Definitions - O to Q
O
Objectives - How will you make the goals happen. Specific activities to get a job done. Also called 'strategies'.
P
PAR - An acronym for Participatory Action Research - a research method that produces new knowledge from experience. It is based on a learning-by-doing approach.
Participation - Participation can be thought of as both active and passive. Active participation is being involved in the decision making of a community group or organisation and/or being involved through directly providing a service. Passive participation refers to activities like financial support, attending events and functions or even reading a newsletter and acting on it. Participation is the end-result not just the means to the end.
Participatory action research - A research method that produces new knowledge from experience. It is based on a learning-by-doing approach.
Partnership funding - A grant or funding program where various partners have input into the project. In some cases this may refer to joint funding between government and philanthropic sources. It may also refer to partners who give resources in kind.
Performance indicators - Realistic clear signs or steps along the process that measure success.
Pilot funding - Given to a project for the purpose of carrying out a trial, which will enable the outcomes to be evaluated before any further funding or expansion of the project. Pilot projects are often for the duration of one year.
Planning process - Activities and questions that produce a plan of action.
Positional power - Authority and power that are the results of the job or office held by an individual, eg. Mayor. This is compared with personal power that comes from the respect, credibility and passion an individual has which is independent of any position they may hold.
Power base - Those who get to make the decisions.
Power structures - Organisations or networks of individuals, such as councils, who have significant influence on the decisions that are made.
Priority areas - Groups, communities or activities which are identified by the funding bodies as being more important to fund than others.
Process driver - The letters R I D A E represent the stages in an action cycle for each core module. This is called the 'process driver'. That is, it helps drive the process for community planning and action by providing some strategic questions to guide your discussions and also provides a way of recording the information you produce. Groups can start at any stage but it is best to complete all stages in one module before moving on to the next module.
Protocol - An agreed way of doing things, usually recorded as a written 'how to' document.
Public health issues - The role of Public Health Services, Queensland Health is to protect and promote health and prevent illness, injury and disability. Public health issues, therefore, relate to the determinants of health or those issues relating to the prevention of disease and the promotion of well-being in the community.
Publicity campaign or strategy - A planned approach using different publicity techniques to increase awareness.
Q
Qualitative evaluation - Assessing the effectiveness of a program through opinions, attitudes and other observations.
Quantitative evaluation - Assessing the effectiveness of a project by using numbers, facts and figures.
Questionnaire - A document containing a series of questions used to gather information.
