Rapid participatory appraisal as a research method in education

There is a dialogue between epistemology, history of public university and democracy in Brazil and research in education, where we observe the need for methods and qualitative and quantitative techniques, called Mixed Methods. However, training with undergraduate courses do not understand such a multitude, leaving researchers and research groups seek and disseminate such methods and approaches. Based on this understanding, we propose the use of Rapid Participatory Appraisal (DRP) as a Mixed Methods for educational research, it uses various methods to arrest the local reality through mediation between researchers and participants in an active and reflective process as reality. Our goal is to understand how DRP can be used for diagnosis in research in education; In addition, we wish to describe the stages of construction and the possible tools used in DRP in education and we discuss how the DRP can correspond to the limits and possibilities of educational research. For this, we use the methods of bibliographic research and narrative analysis, trying to understand how the use of mixed methods arises and how DRP can contribute. DRP is a flexible methodology, aiding the outline of possible problems in the research; Allows for triangulation of data, contributing to increase the reliability of results; Facilitates the use of mixed methods for the acquisition and interpretation of data through participatory reflection on possible actions that result in the resolution of problems encountered during the research process and has a strong social contribution to the participants both in the process and in the expected result

Key words:
Research education; DRP; Mixed methods research.