Willfred Carr 2008

There is two
problems with
action research;
the first is ACTION
and the second is
RESEARCH

Uneasy Bedfellows

Scientific
Research

Action
Research

Uneasy bedfellows
Scientific Research

Action Research

Another arena, another kind o

Critical educational
researcher

Action Research a

professional
dancing

two becoming
one

Sisters are circling for them

EITHER - OR
near/close at a distance
private/individual public/general
subjective - objective
action prerequisites/consequences
actor/subject object to be observed
everyday actions - experiments
qualitative quantitative
to understand to explain
culture structure
contextuality - generalizations
explorative verifying/confirming
Inductive abductive deductive
Polyphony The Truth

BOTH AND

near/close at a distance
private/individual public/gener
subjective - objective
action prerequisites/consequenc
actor/subject object to be observ
everyday actions - experiments
qualitative quantitative
to understand to explain
culture structure
contextuality - generalizations
explorative verifying/confirmin
Inductive abductive deductive
Polyphony The Truth

knowledge-in/on-action, reflection-in/on-action tacit kno

Praxis-related research: Serving two masters?

Requirements of academic report and aspects of praxis-related research
New knowledge
Change of praxis
Examination
Trustworthiness

Inquiry
Inquiry culture
Perspective
Critical approach

Form
Communication

Science
Theory
Theory-praxis
Action research

Relevance
Relevance

Autonomy
Integrity

Method
Empowerment

Analysis
Reflection

Ethics
Solidarity
An empirical field
Life experiences
Mattsson & Kemmis 2007

ACTION RESEARCH

is a form of
collective self-reflective inquiry
undertaken by participants in social
situations in order to improve the
rationality and justice of their own social or
educational practices, as well as their
understanding of those practices and the
situations in which the practices are carried
out.
The approach is only action research when it
is collaborative, though it is important to
realise that action research of the group is
achieved through the critically examined
action of individual group members.
Kemmis and

ACTION RESEARCH

can only be
made intelligible as a mode of inquiry that
aspires to create and nurture dialogical
communities [ .. ] form of inquiry that
recognized that practical knowledge and
understanding can only be developed and
advanced by practitioners engaging in the
kind of dialogue and conversation through
which the tradition-embedded nature of
the assumptions in their practice can be
made explicit and their collective
understanding of praxis can be
Carr 2006, 433
transformed.

ACTION RESEARCH
Participatory, democratic process
concerned with developing practical knowing
in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes,
grounded in a participatory worldview
which we believe is emerging at this historical
moment. It seeks to bring together action
and reflection, theory and practice, in
participation with others, in the pursuit of
practical solutions to issues of pressing
concern to people, and more generally the
flourishing of individual persons and their
communities.

ACTION RESEARCH
.. refers to a practical way of looking at your
own work to check that it is as you would
like it to be. Because action research is done by
you, the practitioner, it is often referred to as
practitioner based research; and because it
involves you thinking about and reflecting on
your work, it can also be called a form of selfreflective practice. The idea of self reflection is
central. In traditional forms of research
empirical research researchers do research on
other people. In action research, researchers
do research on themselves. Empirical
researchers enquire into other peoples lives.
Action researchers enquire into their own.

ACTION RESEARCH
Karin Rnnerman (2004, 13)
Practice/action as a basis/starting point
The researcher & the practitioner in collaboration
Research aiming at change
Arja Kuula (1999, 10)
Problembased and oriented towards practice
The involvement of those to be researched
Research oriented towards change

Action research is not a method or a

procedure for research but a series of
commitments to observe and problematize
through practice a series of principles for
conducting social enquiry.
The notion of a spiral may be a useful teaching
device
but it is all too easily to slip into using it as the
template
for practice
McTaggart 1996, 249

Action research express explicitly both the aim

and the method. It is about changing peoples
ways of thinking and acting or changing the
social and material conditions.

Easy bedfellows
ACTIO
N

ACTIO
N

RESEARCH

Systematic,
analytical and
pragmatic inquiry
with the members of
a community or
organization in order
to improve actions
and affect the
contexts
the
Criticalofdistance
actions

LEARN

Intentional,
continuous collegial
process of
learning and reflection
in order to improve
actions and affect the
contexts of the
actions immediac
engaged

Folk enlightenment
Social work
Study circles
Community work/development
Research circles
Community adult education

Community-based
Popular education
Emancipatory
Social movements
Critical
Practical

ACTION
RESEARCH
collaborative
science

interactive

participatory

learning

Co-operative inquiry

inquiry

Teacher research
Communicative research Classroom research
Self-reflectice inquiry
Teacher-as-researcher
Praxis-related/close research

FOLK ENLIGHTENMENT STUDY

CIRCLES
THE ENLIGHTENING DISPORTS
(knowlegde + experience, engagement,
affection)

SOCIOCULTURAL,
-CONSTRUCTIVIST,
-COGNITIVE

Welfare state
Democracy, generality, equality, accessability,

Civil society
participation, engagement, networks, associations

Collaborative, experiential, informal learning

deliberation communication - action
Participatory Action Research

Folk enlightenment

University

Working life

labour unions, social work

Study circles

Research circles

Collaborative knowledge
construction for social change

Collaboration and partnerships between

researchers and practitioners

Critical-emancipatory/Practical

Theoretical perspective

Growing as a human being

an engaged worker

Technical perspective

Becoming a citizen Developing as

AR encompassing the personal, the political and the professional

BILDUNG
A humanist conception and construction of human being(s)

ACTION RESEARCH
As human development, as adult
learning

Systematic and conscious

deliberative negotiations about
what it means to be a human
being and finding out
meaningsful ways of becoming
more human in a certain social
practice.