7+Recommend

=**Recommend**= ====In the next phase of participatory action research, “Recommend,” the research facilitator asks the students to make recommendations based on the themes of their work. To facilitate this PAR phase with student researchers:====

====One example comes from a Think College PAR study facilitated by staff with nine college students with intellectual disabilities. In this study, students from four colleges made recommendations based on six themes that came out of their PAR work. These included advice to younger students about college preparation, and recommendations to the college about greater access to career-oriented courses. The publication is in the Resources section.====

====**Facilitate an online, real-time discussion**: Students may want to have a supported discussion about the themes of their work, and then make recommendations as a group. One convenient way to do this is is via a real-time discussion online, either through voice calls over the Internet (such as __Skype__), a phone conference, or a web conference.====

====Give students clear instructions about how to access the call-in system and how to get assistance during the call. Many of the same questions listed above could be used to guide the discussion. The pros and cons of using each format are listed below:====


 * ** Format ** || ** Pros ** || ** Cons ** ||
 * ====Voice calls over Internet (such as Skype)==== || ====• Free to facilitator and students.====

• Screen sharing allows use of visuals.
|| ====• All participants must have computer.====

• If person has poor reception, calls will drop.
||
 * ====Phone conference==== || ====• Easy to set up.====

• Most participants have phones.
|| ====• May be necessary for research facilitator to set up phone conference account.====

• Requires participants to call conference number and enter account number.
||
 * ====Web conference==== || ====• Allows participants to see names of all participants on call.====

• Facilitator can set up survey so students may vote on recommendations.
|| ====• May require participants to follow two or more steps to access webinar and phone features.==== ||

====**Have students vote on recommendations**: Students may finalize their recommendations by listing recommendations from all co-researchers and then voting on the top ten. This could be done in individual face-to-face meetings or virtually (via a survey on a webinar or through a web survey site). Make sure that the format chosen is accessible and usable (see “Usability Checklist for Think College PAR materials " in the Prepare section).====