and integrated during discourse, this can potentially lead
to better informed decisions.
l Better acceptance of decisions: By involving people who
are affected by the decision, broader agreement can be
sought, which will potentially increase support for
implementation.
l