The rapid growth in digital technologies continues to accelerate, bringing not only new opportunities, but also new challenges and needs to the field of education. As educational technologists design research to improve the implementation of learning technologies, they must adapt their research approaches to social and cultural contexts. In Participatory Action Research (PAR), teachers, students, or other members of the educational community participate as co-researchers who collaborate with researchers to build understanding and solve problems that are relevant to the school or community. This article describes the purpose, background, characteristics, and potential applications of PAR methods. It employs a meta-synthesis approach to investigate five adult-youth PAR collaborations that implement educational technology to meet needs in diverse educational and community settings. The main questions asked are: (1) How can PAR advance educational technology research?; and (2) In educational technology research, how can adult and youth collaborations in PAR benefit learning and the community? Results show that PAR collaborations not only provide opportunities to gather and assess information, but can also increase dialogue that leads to meaningful understanding, insightful action, and positive change in the community and digital environments. Findings suggest that, in educational technology research that is focused on improving learning or addressing a community need, combining technology with adult/youth collaborative research relationships can increase insights and understanding while moving community members to actively address the issue.