Action research paradigm
Practice and action researchoctober 2003, volume 16, issue 5,Pp 339–354 | cite asthe action research paradigm: an alternative approach in negotiationauthorsauthors and affiliationsmesut this article as:Kluwer academic publishers-plenum ts and alised in to check ted access to the full e local sales tax if ic practice and action the whole of about institutional use cookies to improve your experience with our ation studies, university of r@ exame da abordagem metodolgica da pesquisa ao [an overview of ological approach of action research]. Study 2 - internet-based collaborative work groups study 3 - computer conferencing in a tary on the need for more research. Means of coming to grips with their constantly changing and the question what is action research? Giving an overview of ses and principles, stating when it is appropriate to use, and within a praxis research evolution of the approach will be described, including the of action research being used role of the action researcher will be briefly mentioned, and l considerations discussed. Case studies will be briefly described, two of which pertain to ch projects involving information technology, a promising area is action research? Known by many other names, including participatory research, y, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextural ch, but all are variations on a theme. Put simply, action research ng by doing - a group of people identify a problem, do something e it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, . While this is the essence of ch, there are other key attributes of action research that from common problem-solving activities that we all engage in every day.
Thus, there is a ment in action research to study a system and concurrently to members of the system in changing it in what is together regarded as ble direction. Accomplishing goal requires the active collaboration of researcher and client, and stresses the importance of co-learning as a primary aspect of the type of research from general professional practices, consulting, or m-solving is the emphasis on scientific study, which is to say cher studies the problem systematically and ensures the intervention ed by theoretical of the researchers time is spent on refining the to suit the exigencies of the situation, and on collecting, analyzing,And presenting data on an ongoing, cyclical utes separate action research from other types of research. Primary is its focus on turning the ed into researchers, too - people learn best, and more willingly they have learned, when they do it themselves. It also has a social dimension - the research takes place -world situations, and aims to solve real problems. Finally, the initiating researcher, other disciplines, makes no attempt to remain objective, but ledges their bias to the other research n kemmis has developed a simple model of the of the typical action research process (figure 1). This is followed by a collective several possible solutions, from which a single plan of action emerges implemented. Data on the results intervention are collected and analyzed, and the findings are light of how successful the action has been. Initiators of ch will use this principle to allay others fears and invite pointing out that they, too, will be subject to the same process, and er the outcome, learning will take of the research embodies a multiplicity of views, commentaries ues, leading to multiple possible actions and interpretations.
This there will be many accounts made explicit, with commentaries on dictions, and a range of options for action presented. A report, therefore, acts as a support g discussion among collaborators, rather than a final conclusion of researchers, theory informs practice, practice refines theory, in uous transformation. In any setting,Peoples actions are based on implicitly held assumptions, theories eses, and with every observed result, theoretical knowledge ed. Up to the researchers to make explicit the theoretical justifications actions, and to question the bases of those justifications. The ensuing practical applications are subjected to further analysis, in a transformative cycle uously alternates emphasis between theory and is action research used? It can, however, be used by social scientists for preliminary research, especially when the situation is too ambiguous to frame e research question. Mostly,Though, in accordance with its principles, it is chosen when e flexibility, the involvement of the people in the research, or take place quickly or that those who apply this approach are practitioners who wish to tanding of their practice, social change activists trying to mount campaign, or, more likely, academics who have been invited into zation (or other domain) by decision-makers aware of a problem research, but lacking the requisite methodological knowledge to ing action research in a research gm for the past several centuries has been that of vism. This paradigm is based on of principles, including: a belief in an objective reality, knowledge is only gained from sense data that can be directly experienced ed between independent ena are subject to natural laws that humans discover in a through empirical testing, using inductive and deductive d from a body of scientific theory.
Positivism, used ific and applied research, has been considered by many to be esis of the principles of action research (susman and evered 1978, retive century, a new research paradigm has emerged in the social sciences out of the constraints imposed by positivism. Nonetheless it still retains the ideals cher objectivity, and researcher as passive collector and of perspectives with the interpretive paradigm, and making of its related qualitative methodologies, there are some researchers that neither it nor the positivist paradigms are mological structures under which to place action research (lather 1986,Morley 1991). That knowledge is derived from practice, ce informed by knowledge, in an ongoing process, is a cornerstone research. Action reject the notion of researcher neutrality, understanding that the researcher is often one who has most at stake in resolving a ion of action s in late lly considered the father of action research. A german social and experimental psychologist, and one of rs of the gestalt school, he was concerned with social problems, d on participative group processes for addressing conflict, crises, , generally within lly, he was associated with the center for group dynamics at boston, but soon went on to establish his own national the term action research in his 1946 paper action research ty problems,[v]. Action research as a comparative research on the conditions s of various forms of social action and research leading to , using a process of a steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, -finding about the result of the r major contributor to the field from that immediate post-war era, was psychiatrist whose group at the tavistock institute of human london engaged in applied social research, initially for the iation of german prisoners of war. He and his colleagues tended to on large-scale, multi-organizational applied their research to systemic change in and zations. Both proponents of the principle that decisions are best implemented by t types of action field had evolved, revealing 4 main streams that had emerged:Traditional, contextural (action learning), radical, and educational ional action research stemmed from lewins work within organizations and concepts and practices of field theory, group dynamics, t-groups, and al model.
The growing labour-management relations led to the application of action research in of organization development, quality of working life (qwl),Socio-technical systems (e. This traditional toward the conservative, generally maintaining the status quo s to organizational power tural action research (action learning). Action research, also sometimes referred to learning, is an approach derived from trists work on relations zations. Based, in that it tries to involve all affected parties olders; holographic, as each participant understands the working of ; and it stresses that participants act as project designers -researchers. The concept zational ecology, and the use of search conferences come out tural action research, which is more of a liberal philosophy, with ormation occurring by consensus and normative l action , which has its roots in marxian dialectical materialism and the ations of antonio gramsci, has a strong focus on emancipation and ming of power imbalances. Research, often found in liberationist movements and pment circles, and feminist action research both strive for ormation via an advocacy process to strengthen peripheral groups ional action of educational action research, has its foundations in the writings dewey, the great american educational philosopher of the 1920s and 30s,Who believed that professional educators should become involved in m-solving. It is often the university-based action researchers work with primary and secondary rs and students on community research more of a holistic approach to problem-solving, rather than a single collecting and analyzing , it allows for several different research tools to be used as t is conducted. These s, which are generally common to the qualitative research paradigm,Include: keeping a research journal, document collection and analysis,Participant observation recordings, questionnaire surveys, structured ctured interviews, and case search utilized by action researchers, the one that has been ively to suit the needs of the action research approach is that of conference, initially developed by eric trist and fred emery tavistock institute in 1959, and first implemented for the merger l-siddley aircraft engines in search conference format has seen widespread that time, with variations on trist and emerys theme becoming other names due to their promotion by individual academics tants.
Of the action tion into a domain, the outside researchers role is to implement research method in such a manner as to produce a mutually e for all participants, with the process being maintained by ards. To accomplish this, it itate the adoption of many different roles at various stages of s, including those zer sizer role, however, is to nurture local leaders to the point where they responsibility for the point is reached they understand the methods and are able to when the initiating researcher action research situations, the hired researchers role is primarily the time to facilitate dialogue and foster reflective analysis among ipants, provide them with periodic reports, and write a final report researchers involvement has l research is carried out in real-world circumstances, and involves open communication among the people involved, the researchers must attention to ethical considerations in the conduct of their work. Researchers are explicit about the the research process from the beginning, including all personal biases and. The outside researcher and the team must create a process that maximizes the opportunities ement of all es of action research rate how action research can proceed, three case studies ted. Action research projects lly situationally unique, but there are elements in the methods that used by other researchers in different circumstances. The first case study, an account taken writings of one of the researchers involved (franklin 1994), involves ch project to stimulate the development of nature tourism services in ean. They are ing a brief overview of this potentially promising technical study 1 - development of nature tourism in research process was initiated to explore how nature tourism could uted on each of the four windward islands in the caribbean - st. Their first main task was ze a search conference on each ences took place, the outcome of which was a set of /or action plans for the carrying out of a number of nature -projects at the local community this point, extended advisory groups were formed on several of s, and national awareness activities and community sub-projects ented in some s, regional project meetings were held, where project coordinators advisory members shared experiences, conducted self-evaluations ped plans for maintaining the process (e.
Always a risk that this kind of research will empower stakeholders, existing power relations, the threat of which is too much for on-makers, but if given the opportunity, there are many things that orative group of citizens can accomplish that might not be research and information or so, there has been a marked increase in the number of are making use of information technology and computer ications. In some cases, it has been a matter rs of corporate networks employing action research techniques tate large-scale changes to their information systems. In others, it has been a question ity-based action research projects making use of computer broaden research carried out over the past 40 years has been conducted in gs with the participants meeting face-to-face with ue. While there have us attempts to use this new technology in assisting group learning, organizations and among groups in the community [this author has ed with a dozen or more projects of this kind in the nonprofit sector alone], there is a dearth of published studies on the use of ch methods in such projects lau and hayward (1997), in a recent review literature, found that most research on group support systems to date in short-term, experimental situations using quantitative methods.. There are a few examples, though, udinal studies in naturalistic settings using qualitative methods; that did use action research, none studied the use and effects ication systems in groups and to the case studies, both of which are situated in an area in need of ch - that of the use of information technology as a potentially t to action research study 2 - internet-based collaborative in community health. 1997) used an action research approach in a study of their own to explore uration of internet-based collaborative work groups. Over a two-year period, the ipated as facilitators in three action research cycles of approximately 15 instructors and project staff, and 25 sionals from various regions striving to make a transition to a ity-based health program. The participants reported learning a from the retations of the study suggest that role clarity, relationship building,Information sharing, resource support, and experiential learning are s in virtual group was also a sense that more research was needed on how t systems can help groups interact with their external environment, as on how to enhance the process of learning by group study 3 - computer conferencing in a learning.
From 1992 to 1995, the researchers and ts made use of a dial-up computer conferencing system called caucus t learning outside of monthly classroom weekends. Their findings relate to ries to interaction, creating a caring community, and orative a matter of both defined membership, i. Discussions, distinguished by the goal of making a group taking an action, required a fair degree of moderation, insofar ipants found it difficult to reach closure. Projects that been limited to local, real-time interactions, such as in the case conferences, now have the possibility of being conducted online, promise of larger-sized groups, more reflexivity, greater geographic reach,And for a longer period of sustained interaction. Eventual outcome of online developments, it is certain that action information technologies will continue to converge, and we must be use action research techniques to better understand and utilize ted an overview of action research as a methodological approach g social problems. The procedures of this type of research, and epistemological underpinnings,Were described, along with the evolution of the practice. The case studies te examples of projects, particularly in the relatively new area deployment of information r action research is needed to explore the potential ping computer-mediated communications in a way that will enhance gilmore, jim krantz ramirez, "action based modes of inquiry and the onship," consultation 5. Morgan (london:Sage publications, 1983) d winter, learning from experience: principles and practice -research (philadelphia: the falmer press, 1989) lewin, "action minority problems," journal of social issues 2 (1946): , "international institute for natural, environmental.
Winter, "ples and procedures for the conduct of action research," in ions in action research, ed. Discovering : how future search conferences bring people together to hrough innovation, empowerment, shared vision, and collaborative action. London: the falmer press,Systemic practice and action researchoctober 2003, volume 16, issue 5,Pp 339–354 | cite asthe action research paradigm: an alternative approach in negotiationauthorsauthors and affiliationsmesut this article as:Kluwer academic publishers-plenum ts and alised in to check ted access to the full e local sales tax if ic practice and action the whole of about institutional use cookies to improve your experience with our error occurred setting your user your browser does not accept cookies, you cannot view this are many reasons why a cookie could not be set correctly.