Published Action Research: Living Up to Its Ideals?

• In Event: The Why, How, and Lessons Learned From Meta-Analysis of Action Research

Abstract

The third presenter will report on a meta-analysis of 300 published examples of action research that cut across education, business, and healthcare. She has been trying to figure out whether action research is living up to its ideals as suggested in early AR lit - especially Argyris and Schon. What makes AR different is that we take action, not just study what already is happening and therefore create the potential for dynamic change that is driven by data/research.. We say that our work lives up to emancipatory ideals, but are those increasing as per Kemmis (2006) call to action? Does our literature display action and are those actions measured in a manner that is convincing? Does our work lead to improvement in our fields of study? I am using a ranking scale to better understand these issues as drawn across variables established across AR lit but especially Kemmis. From an AR perspective my question is: If I better understand how AR studies as published in journals portrays our work, and other's agree with my summation of that understanding, will it lead to changes or improvements in the way action researchers move forward in our practice? Will it result in different literature? Will we, as a body of people supporting this methodology find the results intriguing, insightful or important? How will that response shape the way I see our work and my place within that body?
Findings include the fact that AR journals publish significantly more articles on studies that do not display measurable outcomes, but rather focus on the fine points of methodology. Discussion leads us to wonder if those ratios are the choice of the action researcher, who when they have strong outcomes or best practices that develop in their field, chose to publish in journals related to that specialty? There were several correlations that became evident across studies. For instance, articles with the strongest clarity of purpose also had the strongest outcomes, people who focused on building community tended to work in groups, studies focused on techniques in AR tended to be on topics focused on efficiency, etc.
This meta- analysis raises questions for the academy as to how we want the focus of action research publications to reach maturity and what are the messages sent by publications as to inherent usefulness of this methodology.

Author

• Emily Alana James, Walden University