General Systems Theory

One stream of scientific ideas and concepts relevant to AR comes from a loosely integrated field that is known as “general systems theory” (GST), a field little taught to university students outside of the sciences and engineering. Having its origins in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering in the 1920s and linked later to the

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Pragmatic Philosophy and Action Research

That a stereotypical view of science prevails among nonscientists does not mean that the world is or has been unaware of the perspectives we articulate here. Al the elements of a more complex and humanly meaningful view of science are well known and have been articulated effectively by John Dewey (1976), Charles Sanders Peirce

Epistemological Foundations of Action Research

The presentations of GST and pragmatism connect directly to AR. AR aims to solve pertinent problems in a given context through a democratic inquiry where professional researchers collaborate with participants in the effort to seek and enact solutions to problems of major importance to the local people. In doing this, AR specifically engages in

The Action Research Inquiry Process Is Thus Inevitably Linked to Action

Knowledge emerges and is evaluated through acting or as a consequence of actions. The discovery process is not purely mental, receding into the intellec­tual sphere at a distance from human actions. With Dewey, we argue for under­standing inquiry as a process linking reflection and action in a unified process for the creation of new

Credibility and Validity in Action Research Inquiry

Credibility and validity in conventional social science research function as the researchers’ amulet. In a world of confusing information, these practitioners seem to find comfort in an elaborate methodological (and deeply ritualized) apparatus that purports to resolve these thorny problems cleanly. By focusing on methodological rules as a substitute for facing the question of

Readdressing the Action Research Processes

We argued that relevant actions to solve the problem at hand are the first out­come of an AR process. We also argued that the meaning construction process linked to solving practical problems is the major knowledge generation ele­ment in AR. Finally, we discussed the situations that transfer learning from one context to another and

Political Economy and the Social Structure of Science

Underlying what we have said is a set of ideas about power relationships in our society. AR is about the transformation of power relationships in the direction of greater democracy. Yet most of the experience we have of the world is of authoritarianism, command and control systems, bureaucracies, narrow spe­cializations, separation of reflection and

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Can Action Research Produce Scientifically Meaningful Results of Action Research?

We begin with a review of the standard criticism that AR is unscientific. Some of our AR colleagues address this issue by accepting the idea that science itself is necessarily inhumane and alienating. They are proud to be called unscien­tific. We disagree with them vehemently and argue instead that AR can, does, and should

Physical and Biological Science as Iterative Cycles of Thought and Action

The episode that we recount here happened to Greenwood 25 years ago. He has retold the story often enough that, in the way of narratives, his recollection of it is as much tied up with the retellings as with the original episode. He did not document the episode with anything other than lecture notes

Science Is Humans in Action

There is much to learn from this story, but we want to stress the social and cul­tural dimensions of scientific activity that are revealed by this way of present­ing the scientific method. Not only do the scientists go out and get grants, often writing collaboratively to do so, but the laboratories in which they

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Conventional Social Research and Action Research

To organize this discussion, we begin by paralleling our treatment of conven­tional social science with our presentation of AR. We say much less about conventional research because we assume the reader’s familiarity with it, but we use the contrast to highlight both similarities and differences between conventional social science and AR. We find it

The Cogenerative Model

AR can be thought of as a process consisting of at least two analytically distinct phases. The first involves the clarification of an initial research question, whereas the second involves the initiation and continuation of a social change and meaning construction process. This does not mean that the problem defi­nition process is ever final;

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Action Research Is Not Merely “Qualitative Research”

We asserted at the outset that it is wrong to think of AR as “qualitative” research, yet a great many conventional researchers and far too many action researchers make this error. It is clear to us that limiting AR to qualitative research approaches is entirely unacceptable and is inconsistent with the AR enterprise itself.

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Workability and Explanation of Action Research

While many of the techniques used in AR and some of the operations that take place in AR projects are familiar to experienced social researchers, the similar­ity ends when it comes to workability—for example, judging the adequacy of an interpretation according to how well it works when acted on in a local con­text. Conventional

Local Knowledge and Professional Social Science Research Knowledge of Action Research

In AR, professional social researchers and insider community, organization, or network members are cosubjects and coresearchers in the research process. Both contribute many kinds ofknowledge and actions to their joint enterprise. The conventional social sciences have no difficulty with the idea of expert social researchers, but they generally reject the idea that local people,

The Knowledge Generation Process of Action Research

We argue that AR, in addition to generating valid knowledge and effective social action, embodies democratic ideals in its core practices. This democratization is involved in both the research process and the outcomes of the research. In AR, the research process must be democratic in the sense that it is open, partic­ipatory, and fair

Writing Up Action Research

A secondary effect of applying the concept of a dialectic as a way of conceptu­alizing knowledge generation in AR is that it introduces the dynamics of the knowledge generation into the picture. Knowledge is not constructed once and for all but results from a sequence of dialectic encounters (theses meeting antitheses to generate new

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Action Researcher: Not Trying to Overcome an Unruly World

As we defined it earlier, action research is a cogenerative process through which professional researchers and interested members of a local organization, com­munity, or a specially created organization collaborate to research, understand, and resolve problems of mutual interest. AR is a social process in which pro­fessional knowledge, local knowledge, process skills, research skills, and

Action Researcher: Creating Possibilities Rather Than Reinforcing Limits

The dominant imagery in conventional social research comes, for very good historical and political economic reasons, from the language of bureaucratic organizations. These organizations constantly seek control, objectivity, classifi­cation, and replicability, all essential features of a bureaucratic and authoritar­ian mindset. But before we go too far down this line, it is worth remembering that

Linking Theory and Local Understanding: Being Scientific, Counterintuitive, and Technically Competent

In conventional social research, expert knowledge is the basis of the high sta­tus of the researcher and his or her ability to impose controls and methods on a research situation. As we said in Chapters 6 and 7, action researchers obvi­ously must have expert knowledge, but this knowledge is not treated as a source