Action+research

[|Understanding Action Research]
Action research is a process of deep inquiry into one's practices in service of moving towards an envisioned future, aligned with values. Action Research is the systematic, reflective study of one's actions, and the effects of these actions, in a workplace context. As such, it involves deep inquiry into one's professional practice. The researchers examine their work and seek opportunities for improvement. As designers and stakeholders, they work with colleagues to propose new courses of action that help their community improve work practices. As researchers, they seek evidence from multiple sources to help them analyze reactions to the action taken. They recognize their own view as subjective, and seek to develop their understanding of the events from multiple perspectives. The researcher uses data collected to characterize the forces in ways that can be shared with practitioners. This leads to a reflective phase in which the designer formulates new plans for action during the next cycle. [|PAR has also been criticized for lacking the methodological rigor and technical validity that is the gold standard of much academic research, similar to attacks on Action Research by mainly quantitative researchers that reject Interventionist epistemologies. It is suggested that this weakness is a necessary tradeoff of a collaborative and adaptive research design. Supporters, however, counter that sacrificing some level of methodological and technical rigor is well worth the additional face validity and practical significance that is gained through a PAR approach. Additionally, many academic supporters would assert that there are ways to conduct PAR that is sound by academic standards, if one were to adopt a 'typical' qualitative research design that accounts for qualitative quality criteria, such as accountability, credibility, transferability and reliability. Furthermore, evaluating one's work against the "seven I's" proposed by McNiff and Whitehead (2009) will help ensure that a PAR project adheres with qualitative research quality criteria.]