ACTION RESEARCH (Ian Hughes)
Introduction
© Ian Hughes 1997
Discussion
Research reports
What is Action Research
Action research is a tool to change society and generate knowledge, which at its
best is emancipating and empowering. The documents in the Action Research
Electronic Reader are original contributions brought together with the purpose of
supporting and informing students, researchers and change agents in the field.
They are grouped under two headings, 'Discussion' and 'Research Reports',
though in the nature of action research, boundaries are not distinct.
Discussion
Janet Masters' History of Action Research introduces us to three types of action
research, along a continuum from technical and positivist approaches, through
collaborative and interpretive perspectives to critical and emancipatory action
research. This is a useful classification in a field where new and experienced
researchers frequently debate the boundaries and characteristics of action
research.
Participatory Action Research: Getting the Job Done complements the history,
using the four 'moments' of PAR to approach issues of definition and method.
The arrangement of this paper reflects the essential interrelation between theory
and practice in action research. The paper closes with a justification for using
action research in the health professions.
Regina Hatten, Donna Knapp and Ruth Salonga came together as an action
learing set, from different professional backgrounds. Exploring the similarities
and differences between the concepts of reflective practice, quality assurance
and action research clarified the boundaries of the action research process.
This is a useful contributon to frequently discussed topic.
Melinda Lewis's review of the literature on focus groups is a background to the
theory and practice of this growing research strategy. The way she has
organised the material is designed to be useful to researchers considering using
focus groups, and the short, and briefly annotated bibliography may be very
useful to those new to this technique.
The paper on how to keep a research diary is a short, pragmatic piece which a
number of people involved in action research say the have found useful.
Research reports
In her report of an action research project implemented by nurses, in order to
improve and maintain the standard of wound care in a paediatric surgical ward,
Rowene Brooker outlines how the project was established; describes the issues
addressed, the problems encountered, and what strategies were used to
overcome some of these problems. This action research project ended up being
a smaller study within a larger one, and was focussed on issues relevant to
nurses as regarding their knowledge and practice in wound care. It is, I believe,
an example of technical action research, which is not emancipatory but has high
social and ethical values.
The boundary between action research and otherf approaches is not always
clear. In Business as Usual Sally Wortley reports on a project whcich did not
purported to be an action research project, nor was the concept of action
research discussed later in the projects design. However from the nature of the
project she concludes that an action research approach would have been an
appropriate choice. Although no reference was made to an action research
approach, there seemed to be a tacit understanding among the
professionals/managers that an action research framework was employed.
Shankar Sankaram provides a report of a short action research project testing
the use of reflective e-mail memos by students of action research. Though his
report is not conclusive, he shows how a new technology may be used to aid
the reflective process.
What is action research?
As Bob Dick puts it, 'Action research consists of a family of research
methodologies which pursue action and research outcomes at the same time'
<http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/sawd/arr/guide.html> Action research is action
and research in the same process. It has twin, aims of action for change in an
organisation or community, with research to increase our knowledge and
understanding. It is not action for research (doing in order to increase
understanding), nor research for action (increasing knowledge in order to be
applied at a later time), but a coming together of two purposes in a single
project or process.
Action research is not a research method, as many methods of data collection
may be used in action research projects. It is, rather, a way of doing research
and acting to change situations at the same time.
There are several forms of action research (see Masters 1996) . McKernan
(1991:16 -27), for example, list three types of action research:
Type 1: the scientific-technical view of problem solving;
Type 2: practical-deliberative action research; and
Type 3: critical-emancipatory action research.
The underlying goal of the researcher in the scientific-technical approach is to
test a particular intervention used by a practitioner in the field. The research is
based on a pre-specified theoretical framework The researcher identifies the
problem and a specific intervention, then the practitioner is involved in
implementing the intervention or treatment. (Holter and Schwartz-Barcott
1993:301). The collaboration between the researcher and the practitioner is
technical, in the sense that it is instrumental to the research goals. This
approach to action research results in the accumulation of predictive
knowledge, the major thrust is validation and refinement of existing theories.
In the practical-deliberative type of action research the researcher and
practitioners come together to identify potential problems, their underlying
causes and possible interventions (Holter and Schwartz-Barcott 1993:301). The
problem is defined in dialogue and mutual understanding between the
researcher and the practitioner. "The goal of practical action researchers is
understanding practice and solving immediate problems" (McKernan 1991:20).
Practical action research fosters the improvements in professional practices by
emphasising the part played by personal judgement in decisions to act for the
good of the client. This mode of action research "promotes autonomous,
deliberative action, that is praxis. Practitioners involved gain a new
understanding of their practice. However the changes are sometimes connected
to the individuals directly involved in the change process, and improvements in
practice may not survive when these individuals leave the system or
there is an influx of new people (Holter, I.M., and Schwartz-Barcott
1993:301).
Emancipatory action research promotes emancipatory praxis in the
participatnts, that is, it promotes a critical consciousness which is
expressed in political as well as practical action for change. There are
two goals for the researcher using this approach, one is to increase the
closeness between the actual problems encountered by in a specific
setting and the theory used to explain and resolve the problem. The
second goal, which goes beyond the other two approaches, is to
empower participants in identifying problems and making them explicit
by raising their collective consciousness. Jurgen Habermas presents a
framework of critical social theory for action research. In critical theory the
mediation of theory and practice is possible.
Much action research is participatory. That is, people who may be affected by
the outcomes of the action and the research, the stakeholders participate in all
stages of the research, including initial idea, planning, implementation, and
reporting.
Kemmis & McTaggart (1988: 11), in their model of participatory emancipatory
action research, present a well known spiral of action research, which shows
action research passing through cycles of planning, acting and observing, and
reflecting.
But, the fundamental feature of participatory action research is not the well
known spiral, but collective reflection by participants on their efforts to change
the ways they work (which are constituted by discourse, organisation, power
relations, and practice) (McTaggart 1992: 2).
In health sciences all three types of action research, technical, practical and
emancipatory are valid. So are participatory and individualistic action research
projects. My personal preference is for participatory action research as a
process in which groups of people attain critical understanding and
improvement of their situation through participating in planning, acting,
observing and reflecting.
In summary, technical action research aims at effectiveness and efficiency in
performance. That is, change in social practices. Participants are often co-
opted, and rely on the outside expert. Practical action research involves
transformation of the consciousness of participants as well as change in social
practices. The expert is a process consultant, engaging in dialogue to
encourage participants' cooperation, active participation and self-reflection.
Emancipatory action research includes the participants' emancipation from
tradition, self-deception and coercion, and their critique and transformation of
the social practices and organisation (often bureaucratic) in which they are
enmeshed. The expert is a process moderator, collaborating and sharing equal
responsibility with the participants.
Participatory action research
Is about the improvement of practice and creation of knowledge in social
groups.
May start at anywhere, and proceeds through complete cycles of planning,
acting, reflecting and observing.
Involves participation in all stages by those affected by changes in social
practice and discourse.
Is participatory, often conducted by an action group with at least one expert.
Criteria for participatory action research
At its broadest action research can refer to any process with the dual aim of
changing situation and producing knowledge. My working definition implies a
number of characteristics. The more of these characteristics an activity has, the
better it is an example of participatory action research. Participatory action
research is characterised by:
Action Participation
Research Plans
Process Practices
Groups of people Observation
Critical understanding Reflection
Improvement of their situation Emancipation
Activities that share some, but not all features of action research are:
reflective practice
action learning
participatory research
action planning
continuous quality improvement
Devaluing and co-opting participatory action research
The term "action research" is sometimes used for a type of personal learning,
which does not lead to publication of results. I think this obscures a fundamental
purpose of action research, which is to make social practices, and the values
they embody, explicit and problematic. Practical action and action learning can
operate within ethical and value frameworks, without these being called into
question. Action research, at its best, is about involvement in the praxis of
inventing new ways of working, interacting and knowing. I am not suggesting
that activities that do not problematise current values, knowledges, and
practices are not good. But to call them 'participatory action research' devalues
and domesticates a powerful way of reconstructing social practices and
discourses.
Participatory action research has a potential to empower participants. This can
be subversive of established structures of power.
References
Holter, I.M., and Schwartz-Barcott, D. 1993, Action Research: What is it? How
has it been used and how can it be used in nursing? Journal of Advanced
Nursing 1993:128; 298-304
Kemmis, S. & R. McTaggart 1988, The Action Research Planner, Deakin
University, Geelong.
McKernan,J. 1991, Curriculum Action Research. A Handbook of Methods and
Resources for the Reflective Practitioner, London: Kogan Page
McTaggart, R. 1992, Action research: Issues in theory and practice, paper
presented to Methodological Issues in Qualitative Health Research Conference,
Deakin University.
Zuber-Skerritt, O. (ed.) 1991, Action Research for Change and Development,
Avebury, Aldershot.
