Action Research Helps Citizens Prepare Madison County, Florida Vision 2020

Authors

  • Elizabeth B. Bolton University of Florida
  • Mark Brennan University of Florida
  • Dale Pracht University of Florida
  • Bryan Terry University of Florida

Abstract

Madison County, in North Central Florida, engages its citizens in a visioning process about every 10 years. This paper reports the process as it involved the three elements of participatory action research as described by Herr and Anderson (2005), participation, research and action. The participants included Madison citizens, business representatives and government officials as well as University of Florida faculty facilitators. The research was conducted in a series of meetings which involved data collection and description from the participants using a structured continuum of questions. The action part of the process was the actual reports from the citizen groups that took the issues and concerns as expressed in the small group setting and prepared a report to use with the county comprehensive plan and the Madison Development Council. Evaluations were positive and the comments indicated that participants looked forward to continuing to meet in their respective interest group to push their particular issue of concern. Keywords: visioning process, participatory action research, quality criteria, validity criteria

Author Biographies

Elizabeth B. Bolton, University of Florida

Elizabeth Bolton is a professor of community development in the Department of Family, She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and also works in Cooperative Extension with rural communities in Florida. She specializes in nonprofit management, volunteer development, governance, and strategic planning.

Mark Brennan, University of Florida

Mrk Brennan teaches graduate and undergrduate courses in community development, works with Cooperative Extensin programs throughut the state in a variety of contexts involving community action and theory. He specializes in asset mapping and community surveys.

Dale Pracht, University of Florida

Dr. Pracht is an assistant professor and works primarily with 4-H youth development. He teaching nonprofit leadership at the undergraduate level and specializes in experienced based learning.

Bryan Terry, University of Florida

Bryan Terry is a volunteer development specialist and works primarily in the area of research on volunteer systems and applications to 4-H youth organizations in all counties in Florida.

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Published

2011-05-13

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 3 (2010)

Section

Case Studies

License

Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.