An assessment of the scientific merits of action research

December 1978, volume 23 This article describes the deficiencies of positivist science for generating knowledge for use in solving problems that members of organizations face. Action research is introduced as a method for correcting these deficiencies. When action research is tested against the criteria of positivist science, action research is found not to meet its critical tests. The appropriateness of positivist science is questioned as a basis for judging the scientific merits of action research. Action research can base its legitimacy as science in philosophical traditions that are different from those which legitimate positivist science. Criteria and methods of science appropriate to action research are offered.

Scholars regard educational action research as contributing to change and developing sustainable teaching practices. The theoretical framework revolves around the idea that changes stem from human actions and draws inspiration from several philosophical traditions. However, the dynamo of transformation in the different approaches is generally a systematic self-reflective inquiry. In this study, we examine how changes of practice through educational action research emerge when the process is understood through the enactive theory of participatory sense-making. The point of departure for our methodological examination is an action research project on Movement Integration in Danish primary and secondary schools. Our analysis underscores that the process of dialogue and participation in action research gains impact by embracing joint movement-based actions. The study highlights that pre-reflective and movement-based inquiries may be a significant dynamo in the action research project’s effort to become deeply meaningful for the participants, to empower their participation and to make sustainable practice transformations possible. Applying the enactive framework in action research brings forward a methodological awareness about unnoticed dimensions of how participants make sense of action research processes, and the significance of being attentive to and working actively with 1) relation-making, i.e. how participants participate in each other’s sense-making by how they move in relation to each other; 2) time-making, i.e. how participants’ past experiences and future possibilities interblend with how they grasp a given matter; and 3) space-making, i.e. how sense-making is extended into space through the body’s location and actions in a given environment.

This paper describes an ongoing research project conducted at the College of Environmental Studies at National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan. It discusses the merits of action research for conducting interdisciplinary research on edible insects and advancing the edible insects sector in Taiwan. In this study, action research has facilitated the growth and continuous improvement of a cricket farm and exploratory studies on feeding crickets using food waste and snails as well as application of turtle vine for water provision. Furthermore, action research facilitated the emergence of actions during which the farmed crickets were prepared as food in educational contexts, together with participants. Initially this occurred in informal settings. Subsequently, as the scope of actions expanded and the number of involved people increased, participants were instrumental in conceiving larger-scale and more formal interventions such as classes, workshops, and food stalls. The findings suggest that public participation can be a strong driver for advancing the edible insects sector. While there are barriers towards acceptance of edible insects in Taiwan that are comparable to those faced in Western countries, there are also unique opportunities. For example, whole insects might be more acceptable in Taiwan than in Western countries. In addition, the value of increasing acceptance through active engagement of participants in preparing crickets as food in a social context was highlighted. In the absence of an engaged local scholarly network, an existing community of practice, or well-funded and proactive research institutions, action research offers a useful paradigm for individual researchers to explore multiple aspects of edible insects research and thereby aid in advancing the edible insects sector.

«Written for those new or returning to educational and action research, the author travels from definitions of key terms, through data collection and academic writing, to the finished research report. There are welcome stop offs for reflection, artificial intelligence, and quality assurance. The final chapter brings the work together in example reports written following small scale action research projects. The author provides a resource that’s very much needed. It’s simple, real and relevant to novice researchers while being authoritative and straightforward, reflective without being fluffy, and grounded in science and related subjects.» (Louise Coleman, Pearson BTEC Higher National Subject Lead for Health and Science, MSc, DCR(T)) «A jargon-busting, comprehensive guide for teachers and students working on action research projects. The book examines research terminology and common data collation methods, emphasising the importance of quality assurance. The author also discusses how contemporary STEM teaching examples, teacher roles and societal issues intersect. If you are looking to find out more about how empirical teaching experience and theoretical frameworks can inform action research projects, in a book that cuts through the jargon, then look no further!» (Joe Jackson-Taylor, Deputy Headteacher, Organiser, researchED Bournemouth) The main premise of the book is to demystify research terminology for those teaching, and completing action research projects; in particular for trainee STEM teachers engaged in action research. Research terms such as systematic reviews, and meta-analysis will be explained in a simple manner, with solid links made with teaching and practice. The author found research terminology hard to decipher after a long gap from doing their undergraduate dissertation, and then doing their action research project for the postgraduate diploma in education and training. This book is written to support all researchers in the same position. In the 101 action research guide, the real-life example of a STEM teacher action research project to improve literacy skills for STEM students in a FE setting, is used to promote the merits of action research in teaching. It is a must read for anyone, who hasn’t done a research project in a while to help them refamiliarise themselves with research terminology.

This article’s point of departure is that the nature and merits of both action research and communities of practice are contested: for example, Martyn Hammersley has argued that action research may be a contradiction in terms and that communities of practice may mean the end of educational research as a discrete discipline. In response to his claims, the epistemology and methodology of a religious education action research community of practice – the Warwick Religious Education, Dialogue and Conflict (REDCo) community of practice – are discussed. There are three strands of argument. Firstly, action research is not necessarily a contradiction in terms. Secondly, communities of practice are not necessarily the end of educational research as a discipline in its own right. Thirdly, however, Hammersley’s critique raises important issues about professional knowledge development, inviting interaction between propositional and workplace knowledge. The experience of the Warwick REDCo community of practice – including, importantly, its meta‐research – may be aligned to this invitation as an illustrative example.

This paper discusses the main challenges posed by action research. These include issues related to definition, researcher role, collaboration, ethics and resources. We argue that action research has the potential simultaneously to contribute to the development of knowledge as well as to facilitate and evaluate change. The central tenets of action research are described and we use our research on the development of communities of practice as a means of illustrating these elements. We conclude that while the lack of precise definition may have led to suspicion about the robustness and scientific merit of action research, different and imaginative ways of employing it as an approach are proving that it is both a legitimate and highly contemporary research design for the exploration of health and social care issues and the development of practice.

This paper considers those interpretations of action research that can be traced to Kurt Lewin at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan, and the work in social ecology by Emery and Trist at the Tavistock Institute. It locates the logical basis of these interpretations in the philosophy of pragmatism, particularly as it relates to Peirce’s inferential logic and inquiry system. Drawing on this argument, and on the significant developments in approaches to systemic thinking over the past 40–50 years, a normative set of criteria is established for action research. The paper concludes that both positivist science (which relates to closed systems thinking) and action research (which relates to open systems thinking) are essential to any complete scientific approach.

Mess and rigour might appear to be strange bedfellows. This paper argues that the purpose of mess is to facilitate a turn towards new constructions of knowing that lead to transformation in practice (an action turn). Engaging in action research – research that can disturb both individual and communally held notions of knowledge for practice – will be messy. Investigations into the ‘messy area’, the interface between the known and the nearly known, between knowledge in use and tacit knowledge as yet to be useful, reveal the ‘messy area’ as a vital element for seeing, disrupting, analysing, learning, knowing and changing. It is the place where long‐held views shaped by professional knowledge, practical judgement, experience and intuition are seen through other lenses. It is here that reframing takes place and new knowing, which has both theoretical and practical significance, arises: a ‘messy turn’ takes place.

We have been involved over several years in the planning and development of services for child abuse investigation and therapy, including the development of multiagency (“child advocacy”) centers and education for Court programs. Our roles have been in research, program evaluation, group facilitation, advocacy, and planning. The approach taken was that of “action research.” This approach allows for the collaboration of researchers, service providers, and clients in the analysis of a social problem and/or related social services. It also allows for the multiple roles demanded of the researcher in facilitation of change. In contrast to action research, the more common approaches of scientific inquiry and program evaluation assume a one‐way influence of science on practice, which may partially account for the low rates of utilization of research knowledge and low participation in research by practitioners. Action research is described, and contrasted with other approaches. Advantages and problems in action research are illustrated by reference to the child protection projects we are currently involved in. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Although sport has evidenced phenomenal growth throughout this century, the directions of sport's growth have been widely criticized. The growth and resulting criticisms challenge sport managers and sport management researchers to reexamine their methods and their assumptions. Articles in this special issue explore the redesign of sport systems and the tasks of redressing inequities in sport service delivery. They raise significant issues about the role of knowledge in the empowerment of managers and clients. The articles suggest the value of incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods in action research, and challenge traditional distinctions between “applied” and “basic” research. They demonstrate the merit of case-based research, and illustrate the utility of collaborations between researchers and the persons they study. The study of social change in sport promises to provide a useful context for the elaboration of theories and models about the management of sport.

This article argues that improvements in the quality of young children's educational experiences could be assisted by greater use of fourth generation’ action research. A case is built for an increase in research for’ quality improvement in early childhood services as opposed to research ‘about’ quality improvement, through comparing and contrasting the implications for educational practice of the ethical and epistemological underpinnings of positivist, phenomenological and critical social science research traditions. It is argued that action research, informed by the ethics and epistemology of critical social science, offers one way of initiating such research.

Through cycles of systematic and purposeful iterative engagement with problems they face in specific practice settings, social workers engaging in action research build knowledge that is useful in advancing practice for the purposes of social betterment. This entry situates action research in the development of social-work knowledge and then examines variants of action research formed when degrees of participation and control vary among members of vulnerable populations, particularly within community situations involving coping with a degraded quality of life. The author identifies the importance of methodological pluralism and addresses how sound action research results in knowledge dissemination and utilization for the purposes of social betterment, often through alternative methods of inquiry. The entry concludes with caveats social workers engaged in action research should heed, and the author emphasizes the pivotal role social work can serve in local efforts to engage in knowledge development for social betterment.

In their article in this issue, Lavis et al. (1) propose a framework for assessing country-level efforts to link research to policy and action, with the goal of informing dialogue about various options, strategies and approaches. They do not aim to give a systematic review of past efforts, and therefore their article does not reflect the long-standing history of this important issue. It should be noted, however, that the question of dissemination, translation, utilization and implementation of knowledge in general and of research findings in particular has been placed high on both national and international agendas for more than two decades, notably by the Commission on Health Research for Development in 1990 (2) and by international bodies including WHO, UNESCO, UNDP, the World Bank, the International Health Policy Program, the International Clinical Epidemiology Network, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The International Conference on Health Research for Development held in 2000 (3) concluded that, for health research to contribute effectively to equitable development, a national health research system with clearly defined goals and based on shared values is needed. Knowledge management, which includes knowledge production and utilization, was defined as one of the four major functions of such a system. Linking research to action and using knowledge for better health was also in the spotlight at the Ministerial Summit on Health Research held in Mexico City in 2004. (4) This issue of the Bulletin situates itself within the same stream of debate, but has enlarged the scope from research utilization to the broader concept of knowledge translation. We draw the following lessons from knowledge translation initiatives. The systems context is paramount. Linking research to action (knowledge translation) is an essential component of the research process (or knowledge management system), and the construction, management and maintenance of this process are the raison d'etre of the national health research system. Any attempt to landscape knowledge translation at country level should therefore be defined, framed and developed within the context of the functions of an evolving national health research system. Continuity is important. Past, current and future initiatives related to research and knowledge utilization have been trying to advise countries how to make better use of research in policy, practice and action. They have not always respected the limited critical mass and absorptive capacity in many low- and middle-income countries to undertake multiple and competing initiatives; more importantly, they have failed to build on existing efforts and to establish continuity and synergy among them. …


 
 
 
 This study aims to determine the ability think critical students in learning Fiqh after the application of Probing Prompting Models in class VIII MTs Jam'iyah Mahmudiyah Tanjung Pura . This research is included in the class action research (Action Research). This research used a collaborative model, namely researchers and teachers in the field of Fiqh studies in class VIII MTs Jam'iyah Mahmudiyah Tanjung Pura . Subjects in Class VIII Action Research were class VIII students at MTs Jam'iyah Mahmudiyah Tanjung Pura with a total of 28 students. this researcher is the observation sheet and test which is in accordance with the research procedure by observing cycle I and cycle II. The application of the Probing Prompting Model's can be implemented well through two cycles. This can be seen through the activities that students in cycle I and cycle II have increased. The results of observing student activity in learning, which was originally in cycle I only achieved a score of 70% then increased by 17.5% to 87.5% in cycle II. There was a difference in students' critical thinking skills in class VIII MTs Jam'iyah Mahmudiyah Tanjung Pura between before and after carrying out classroom action research using the Probing Prompting Model's, it is known from the learning completeness in class VIII MTs Jam'iyah Mahmudiyah Tanjung Pura in the pre-cycle was 42.85% while in the first cycle it reached 67.85% and in the second cycle it was 82.14 %. After the Probing Prompting Model's students' critical thinking skills experienced an increase, this could be from the results of the pre-cycle critical thinking skills test which only achieved an average score of 67.85 (poor) and increased in cycle I to 73.92 (enough) and in cycle II increased again to 81.25 (good). The increase in critical thinking skills can also be seen in the increase in the percentage of student completeness, namely in the pre-cycle it was only 42.85% while in the first cycle it reached 67.85% and in the second cycle it was 82.14%.
 
 
 

PurposeThis study aimed at rethinking ways in which educators from different fields can collaborate to respond to the rapidly evolving demands of health professions education (HPE). The goal was to investigate how a research-to-resources approach can be applied to engage in knowledge translation (KT) of research findings for the benefit of introducing medical students to uncertainty in the clinical learning environment.Design/methodology/approachAn interdisciplinary team of medical educators, human resource development (HRD) scholars and emergency medicine fellows engaged in iterative cycles of action research (AR) to develop, pilot and refine case-based learning resources on clinical uncertainty. The team leveraged prior research on physicians’ decision-making during COVID-19, experimented with generative AI tools, and collected feedback from medical students to guide resource development.FindingsThe findings of this study are twofold. On the one hand, the authors reflect on the lessons learned of developing case-based learning with the help of generative AI. While student feedback indicated that the case helped normalize and process experiences with uncertainty, key challenges included adapting research data to create relevant, sustainable learning resources and designing effective discussion prompts. On the other hand, the authors provide insights into the opportunities and challenges of our interdisciplinary collaboration. The authors show that knowledge utilization is not simple, but complex, and that more work needs to be done to effectively disseminate resources as part of the desired uncertainty curriculum.Practical implicationsThis study attempts to apply a KT framework for bridging the research-practice gap in HPE through interdisciplinary collaboration and AR. It provides lessons learned for developing case-based curricula on complex topics like uncertainty. The findings highlight the need for adaptive KT processes when dealing with rapidly evolving healthcare contexts.Originality/valueThis paper offers a novel example of research-to-resource KT in medical education, integrating perspectives from HRD and leveraging emerging technologies. It contributes to understanding how interdisciplinary teams can collaborate to create timely, evidence-based educational resources for navigating uncertainty in professional practice. The study also provides insights into the challenges and opportunities of translating complex research findings into practical learning tools to tackle real-world challenges in HPE.