Constructing the Researcher's Role in Collaborative Action Research

• In Event: Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Action Research

Abstract

Action research is an increasing methodology in educational studies in recent years. In collaborative action research (CAR), practitioners and researcher collaborate during the research process. This study focuses on the researcher’s role in CAR and how it was constructed during the process. The data consists of researcher’s and practitioners’ self-narratives and interviews. The findings show that the researcher’s role was constructed in a so-called third space where the researcher and practitioners collaborated. The researcher went through an emotional landscape while constructing her role and her position was in between an insider and an outsider. Finally, she faced different kinds of tensions concerning her role. The study contributes to limited number of studies on the researcher’s role in CAR.

Authors

• Ingibjorg Sigurdardottir, University of Iceland

• Anna-Maija Puroila, University of Oulu