Rethinking the communication of action research: Can we make it dialogic?

Abstract

The paper proposes connectivity as an interactive approach to communicating research results from action research processes. It argues that action researchers tend to communicate their research results to the action research community in linear ways, which is inconsistent with the principles of action research. In so doing, action researchers miss out on an opportunity to engage in learning processes with other action researchers. Such learning processes may lead to the creation of new workable knowledge and to stronger communities of practice. The paper builds on action research (which focuses on interaction during the research process) and on participatory communication (which focuses on interaction during the communication process) to explore connectivity in practice and to contribute to its theoretical development. It presents an action research process developed in a research institute in Spain’s Basque region as a case study to elaborate that while connectivity may not be a feasible option in all cases, it does invite action researchers to rethink their expectations when writing to communicate new knowledge generated by their action research processes.