Lesson Introduction

In the previous lesson, action research was discussed briefly during the introduction of research methodologies used by social sciences researchers. You should now be aware that action research is different to other research approaches in at least two fundamental ways: 1) minimal emphasis on generalization, 2) the active involvement of the subjects in the study. In this lesson, we will discuss action research more specifically, including the history of action research, types of action research, and definitions of action research. In addition, you will need to start thinking possible research topics. You will eventually choose one of them as the topic of your course project.

 

History of Action Research 

Action research originized in late 1940s when the calamities of World War II precipitated massive social changes in the research arena of the social sciences. Kurt Lewin is credited with developing this research method at the Research Centre for Group Dynamics (University of Michigan) in order to study social psychology with the framework of filed theory. Kurt Lewin is, therefore, the generally considered “father” of action research. Kurt Lewin is a German social and experimental psychologist, and one of the founders of the Gestalt school, he was concerned with social problems, and focused on participative group processes for addressing conflict, crises, and change, generally within organizations. For further discussion of the history of action research, please read Masters, J. (1995) 'The History of Action Research' in I. Hughes (Ed) Action Research Electronic Reader. PDF

 

Definitions of Action Research

Most of the assigned readings discussed action research from the educator’s point of view. However, as we know, action research did not arise in education but psychology (Lewin, 1946). Action research is also popular in organizations when people in organizations look for changes and improvements (Baskerville & Wood-Harper, 1996).

Action research was first coined and defined by Kurt Lewin as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action”. However, as Ferrance (2000) pointed out, there was no universally agreed definition for action research. Different people have different definitions for action research. Free from all the lengthy definitions, I personally prefer the way that O’ Brien (1998) put it “a group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again” (p.3). Essentially, action research is pragmatic and aims at solving problem (s). If you want to take a glimpse of the original piece where Kurt Lewin coined action research, please read Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems 1946.  PDF

 

The following is a list of definitions of action research, some of them are within the organization tradition, and some are from the field of education.

 

dot Action research simultaneously assists in practical problem-solving and expands scientific knowledge, as well as enhancing the competencies of the respective actors, being performed collaboratively in an immediate situation using data feed back in a cyclical process aiming at an increased understanding of a given social situation, primarily applicable for the understanding of change processes in social systems and undertaken within a mutually acceptable ethical framework (Hult &Lennung, 1980).

dot Action research is an interventionist approach to the acquisition of scientific knowledge that has sound foundations in the post-positivist tradition (Baskerville & Wood-Harper, 1996).

dot Action research is a form of applied research (the research is intended to have some real world effect) guided by a research topic/question that emerges from the community of interest (Walter, 1998).

dot Action research aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously. Thus, there is a dual commitment in action research to study a system and concurrently to collaborate with members of the system in changing it in what is together regarded as a desirable direction. Accomplishing this twin goal requires the active collaboration of researcher and client, and thus it stresses the importance of co-learning as a primary aspect of the research process (Gilmore & Ramirez, 1986) cited in (O’ Brien, 1998)

dot Action research combines theory and practice, researchers and practitioners through change and reflection in an immediate problematic situation within a mutually acceptable ethical framework. Action research in an iterative process involving researchers and practitioners acting together on a particular cycle of activities, including problem diagnosis, action intervention, and reflective learning (Avison, 1999).

dot A participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities (Reason& Bradbury, 2001).

dot Action research is an approach to research that aims both at taking action and creating knowledge or theory about that action. The outcomes are both action and research (Coughlan & Coghlan, 2002).

dot Action research is a practical approach to professional inquiry in any social situation (Waters-Adams, 2006)

dot Teacher action research is a form of systematic, self-critical inquiry (Stenhouse, 1985), It is a process of asking questions about one's practice and looking for answers in a methodical way (McNiff, 2002), Teacher action research is very practical and is grounded in the day-to-day work of the teacher (Meier and Henderson, 2007) cited in (Capobianco, 2008)

dot Action research is a reflective, systematic inquiry that focuses on a relevant problem in teaching or learning for the purpose of enacting meaningful change to address that problem (Brighton, 2009).

dot Action research is research in clinical setting that involves the clinical area to bring about change through an action reflection cycle (Dampier, 2009).

 

Action Research Examples

After reading the above definitions, you may wonder what does a action research look like in practical terms. Consider the following examples.

 

You are a teacher with a busy teaching schedule. You would like to improve your teaching. At the same time, you think it would enhance your chances of promotion if you could also publish more. You institute a number of procedures to satisfy both of these wishes. You reach agreement with your classes that they will provide regular, evidence-based, and thoughtful feedback to you. In return your offer to implement as many of their suggestions as you can. You also offer to explain when and why you can't follow their suggestions. This leads to immediate improvement from week to week.  As well, you conduct a major evaluation at the end of each class. This leads to improvement from semester to semester. You publish your experiences in a journal for higher education. There are many ways of describing what you are doing, including "student centered learning" and "reflective teaching" and "publishing", and action research.

 

You specialize in providing help with strategic planning for voluntary organizations. You work as a consultant in a private practice. Your assistance has been very useful. The director of the organization would like other organizations to benefit from the processes you use. You are interested. But you would like to be assured that the material you document is of sufficient quality. You ask the director if the organization is willing to help you critique and refine the processes you use. You have been working closely with a small working party from within the organization.  At your request they agree that you will document your planning meetings in such a way that you can track the relative successes and failures of your planning. They also agree to help you validate and refine your processes by interviewing other organizational members about the strengths and weaknesses of the strategic planning. You prepare a draft. The working party members critique it for you. They help you make it more suitable for your target audience. You publish it as joint editors. Again there are many labels you could apply to this, most prominently "education" or "publication".  You could also describe it as action research.

 

Local people from a poor community approach you. They ask you to help them solve some specific problems with their housing. You believe that the housing problems are symptoms of their general disadvantage.  You suspect that they do not understand the ways in which the wider society acts unwittingly to disadvantage them.  If they did realize this, you think they could remedy more than just their housing problems. With their agreement, you engage them as co-researchers into the problem.  Through regular critical reflection they come to understand their situation better. They are able in time to act politically to overcome some of their disadvantage. You could describe what you (and they) are doing as "empowerment" or "do-it-yourself social research" or "community development" or "citizen participation" or ...  even action research.

 

Where to start

The general order of scientific research starts from identifying a problem or question (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009). So is action research. It starts from the desire for change (Baskerville & Wood-Harper, 1996). The “desire for change” as show in the previous stories, can either be initiated by the researchers or by someone else. For example, a teacher can start an action research because she worries about the pattern of disengagement students (predominantly female, black, or English langue learner) in her math class (e.g., Brighton, 2009). The motive to start an action research can also come from wanting to develop new products faster than the competitors (e.g., Karlsson & Ahlstrom, 1996).

 

As summarized by Waters-Adams (2006), action research can be used to 1) understand one’s own practice; 2) understand how to make one’s practice better, 3) understand how to accommodate outside change in one’s practice; and 4) understand how to change the outside in order to make one’s practice better. In other words, an action research can be conducted when you want to understand or improve your own practice, or when you need to accommodate a change to your practice. Therefore, you can use these four aspects to help you to locate your research interests.