Action Research

Conceptual Overview

The term action research is used to describe a variety of different approaches to organizational research and processes to generate organizational action. At the broadest level, these approaches can be divided into two schools: those that emphasize the social action and those that emphasize the organizational research. For the first school, the research relates to the local setting and is a means to inform or justify social action in the particular situation being studied. For the second, intervention into the organization is a means to derive research data to inform theory or method development that, in turn, is intended to inform social action in other settings. The two schools thus differ in the extent to which they emphasize the action or the research as either a means or an end, but each relies on both a rigorous research approach and an effective approach toward organizational change.

The social action perspective itself includes several different focuses. For one group of scholars, the main concern is with the use of some of the principles of action research as a method for developing effective professional practice. Their focus is individual practitioners, who undertake research on their own personal practice, in their own practical context, and seek to use the research for their own personal benefit. This kind of action research is thus a form of self-development. Action research of this sort has been used extensively by professionals in education and health.

Another group considers action research as a form of organizational development (OD). Some action researchers even use the terms action research and organizational development as if they were synonymous, implying a view of action research as solely about creating organizational change. A particular slant on this is when the action research is done in “your own” organization. Others extend this OD perspective in the other direction, arguing for action research to be focused on large-scale social changes that involve networks of organizations.

The focuses on individual, organization, or network development are neither distinct nor mutually exclusive. For all of them there is a concern with participation of organizational members in carrying out the research. Many authors argue that this is a necessary feature of action research although some see it as a matter of choice. For many action researchers, the emphasis on participation is linked to deeper ideological issues, such as worker participation in organizational [Page 21]decision making or community participation in public decision making. They are often driven by concerns for the emancipation and empowering of groups and individuals. Others concentrate on change and learning, and argue that the aim of action research is to make these self-generating and self-maintaining processes in the systems to which it is applied.

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