- Action Research Defined by Coghlan and Brannick: An approach to research which aims at both taking action and creating knowledge or theory about that action.
- Action research works through a cyclical process of consciously and deliberately: (a) planning; (b) taking action; (c) evaluation the action, leading to further planning and so on. Action research is participative, members know that they are being studied and participate actively in the cyclical process.
- Action research is appropriate when change is desired and that change is expected to be based on learning from existing processes.
- Traditional research splits “action” and “research”, siting the difference between “researchers” and “practitioners”. Coghland and Brannick give us a new term called “knowledge workers” which bridges the two terms.
- Action Research Process (Lewin and Associates): diagnose a change situation/problem, planning, gathering data, taking action, and then fact-finding about the results of that action in order to plan and take further action.
- Argyris’s 4 Themes of Lewis’ Work: integrate theory with practice and connects all problems to theory, designs research by framing the whole and then differentiating the parts, produced constructs which could be used to generalize and understand the individual case, changed the role of subjects to clients.
- “all good research is for Me, for us, and for them; It speaks to three audiences.”
- Three Questions Posed by Action Researchers:
- What happened? The relating of the story.
- How do you make sense of what happened? this involves rigorous reflection on that story.
- So what? The most challenging question deals with the extrapolation of usable knowledge or theory from the reflection on the story.
- Kurt Lewin: Father of Traditional Action Research: Client and researcher work together to solve a problem while identifying new knowledge.
- William Foote Whyte: Father of Participatory Action Research: Works to empower all to construct/use their judgement.
- Reg Revans: Father of Action Learning: a group approach to action research where usable knowledge is the focus.
- Chris Argyris: Father of Action Science: Applies Argyris’ “theories in use” theory to organizational defensiveness and organizational learning.
- William Torbert: Father of Developmental Action Inquiry: action inquiry dealing with everyday life.
- Co-operative Inquiry: focuses on research with people, working in groups focusing on issues that interest and concern them.
- Clinical Inquiry: engages the training of those in the social sciences and social medicine to take an in depth look at organizational systems/learning/change which leads to a better understanding of the real dynamics of the systems.
- Appreciative Inquiry: Based on the work of Cooperrider, focuses on what is already working and engages these systems as the focus of large scale change.
- Learning History: Engages external consultants acting as repositories of organizational history collected from those embedded in the organizational change.
- Reflective Practice: A critical reflection on the work of ones self.
- Evaluative Inquiry: Attempts to use the process of inquiry to generate organizational learning. Follows a traditional action research flow.
January 26, 2009...1:20 am
Doing Action Research: Preface and Chapter 1
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