Introduction to Action Research : Social Research for Social Change

by Davydd J. Greenwood

• ISBN13: 9781412925976
• ISBN10: 1412925975
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-18
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

The Second Edition of Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change makes social science matter! It focuses on how it is possible to combine practical problem solving with generating new theoretical insights. Authors Davydd J. Greenwood and Morten Levin combine a thorough discussion of the epistemological foundations of action research with a broad overview of major contemporary trends in the field. New to the Second Edition:   Includes a vast amount of updated information: Nine chapters have been significantly updated, including two new chapters that engage readers into the current debates on action research as "tradition" or its own "methodology," and how action research takes shape in the university environment. New textboxes highlight important issues in each chapter and more detailed cases and real-world examples illustrate the practical implications of AR in a variety of settings. Incorporates a new structure: New information pertains specifically to issues of techniques, work forms, and research strategies based on the authors' experiences in using the book in teaching. The book now has 4 parts instead of 3, with an entirely new section on higher education and democracy as a concluding section. Emphasizes the skill sets needed to do action research: This book deals with the process of educating action researchers and reviews a number of programs that do this. Specific attention is given to the challenges of writing and intellectual property in AR, and more focus is devoted to both adult and formal education, creating a comprehensive overview of the field that is not found in any other action research book. Intended Audience:   This is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Action Research, Social Research, and Qualitative Research across the social sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	ix
Preface to the First Edition	x
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART 1: WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH?	1	(52)
1. Introduction: Action Research, Diversity, and Democracy	3	(10)
Action Research Defined	3	(1)
Why General Overviews of Action Research Are Hard to Find	4	(1)
Action Research, Applied Research, and Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research	5	(1)
Action, Research, and Participation	6	(1)
Action Research, the Disciplines, and Coverage	7	(2)
Our Take on AR: Pragmatic Action Research	9	(2)
The Plan of the Book	11	(1)
Our Assumptions About the Readers of This Book	11	(1)
Notes	12	(1)
2. A History of Action Research	13	(22)
Industrial Democracy	14	(15)
"Southern" PAR, Labor Organizing, Community Organizing, and Civil Rights	29	(3)
Human Inquiry and Cooperative Inquiry	32	(2)
Conclusions	34	(1)
Notes	34	(1)
3. Action Research Cases From Practice: The Stories of Stongfjorden, Mondragón, and Programs for Employment and Workplace Systems at Cornell University	35	(18)
Stongfjorden: Village Development in Western Norway	36	(6)
Mondragón: Organizational Problems in Industrial Cooperatives	42	(6)
Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations: Research and Extension	48	(3)
Conclusions	51	(1)
Notes	52	(1)
PART 2: SCIENCE, EPISTEMOLOGY, AND PRACTICE IN ACTION RESEARCH	53	(78)
4. An Epistemological Foundation for Action Research	55	(21)
Defining Scientific Research	55	(2)
General Systems Theory	57	(2)
Pragmatic Philosophy and Action Research	59	(3)
Epistemological Foundations of Action Research	62	(3)
The Action Research Inquiry Process Is Thus Inevitably Linked to Action	65	(1)
Credibility and Validity in Action Research Inquiry	66	(5)
Readdressing the Action Research Processes	71	(2)
Political Economy and the Social Structure of Science	73	(1)
Conclusions	74	(1)
Notes	75	(1)
5. Scientific Method and Action Research	76	(13)
Can Action Research Produce Scientifically Meaningful Results?	77	(3)
Physical and Biological Science as Iterative Cycles of Thought and Action	80	(6)
Science Is Humans in Action	86	(1)
Conclusions	87	(1)
Notes	87	(2)
6. Social Science Research Techniques, Work Forms, and Research Strategies in Action Research	89	(13)
Conventional Social Research and Action Research	90	(3)
The Cogenerative Model	93	(5)
Action Research Is Not Merely "Qualitative Research"	98	(2)
Workability and Explanation	100	(1)
Conclusions	101	(1)
Note	101	(1)
7. Knowledge Generation in Action Research: The Dialectics of Local Knowledge and Research-Based Knowledge	102	(13)
Local Knowledge and Professional Social Science Research Knowledge	103	(3)
The Knowledge Generation Process	106	(3)
Writing Up Action Research	109	(4)
Conclusions	113	(2)
8. The Friendly Outsider: From AR as a Research Strategy to the Skills Needed to Become an Action Researcher	115	(16)
Not Trying to Overcome an Unruly World	115	(1)
Creating Possibilities Rather Than Reinforcing Limits	116	(3)
Linking Theory and Local Understanding: Being Scientific, Counterintuitive, and Technically Competent	119	(2)
Practices and Skills of the Action Researcher	121	(3)
The Friendly Outsider	124	(5)
Becoming an Action Researcher	129	(1)
Conclusions	130	(1)
Note	130	(1)
PART 3: VARIETIES OF ACTION RESEARCH PRAXIS: LIBERATING HUMAN POTENTIAL	131	(106)
9. Pragmatic Action Research	133	(18)
Constructing Arenas for Dialogue	135	(1)
Searching	136	(7)
Preparing for the Search	143	(1)
Planning and Executing a Search	144	(6)
Conclusions	150	(1)
Notes	150	(1)
10. Power and Social Reform: Southern PAR, Education, Feminism, and Action Research	151	(17)
Participatory Research and Southern PAR	153	(5)
Educational Strategies	158	(5)
Feminist Analyses of Inequality and Development	163	(3)
Conclusions	166	(1)
Notes	166	(2)
11. Educational Action Research	168	(16)
Frameworks	168	(2)
Reforming Education in the North	170	(3)
Adult Education Approaches in Industrialized Countries	173	(2)
Corporate Classrooms	175	(1)
Adult Education and Community Development	176	(6)
Conclusions	182	(1)
Notes	183	(1)
12. Participatory Evaluation	184	(10)
The Authority of Evaluation	186	(1)
The Emergence of Participatory Evaluation	186	(1)
Modes of Participatory Evaluation	187	(5)
Action Research in Evaluation Practice	192	(1)
Conclusions	192	(2)
13 Participatory Rural Appraisal, Rapid Rural Appraisal, and Participatory Learning and Analysis	194	(14)
Participatory Rural Appraisal in International Development	195	(4)
Participation and Sustainability	199	(1)
The Specifics of Participatory Rural Appraisal	200	(4)
Critiques of Participatory Rural Appraisal	204	(1)
Participatory Rural Appraisal and Action Research	205	(1)
Conclusions	206	(1)
Notes	207	(1)
14. Varieties of Human Inquiry: Collaborative, Action, Self-Reflective, and Cooperative	208	(15)
Central Perspectives	209	(2)
Human Inquiry	211	(4)
Action Inquiry and Self-Reflective Inquiry	215	(3)
Cooperative Inquiry	218	(3)
Conclusions	221	(2)
15. Action Science and Organizational Learning	223	(14)
Action Science	223	(9)
Organizational Learning	232	(2)
The Skills Required for Action Science and Organizational Learning	234	(1)
Conclusions	234	(1)
Notes	235	(2)
PART 4: ACTION RESEARCH, HIGHER EDUCATION, AND DEMOCRACY	237	(29)
16. Educating Action Researchers	239	(16)
General Considerations	241	(2)
AR Praxis in Higher Education	243	(1)
Some Possibilities for Current Undergraduate AR Teaching	244	(5)
Ph.D. Training in Action Research	249	(2)
Situating Action Research Within the University	251	(3)
Conclusions	254	(1)
Note	254	(1)
17. Action Research, Participation, and Democratization	255	(11)
Participation	256	(5)
Democratization	261	(1)
Venues for Participation and Democratization	262	(3)
Conclusions: Action Research and Democratic Processes	265	(1)
References	266	(12)
Index	278	(23)
About the Authors	301