Handbook of Action Research; Concise Paperback Edition

by Peter Reason

• ISBN13: 9781412920308
• ISBN10: 1412920302
• Edition: Concise
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-17
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

Summary

With the Handbook of Action Research hailed as a turning point in how action research is framed and understood by scholars, this student edition has been structured to provide an easy inroad into the field for researchers and students. It includes concise chapter summaries and an informative introduction that draws together the different strands of action research and reveals their diverse applications as well as their interrelations. Divided into four parts, there are important themes of thinking and practice running throughout: Part I reviews the range of paradigms and metatheories, the perspectives, values and epistemologies that inform the different practices of action research. Part II represents the diverse approaches to action research and the range of methodologies. Part III shows how different researchers have applied the various different groundings and practices in their own work. Part IV addresses some of the competencies that may be required for the initiation and conduct of the research. All students and researchers interested in Action Research will make this Handbook their first point of reference when seeking means of engaging with the subject.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	ix
Preface	xxi
Introduction: Inquiry and Participation in Search of a World Worthy of Human Aspiration	1	(14)
Peter Reason
Hilary Bradbury
PART ONE: GROUNDINGS	15	(114)
Theory and Practice: the Mediating Discourse	17	(10)
Bjorn Gustavsen
Participatory (Action) Research in Social Theory: Origins and Challenges	27	(11)
Orlando Fals Borda
Action Research in the Workplace: the Socio-technical Perspective	38	(11)
William Pasmore
Infusing Race into the US Discourse on Action Research	49	(11)
Ella Edmondson Bell
Uneven Ground: Feminisms and Action Research	60	(11)
Patricia Maguire
Power and Knowledge	71	(12)
John Gaventa
Andrea Cornwall
Knowledge and Participatory Research	83	(11)
Peter Park
Exploring the Relevance of Critical Theory for Action Research: Emancipatory Action Research in the Footsteps of Jurgen Habermas	94	(12)
Stephen Kemmis
The Humanistic Approach to Action Research	106	(11)
John Rowan
The Relationship of `Systems Thinking' to Action Research	117	(12)
Robert Louis Flood
PART TWO: PRACTICES	129	(90)
Action Science: Creating Communities of Inquiry in Communities of Practice	131	(13)
Victor J. Friedman
The Practice of Co-operative Inquiry: Research `with' rather than `on' People	144	(11)
John Heron
Peter Reason
Appreciative Inquiry: the Power of the Unconditional Positive Question	155	(11)
James D. Ludema
David L. Cooperrider
Frank J. Barrett
Large-group Processes as Action Research	166	(10)
Ann W. Martin
Ethnodrama: Constructing Participatory, Experiential and Compelling Action Research through Performance	176	(9)
Jim Mienczakowski
Stephen Morgan
Clinical Inquiry/Research	185	(10)
Edgar H. Schein
Community Action Research: Learning as a Community of Practitioners, Consultants and Researchers	195	(12)
Peter M. Senge
Claus Otto Scharmer
The Practice of Action Inquiry	207	(12)
William R. Torbert
PART THREE: EXEMPLARS	219	(86)
Working Together, Learning Together: Co-operative Inquiry in the Development of Complex Practice by Teams of Social Workers	221	(7)
Mark Baldwin
The Early Mothering Project: What Happened When the Words `Action Research' Came to Life for a Group of Midwives	228	(8)
Penelope A. Barrett
Learning with The Natural Step: Action Research to Promote Conversations for Sustainable Development	236	(7)
Hilary Bradbury
Transforming Lives: Towards Bicultural Competence	243	(10)
Gloria Bravette Gordon
Action Research to Develop an Interorganizational Network	253	(9)
Rupert F. Chisholm
Participatory Research and Education for Social Change: Highlander Research and Education Center	262	(7)
Helen Matthews Lewis
Creative Arts and Photography in Participatory Action Research in Guatemala	269	(10)
M. Brinton Lykes
The Art of Clinical Inquiry in Information Technology-related Change	279	(7)
Joe McDonagh
David Coghlan
Participatory Action Research in Southern Tanzania, with Special Reference to Women	286	(11)
Marja-Liisa Swantz
Elizabeth Ndedya
Mwajuma Saiddy Masaiganah
Six Street Youth Who Could . . .	297	(8)
Elizabeth Whitmore
Colette McKee
PART FOUR: SKILLS	305	(38)
Collaborative Off-line Reflection: a Way to Develop Skill in Action Science and Action Inquiry	307	(8)
Jenny W. Rudolph
Steven S. Taylor
Erica Gabrielle Foldy
On Working With Graduate Research Students	315	(7)
Peter Reason
Judi Marshall
The Mirror, the Magnifying Glass, the Compass and the Map: Facilitating Participatory Action Research	322	(13)
Yoland Wadsworth
Self-reflective Inquiry Practices	335	(8)
Judi Marshall
Conclusion: Broadening the Bandwidth of Validity: Issues and Choice-points for Improving the Quality of Action Research	343	(9)
Hilary Bradbury
Peter Reason
Index	352