Programme quality in Australian early special education: an example of participatory action research.

A study of programme quality of early intervention in a large governmental early special education service in Queensland, Australia employed a collaborative methodology of participatory action research. The approach has been encouraged strongly for disability-focused research, but the approach is demanding and few examples have been reported. In this multistage 4-year project, indicators of programme quality were generated from staff and parents in the service, validated throughout the service, and generalized across the nation. Examples of the implementation of this methodology across these stages are reported, and benefits and compromises are examined.