Introduction to Action Research Social Research for Social Change

by Davydd James Greenwood; Morten Levin

• ISBN13: 9780761916758
• ISBN10: 076191675X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-11-01
• Publisher: Sage Publications

Summary

How do social researchers know how to select the action research (AR) approach most appropriate for their study? This book provides an overview of the different approaches. The authors introduce the history, philosophy, social change agenda, methodologies, ethical arguments for, and fieldwork tools of AR. They present an extensive range of cases, some from their own experience and, untypically, they rehearse failures as well as successes. The book will prove invaluable for both newcomers and experienced researchers and practitioners.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(4)
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART 1 What Is Action Research?	1	(50)
1. Introduction: Action Research, Diversity, and Democracy	3	(12)
Action Research Defined	4	(1)
Our Assumptions About the Readers of This Book	4	(1)
Why General Overviews of AR Are Hard to Find	5	(1)
Action Research, Applied Research, and Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research	6	(1)
Research, Participation, and Action	7	(1)
Action Research, the Disciplines, and Coverage	8	(2)
Our Own Particular Take on AR: Pragmatic Action Research	10	(3)
The Plan of the Book	13	(2)
2. A History of Action Research	15	(18)
The Early Work of Kurt Lewin	16	(4)
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations	20	(4)
The Diffusion Route: First East and Then West	24	(3)
The Intellectual Content of the Industrial Democracy Tradition	27	(3)
Conclusion	30	(3)
3. Action Research Cases From Practice I: The Stories of Stongfjorden and Mondragon	33	(18)
Stongfjorden--Village Development in Western Norway	34	(7)
AR in Mondragon	41	(8)
Conclusion	49	(2)
PART 2 Science, Epistemology, and Practice in Action Research	51	(76)
4. Scientific Methods and Action Research	53	(14)
Can AR Produce Scientifically Meaningful Results?	54	(3)
Physical and Biological Science as Iterative Cycles of Thought and Action	57	(7)
Science Is Humans in Action	64	(3)
5. An Epistemological Foundation for Action Research	67	(26)
Defining Scientific Research	68	(1)
Scientific Research Defined	69	(1)
General Systems Theory	69	(3)
Pragmatic Philosophy and AR	72	(3)
Epistemological Foundations of AR	75	(6)
Credibility in AR	81	(4)
Readdressing the AR Processes	85	(3)
Political Economy and the Social Structure of Science	88	(2)
Conclusions	90	(3)
6. The Friendly Outsider: Knowledge and Skills in Action Research	93	(16)
AR Aims at Creating Possibilities	95	(3)
Knowledge in AR--Linking Theory and Local Understanding	98	(2)
Practice and Skills in AR	100	(4)
The Friendly Outsider	104	(2)
The Process Skills of the Friendly Outsider	106	(3)
7. Local Knowledge, Cogenerative Research, and Narrativity	109	(18)
Local Knowledge and Professional Social Research Knowledge	111	(4)
Our Cogenerative AR Model	115	(8)
Narrativity	123	(2)
Conclusions	125	(2)
PART 3 Varieties of Action Research Praxis: Liberating Human Potential	127	(126)
8. Action Research Cases From Practice II	129	(22)
The BUNT Program	129	(6)
AR and Community Development in Spain's La Mancha Region	135	(8)
The Integration of Public Services in a Norwegian Municipality	143	(3)
Linking Research and Extension in Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations	146	(3)
Conclusions	149	(2)
9. Pragmatic Action Research	151	(22)
Constructing Arenas for Dialogue	153	(2)
Searching and Search Conferences	155	(16)
Conclusions	171	(2)
10. Empowerment and Liberation: Southern Participatory Action Research and Contemporary Feminist Analyses	173	(14)
Participatory Research and Participatory AR	174	(7)
Feminist Analyses of Inequality and Development	181	(4)
Conclusions	185	(2)
11. Action Science and Organizational Learning	187	(16)
Action Science	188	(3)
Espoused Theory and Theory-In-Use	191	(8)
Organizational Learning	199	(2)
The Skills Required for Action Science and Organizational Learning	201	(2)
12. Human Inquiry, Cooperative Inquiry, and Action Inquiry	203	(12)
Human Inquiry	204	(5)
Cooperative Inquiry	209	(2)
Action Inquiry	211	(2)
Conclusion	213	(2)
13. Educational Strategies	215	(20)
Folk High Schools--The Origin of Popular Education	217	(1)
Trade Union Education	218	(1)
Popular Education	219	(1)
Popular Education in the South	220	(2)
Andragogy: Adult Education Approaches in Industrialized Countries	222	(1)
Reformist Education Praxis in the North	223	(3)
AR in Northern Higher Education	226	(3)
Support Groups	229	(1)
Nongovernmental Organizations	229	(1)
Missions and Evangelization	230	(1)
International Development Agencies	231	(1)
Conclusion	232	(3)
14. Participatory Evaluation and Participatory Rural Appraisal	235	(18)
Participatory Evaluation	237	(4)
Participatory Rural Appraisal	241	(10)
Conclusion	251	(2)
Conclusion	253	(2)
References	255	(8)
Author Index	263	(4)
Subject Index	267	(6)
About the Authors	273