Action Research

Action research reflects neither of the premises that only people with years of training, employed by universities, research corporations…

Action research reflects neither of the premises that only people with years of training, employed by universities, research corporations. Government agencies can conduct research, nor that research must always be nonpartisan, serving no particular cause. From our perspective, research is a frame of mind-a perspective people take toward objects and activities. Outside the academy, people in the “real world” also can conduct research-research. That is practical, directed at their own concerns and, for those who wish, a tool to bring about social change.

Research

In recent years the split between academic research and action research has nar- rowed. Whyte (1991), for instance, argued that “it is important, both for the advancement of science and for the improvement of human welfare, to devise strategies in which re- search and action are closely linked” (p. 8). He called the research he and his colleagues do participatory action research. He called for the involvement of “low ranking” mem- bers of organizational hierarchies to be involved in designing the research. Whether it is about agricultural improvement strategies, industrial employee relations, or company evaluations.

His work is professional research, but he does not rely on professional ex- perts in design or process. Feminist research, as well, often straddles the line between academic and action research. The anecdote we described at the beginning of the chapter about the mother who was upset at the depiction of girls in reading texts was an ordinary person. Outside the academy who conducted research because she was invested in im- proving the lives of girls. But feminists in and out the academy also conduct partisan re- search on such topics. As domestic abuse, homophobia, sexual harassment, rape, and discrimination. They are invested in a vision of social justice when they do this research (see Reinhartz, 1992, Chapter 10 for more examples).

Recent work in postmodernism and research also challenges the whole notion that some work is nonpartisan and other work is partisan. All researchers design their work from a particular perspective, and this perspective is a form of partisanship. All of these issues we raise suggest that the notion of applied and basic research is not as useful as it once was. At the same time, a short discussion of some of the issues particular to action research might be useful. We earlier suggested two kinds of action research.

The first was participatory action research, where participants in a pro- gram or institutions together design and implement a research project in order to make recommendations for changing practice. The second was political action research where citizens do research to work for social change with regard to issues of power. We start our discussion with a case of participatory action research.

Refference: Qualitative research for education by Robart C. Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen,p.223, Pearson, 2018