Action Research Project Research Articles

Navigating inherent challenges of locally focused action research in graduate education

ABSTRACT Action research seeks to address pressing local issues through research and collaboration with community partners while also contributing to social science. Through cyclical processes of research, action, and reflection, action research provides not only a methodological framework for addressing social issues but also a potential pedagogical approach for training students. This article explores the challenges and benefits of integrating action research into graduate-level curricula, using graduate action research classes at Vanderbilt University and their multi-semester research on short-term rentals (e.g. Airbnbs and VRBOs) in Nashville, TN, as a case example. The article first outlines inherent challenges that arise when conducting action research, particularly in higher educational contexts. It then describes some distinctive features of the Vanderbilt courses that have enabled long-term engagement in action research projects. By examining the classes’ work on short-term rentals, the article illustrates how features like frequent offerings, opportunities for multiple semester enrollment, collaborative instruction, and a research ‘studio’ design can be helpful in addressing some of the perennial challenges of conducting and teaching action research in academic settings. The article concludes by discussing strategies for course design and instruction to navigate these challenges in order to realize the potential for simultaneously cultivating student learning and development while contributing to beneficial community impacts.

Transformative actions for sociolinguistic equity: mobilizing students' agency at university

Abstract This paper explores the concept of agency for social transformation and its mobilization through a participatory action research project developed with students from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. The research, which was longitudinal and employed ethnographic and participatory approaches, was based on critical pedagogy to raise awareness about the role of language in reproducing social inequalities. The students who participated mobilized agency through projects that addressed the lack of social recognition and unequal access to resources and rights due to linguistic hierarchies, intercultural differences, and discrimination. These efforts culminated in the students/researchers’ effective implementation of concrete actions to address these inequalities, including doing posters, workshops, support programs, discussion groups, and proposals for public institutions. In this article, we identify key factors that enabled students/researchers to develop concrete transformative actions to tackle sociolinguistic inequalities, such as students’ social positioning, available resources, the scaffolding provided by the researchers/facilitators, and the crucial role of accompaniment. These dynamics co-constructed three dimensions of agency—reflexive, critical, and distributed—whose interweaving defines this agency as transformative. Finally, we examine the project’s impact, both on a personal and collective level for the students/researchers and researchers/facilitators, as well as its effects on the contexts where the various actions were implemented.

Agency in muda processes: transforming subjectivities and linguistic practices in the Basque context

Abstract The Basque revitalisation process is going through a crucial moment which has mobilised policy makers and language activists alike in efforts to boost the social use of the minority language. The great increase in the knowledge of Basque in the last 40 years has not been followed by a proportional increase in the use of the language. This has called for urgent action towards what has been termed in Basque sociolinguistics and grassroot movements as ‘activation’ in favour of Basque, a concept intimately related to the notion of linguistic muda (Pujolar & González, 2013), which refers to significant changes in an individual’s linguistic repertoire, also impacting in their social identity. The Participatory Action Research project discussed in this article attempts to contribute to the present challenges in the current revitalisation scenario in the Basque Country by studying processes of linguistic mudas of Basque university students. The study of mudas have proven an interesting angle from which to explore forms of agency through language. Indeed, developing agency has been crucial for participants to better understand their own subjectivities as speakers, unveil the unequal sociolinguistic order surrounding them, and make the move towards action in order to enact the changes they desired in their linguistic practices. In this article we will explore the different ways in which agency has revealed itself in our study. In doing so, we aim to shed some light on what it means to exercise agency from the perspective of speakers in contexts of ethnolinguistic minorisation.

From vulnerable to valuable: a strengths based approach to international student teaching placements

Abstract Australia is experiencing a significant teacher workforce shortage, particularly in the field of early childhood. International students, who reflect the diversity of Australian early childhood classrooms, have the potential to provide rich, cultural strengths to the early childhood workforce. However, international preservice teachers (IPSTs) experience unique challenges during their initial teacher education training. This paper reports on an action research project that engaged with twenty-nine IPSTs to co-construct a series of workshops, underpinned by culturally responsive pedagogies to support them to complete their first teaching placement. The research aimed to develop the IPST’s knowledge of the Australian teaching context and make explicit the cultural strengths IPSTs bring to teaching. The findings of this study evidenced the coupling of university and school-based workshops as significant in supporting IPSTs to not only familiarise themselves with the Australian teaching context, but also maintain a positive cultural identity and view this as an asset within their developing pedagogy. This research is important in developing approaches to enable IPSTs to shift from being vulnerable to valuable cultural assets to the Australian teaching workforce.

A decolonizing historicization of our pedagogy as a possibility for rehumanizing management education and educators

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a personal reflection on the global rise of anti-Blackness capitalist neoliberalism since 2016 by relating its impact on higher education in the author’s experience positioned in the Global South. Design/methodology/approach This unstructured action research develops a rehumanizing dialogue between the Euro-British historic turn in management and organization studies and the decolonial response from Latin America accompanied by an equally rehumanizing dialogue between these scholarships with the field of Black Studies denied by both. Embraced with the liminal perspective of the new global poor this project embodies a response to the post-2016 offensive expansion of anti-blackness/indigeneity ultra-neoliberal capitalism in Brazil in connection with the arrival of post-Trump populist anti-democratic democracy supported by radical expansion of colonial/racial capital and co-optation of decolonial agendas. Findings Moved by fear and encouragement created and recreated by the dominant origin story of the “human-as-Man,” the author shares outcomes and processes of an action research project as rehumanizing responses to what Black Studies scholar Sylvia Wynter calls “unparalleled catastrophe for our species” across the planet. Originality/value This paper addresses how and why academics and non-academics of North and South might relive the unprecedented 1960s at this critical moment for the human species through rehumanizing dialogues between management history and education with Black Studies. The author proposes that by embracing the liminal perspective of the new global poor and retelling our stories through collective mobilization of infinite hope and dark fields of knowledge and practices, we might recover unfinished decolonizing possibilities toward rehumanizing management education and educators in conditions of impossibility.

From ‘Master and Servants’ to ‘Equal Partners’ in a Health Community: Transforming local mental health services by action research and social innovation

Complex health and welfare organisations struggle to align resources and integrate services for mental health patients. In Western Norway, 16 leaders across four local public organisations participated in this action research study. Providing services for joint service users, they were mandated to make necessary changes towards resource alignment and service integration. The purpose of this study was to learn how these leader experienced the process and outcomes of participating in the four year action research project aiming at transforming practices by implementing a portfolio of social innovation initiatives. More than 300 people, including service users, frontline workers and leaders were involved in the social innovation initiatives, including two service design projects and a network for leaders for collective governance across organisations. Data for this study were co-created in reflexive dialogues in a focus group interview and a whole-day evaluation workshop for leaders in the network. Through reflexive thematic analysis this study found that participants experienced transformations in services, power relations, relational awareness of interdependency, organisational culture, and capability for self-steering in a `systemic whole`. We conclude that combining social innovation and action research enabled local contextualising of problems and solutions, contributing to co-creation of integrated, safer services and resource alignment in the Health Community.

Racial Profiling, Anti-Black Racism, Black Resistance and the Policing of Young Londoners

Abstract In this article, drawing on findings from an ethnographic study (2018–21) and a Participatory Action Research project in a London Borough, we explore the nature, impact, and forms of resistance to, police racial profiling. Centring accounts of ‘policed’ Black young Londoners we develop a reconceptualization of racial profiling in sociological terms as a dynamic process, understood as both didactic and dialogic; ‘didactic’ given the ways that policed individuals are compelled, uncomfortably, to ‘learn’ about their place in the social formation through profiling interactions; and ‘dialogic’ given the way that profiling instigates a series of claims and counterclaims whereby racist tropes and categorizations can be consolidated, contested and/or resisted as part of an ongoing process of cultural production.

Proactive end-of-life conversations in residential care homes: a qualitative interview study exploring residents’ and family members’ experiences

BackgroundDue to population aging, residential care homes are increasingly providing end-of-life care for residents with multiple chronic illnesses and cognitive decline. Proactive end-of-life communication, a component of Advance Care Planning, has been suggested as a means of providing high-quality care aligned with residents’ preferences and supporting involved family members. Despite growing knowledge about the benefits of early communication concerning end-of-life care preferences, such conversations are still rare in the context of residential care homes, and little is known about how they are perceived by residents and family members. The aim of this study is to explore the outcomes experienced by residents and family members who have participated in proactive end-of-life conversations in residential care homes.MethodsThis qualitative study is embedded within a participatory action research project implementing proactive end-of-life conversations in five Swedish residential care homes, using a conversation tool. In this study we performed 18 interviews with eleven residents and eight family members after they had participated in staff initiated proactive end-of-life conversations. Data were analyzed using interpretive description.ResultsResidents and family members experienced several outcomes of proactive end-of-life conversations presented in three closely interconnected themes: (1) Enabling open communication, (2) Creating space for knowledge exchange, and (3) Contributing to feelings of confidence and relationship building.ConclusionsProactive end-of-life conversations generated several beneficial outcomes for residents and family members, including those with cognitive decline. The study demonstrated that the conversations may strengthen person-centered care and family support in this context. Based on these findings, proactive end-of-life conversations have the potential for use by residential care home staff.

Fostering complex historical understandings: a study of Estonian pupils’ epistemic cognition and learning experiences

ABSTRACT Background In the context of geopolitical uncertainty and knowledge fragmentation, this study examines how Estonian pupils in Grades 9 and 11 perceive the nature of historical knowledge and what makes history learning meaningful to them. Purpose of the study To analyze how pupils’ epistemic beliefs and learning experiences correlate with teachers’ instructional practices, and whether age, gender, and socioeconomic background are influential in this regard. Methodology The study was part of an 18-month participatory action research project. Data were collected from 194 pupils and linked to a typology of their teachers’ pedagogical approaches. The findings Teachers who facilitated pupils’ historical thinking, metacognitive skills, and critical reflection on prior knowledge in a democratic classroom climate were likely to foster meaningful learning experiences. However, there was no significant correlation between teaching practices and pupils’ epistemic beliefs. Conclusions and implications The fact that meaningful history learning experiences were predominantly observed in classes where teachers supported pupils' metacognitive skills, used dialogic teaching methods, and encouraged active participation in learning, underscores the necessity of engagement with content both within and beyond the classroom. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of integrating multiple knowledge systems into history education to foster a reflective and complex historical understanding.

Moving aside: positioning sociolinguistics in a political economy of expertise

ABSTRACT In this article, we document and critique our involvement in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project in which we collaborated with a non-academic organisation. Our project involved co-designing and monitoring a campaign to teach Catalan to immigrants with volunteer tutors. We focus not on the campaign's outcomes, but on our practice, relationships with co-participants, and the negotiation of sociolinguistic expertise as multiple categories of actors and experts became involved in the campaign as it grew. We examine our attempts to provide relevant critical sociolinguistic expertise in contexts where ethics, politics, and interdisciplinary competition intersected. We focus on how we developed three specific contributions: our input to the campaign's design, to a training programme for volunteers, and to an evaluation procedure for the campaign. We analyse these contributions within the critical lens of the growing literature on the social and political uses of expertise. We engage with PAR literature, decolonial perspectives, and other approaches to science and society to complexify ideas on the power effects of knowledge. We use Rose's [1993. “Government, Authority and Expertise in Advanced Liberalism.” Economy and Society 22 (3): 283-299] concept of “advanced liberal rule” to reflect on how sociolinguists can position themselves ethically and politically.

Addressing organisational elder abuse using the Participatory Occupational Justice Framework

ABSTRACT The concept of occupational justice and the Occupational Justice Framework are powerful tools in identifying and analyzing injustice sites and situations. These conceptual frameworks are, however, difficult to operationalize concretely against specific occupational injustices experienced by individuals, groups, and communities in specific organisational, sociopolitical, and sociocultural contexts. Conversely, the Participatory Occupational Justice Framework (POJF), grounded in a critical epistemology, proposes collaborative linked steps in order to undertake justice-focussed work. Hence, the POJF was the best conceptual tool to inform and guide this participatory action research (PAR) project which aimed to counter occupational and epistemic injustices faced by older adults who were experiencing organisational abuse in healthcare facilities in Quebec, Canada. This article describes the strength and steps of the POJF in supporting a range of stakeholders as they participated in structurally transformative actions. The latter addresses the contextually bound occupational and epistemic injustices. Specifically, this paper describes a POJF-focussed ethical reflection guide co-created by stakeholders in the PAR that provided a cogent vehicle for organisational changes. We conclude with reflections on key learnings from the PAR process and posit recommendations for future development of the POJF as a tool for organisational and structural reforms.

Effectiveness in Higher Education: what lessons can be learned after 40 years of neoliberal reform?

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, neoliberal reforms in Higher Education (HE) have been widely adopted by governments around the globe because HE was seen as central to knowledge creation, national prosperity and competitiveness. Although the rate of adoption of these reforms varied due to differences in historical and political contexts, they have had a significant impact on HE systems, especially in the OECD countries. A strong focus on efficiency saw clear patterns emerge including rapid growth, reduced government funding and external accountability mechanisms limiting the independence of universities. While universities have become more efficient, this may have come at the cost of their effectiveness. An argumentative review, from a systems perspective, with particular attention to the impacts on the academic profession, this paper advocates that HE reform should focus on effectiveness, as opposed to efficiency and refers to an action research project to test these ideas, using the Australian HE context as a case study. Early results indicate focussing on effectiveness presents significant challenges for key stakeholder groups: government policymakers, university corporate leaders and the academic profession, but may lead to better a better performing Australian HE system, and offer a model for systemic HE reform applicable to other HE contexts.

Home Fae Home: A case study in co-designing trauma-informed community spaces with young people in Dundee, Scotland.

Home Fae Home was an action research project, working with young people in Dundee, Scotland, to redesign the interior environment of a community-based youth work facility, through the lens of trauma-informed practice. Multi-disciplinary in nature, the project integrated the fields of psychology, architecture and spatial design with youth and community work. Over 150 young people were engaged over 4 years in the co-design process through a range of creative workshops. As part of these workshops, a multi-methods approach to data collection was used, with semi-structured interviews and focus groups, as well as more creative and informal engagements. Spatially, the project has provided six new/additional diverse and adaptable youth work spaces, each thoughtfully designed by young people, to help them feel safe, process complex emotions, support recovery, avoid re-traumatization and reduce stress levels. Through the process, important new knowledge was also generated by the young people, highlighting the importance of expression and culture for adolescents and their need to have choice and ownership of their space. The project clearly demonstrated that young people should be trusted as experts of their own experience of trauma and recovery and evidenced the crucial need for professionals who work with young people to deliberately redress power imbalances in order to facilitate this.

Localized Histories and Pedagogical Revolutions: Youth-Driven Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Curriculum in New York State

The Localized History Project is a youth participatory action research project that investigates to what extent AANHPI history is taught in K‑12 history classrooms in NY State. This article, jointly written by 12 youth and two adult researchers, presents initial findings about the state of AANHPI curriculum in NY as determined through Youth Action Boards, surveys, interviews, and field‑notes. The article concludes by sharing examples of, if youth‑driven, localized, and critical, what an AANHPI archive and curriculum could look like. Findings confirm what literature has shown, that AANHPI history is largely invisabalized and omitted from curriculum, and that the impact of this on young people is deflating, but also, spurs a desire to change the education system. The Localized History Project is ongoing, and updates about our work and research can be found by following @LocalizedHistory.

Disputing Authorship: Reinscriptions of Collective Modes of Knowledge Production

This article proposes a conversation on the limits and possibilities of collectivizing the way in which we generate and inscribe knowledge within the terms of a political economy of knowledge production and circulation regulated by hierarchies of academic and non-academic classifications, as well as those that demarcate centres and peripheries domestically and internationally through racial–gendered distributions of authority. To this end, it explores a series of collective projects elaborated within the GlobalGRACE network in Brazil (Global Gender and Cultures of Equality), which experiment with residency methodologies designed to create the necessary infrastructure for a redistribution of power, knowledge, and authority in investigations on racial–gendered violence in the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro. As collaborators in this research–action project initiated in 2018 with the Observatory of Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, here, we mobilize two of these collective projects as case studies—the dance residency of Cia Passinho Carioca and the Free School of Arts ELÃ residency—so as to reflect on our ways of knowing and experiencing racial–gendered inequalities in context. In this way, it becomes possible to propose not only questions around the production, erasure, and appropriation of knowledge but also possibilities for the broad-based circulation of dissident knowledge practices and the subsequent displacement of established authorities in the field, notably by means of a disobjectification of subjects of knowledge and exercises in authoring in the first-person plural. This entry point into the conversation on who has the power to know and control the meanings of intersectional inequalities enables a focus on practice, pedagogy, and methods to unpack the ethical and epistemological questions at hand. By centring the problem of authorship, we argue that feminist and decolonial approaches to knowing, teaching, and learning need to effectuate redistributions of power and the construction of politico-epistemic infrastructure if we have any chance of cultivating the conditions needed for liberatory knowledge practices.

Changes and needs experienced by people aging with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

Thanks to medical advances, the life expectancy of people with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus (SB​/​H) has increased considerably. However, little is known about their experience of aging, and few resources exist to support the​ir​ transition​ into older age and to promote​ ​an ​active and ​​fulfilling aging​ process​. This study ​thus ​aimed to describe the changes and needs of people aging with SB/H. This qualitative descriptive study is the initial phase of an action research project designed to develop a toolkit ​to support transitioning to ​​older age ​with SB/H. To explore changes and needs associated with aging, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-three people living with SB/H in Canada. ​A t​hematic content analysis based on the Framework Method​ was conducted​ ​using​ an inductive approach. The COREQ checklist was used to promote explicit and comprehensive reporting of the results. Changes associated with aging covered three themes: participation (e.g., mobility, leisure, domestic activities, employment), physical and psychological functioning. Participants experienced psychological changes differently (e.g., increased resilience or anxiety). Regarding participants' needs, six themes were identified: preserving health and well-being; maintaining participation; accessing the built and natural environment; awareness and education about aging with SB/H; information and access to healthcare services; social and community services. The results highlight the diversity of aging experiences among people living with SB​/​H. A better understanding of their needs will support inclusive practices aimed at promoting lifelong participation and fostering transitions to active and fulfilling aging.

Developing communicative competencies in children with functional diversity through music technology: a posthuman perspective

ABSTRACT Amidst growing interest and accumulating evidence that learning music can enhance the intellectual, social, and personal development of children, there remains a notable gap in addressing how it can benefit children with functional diversity. Adopting a posthuman perspective, this paper asserts that the design and use of technology can provide a viable means of developing their communicative, music-making competencies. To support this claim, we present an action research project that developed a mobile music app and applied it to the facilitation of functionally diverse children’s communication and expressive training. Through a discussion of the findings, we aim to explore how technology-aided music can bridge communicative barriers for children who relate better to the non-verbal aspects of music, an exploration that leads to a critical reflection on the nature of those institutionalised music pedagogies that focus primarily on measurable and fixed learning outcomes.

Six teaching strategies to support meaningful PE experiences in early primary schools – results from an action research project

ABSTRACT Background In recent years, there has been a growing interest in research on meaningful physical education (PE) that aims to establish pedagogical principles to foster pupils’ meaningful experiences in PE. However, few studies have explored meaningful PE among early primary school pupils. The present study seeks to provide insights into how meaningful PE can be implemented in this age group. Against that background, it explores what supports meaningful experiences for pupils in early primary schools in Denmark. Method The study draws on a theoretical framework of enactive cognition that revolves around embodiment, intersubjectivity, intentionality and affectivity. It applies action research involving practitioners’ experiences and visions to develop new teaching strategies for meaningful PE and change practices in early primary schools. The empirical basis consists of field notes from workshops and observations of PE classes where teaching strategies were tried out by teachers. In total, the study comprises 21 summaries from workshops and 70 field notes from teaching observations. The data analysis of the ethnographic field notes adopts a thematic approach. The study is a collaborative effort between the Danish School Sports Association, VIA University College, University of Southern Denmark and four Danish public schools. Results The findings comprise six teaching strategies: (i) broadening the curriculum, (ii) the body as a teaching resource, (iii) narratives, (iv) experimental approaches, (v) framing the PE class and (vi) ‘just-right’ challenges. They grow out of PE practices and are thus based on the everyday work of teachers in schools, which will help make future implementation more likely. Conclusion The teaching strategies for meaningful PE in early primary school presented in this paper represent a shift towards more inductive teaching principles that support freedom, curiosity, creativity and a desire to experiment that can support meaningfulness in early primary school pupils. The findings contribute to existing principles and features of meaningful PE with an attentiveness to how bodily involvement plays a significant role in experiences of meaningfulness in early primary school and pupils’ subjectification in PE.

Community engagement in water management to enhance sustainability: A case study of Bangkachao, Thailand

ABSTRACT Bangkachao, the important and largest greenspace community near Bangkok, has been threatened by several water issues such as increasing salinity, polluted water, and floods. The study conducted a participatory action research (PAR) project on water management with community participation, aiming to solve these problems from the bottom up. The research shows that community engagement in the management of water resources can enhance sustainability. The collective efforts of the research group and local stakeholders proved very effective in resolving water management issues and creating knowledge. They aided in knowledge sharing during and beyond the project period. The evidence-based argument is essential for making change. Tangible results include a significant change in the main watergate management to solve water problems and the creation of an accurate map of existing canals and water gates around the island, which support local understanding of water management and regular monitoring enhanced by statistical data and technical tools. Human and social capital gains continue to be seen in longer-term work and continued efforts to monitor water problems.

Making sense of youth-led social action with, and for, young people from refugee backgrounds

ABSTRACT Within Western resettlement countries, leisure has been positioned as a tool for achieving top-down policy goals. Yet, minimal attention has been directed towards understanding how young-forced migrants make sense of and experience leisure within the daily physically, psychologically and socially repressive regulations and processes of the UK asylum system. This novel paper examines how young people from refugee backgrounds engage in and make sense of the leisure domain, social action, whereby individuals and communities seek to generate change on issues that matter to them. The paper draws on a 3-year-long participatory action research (PAR) project in London, UK, seeking to co-develop a leisure-based, youth-led social action programme with, and for, young people from refugee backgrounds. Participant observation was used alongside photo voice methods to explore the young peoples’ entangled motives and meanings of social action. Our findings critically examine the complex ways that young people understood the social action programme in relation to (i) relational and emotional dynamics, and (ii) identity, culture, and religion. These findings offer a new way to thinking about how young forced migrants experience and negotiate leisure amid the migration-welfare nexus.