Critical perspective on Action Research for Postgraduate Researcher

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Critical perspective on Action Research for
Postgraduate Researcher
Aleksej Heinze Supervisor Chris Procter
Advisor Elaine Ferneley E
A.Heinze_at_salford.ac.uk T 0161 295 5025
SPARC 2004
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Overview

• My Background
• Research objective
• Why use Action Research (AR)?
• AR key players
• Action Research critique
• Personal experience
• Good read

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My Background

• 2000 2003 Undergraduate student in the
  University of Salford
• 2003 now Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) and
  a PhD student
• Research objective
• Improvement of undergraduate part time blended
  learning course (new since 2003)
• (Blended Learning is the effective combination of
  different modes of delivery, models of teaching
  and styles of learning Procter, 2003)

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Action Research what is it?

• AR is an interventionist approach to the
  acquisition of scientific knowledge that has
  sound foundations in the post-positivist
  tradition. (Baskerville and Wood-Harper 1996).
• The application focus of AR involves solving
  organisational problems through intervention
  while at the same time contributing to
  knowledge. (Davison et. al. 2004)
• AR aims to contribute both to the practical
  concerns of people in an immediate problematic
  situation and to the goals of social science by
  joint collaboration within a mutually accepted
  ethical framework. (Susman and Evered, 1978)
• Learning by doing (OBrien)

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Action Research framework
Reconnaissance Fact finding
Initial idea
Form General Plan
Diagnostic
Amend Plan
Evaluate
Monitor
Action steps 1,2,3
Therapeutic
Implement
Figure 1. Lewins cyclic model.
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Why use Action Research?

• Why AR? (consultancy mode Actiongt Reflectiongt
  Theory)
• Intervention in the situation not possible with
  Case Study (except action case)
• Relevance to the real world (unlike experiments)
• Supervisor is the course director
• Allows broad research question?
• Highlights the Social aspect of systems
• Cyclical framework of continuous improvement that
  is well-suited to organisational change linking
  theory and practice
• Means of generating and immediately testing
  knowledge

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Some of the key players

• John Dewey 1920 30 No action without
  research, and no research without action.
  (educational philosopher) gt Educational AR
• Kurt Lewin (social and experimental psychologist)
  in the 1940s expanded on AR gt Traditional AR
• Eric Trist (social psychiatrist) Tavistock Clinic
  similar approach used after WWII gt Contextual AR
  (action learning)
• Decisions are best implemented by those who help
  make them
• Marxian and practice orientation of Antonio
  Gramsci gt Radical AR
• Lippit and Lippet 1978 consulting development
• Levins 6 stage cycle Analysis gt Fact Finding gt
  Conceptualisation gt Planning gt Implementation of
  action gt Evaluation
• Educational settings i.e. Gilly Salmon
• Susman and Evered 1978 connection to IS
  social System
• Checkland 1981 Developed the Soft Systems
  Approach using AR

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What Action Research?

• Canonical action research
• Information Systems Prototyping
• Soft Systems
• Action Science
• Participant Observation
• Action Learning
• Multiview
• ETHICS

• Clinical Field Work
• Process Consulting
• Reflective System Development
• Collaborative practice
• Participatory research
• Collaborative inquiry
• Emancipatory research
• Action Learning
• Contextual action research

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AR Philosophy issues

• Tends to focus on the social and psychological
  aspects (but can be positivist, Klein and Myers
  1999)
• Consequences
• Findings are dismissed as unscientific
• Funding not allocated
• Accept findings in good faith or author
  reputation
• Engage with the philosophical literature
• Localised acceptance of findings (Supervisor vs.
  Examiner)
• AR is an example of the post-positivist
  methods
• Empirical - Interpretive
• Experimental - Multivariable
• Observational Interventionist

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Dilemma 1 interpretation vs. intervention
Change (intervention)
Prediction (Reduction)
Understanding (Interpretation)
Vidgen and Braa (1997)
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Action research gt big dilemma?

• Consultancy vs. Research gt contribution to
  knowledge
• Research is more rigorously documented
• Researches are theoretical vs. Consultants are
  empirical
• Consultants work on smaller budgets and time
  constraints
• Research is cyclical but consultancy is linear
• When to stop iterations.
• Research with little action or action with
  little research
• Impartiality of the researcher not only AR
  related

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More horns of the dilemma

• Lack of rigour gt use of valid research tools
• Researcher becoming to involved and neglects
  science
• AR is context bound replication and
  understanding what caused particular effects are
  difficult
• Dilemmas
• Ethics - Personal over-involvement with the
  research, Goals Subject and Science
• Initiatives disinterested pursuit of knowledge

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Personal experience

• High responsibility towards the research subjects
• Ethical approval
• Political issues
• Need a research question/ focus
• Heavy reliance on communication
• Difficult to adhere to the cycles
• Need rigour to be regarded as scientific
• How do you generate theory after all theory is
  the bit PhD students need

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Some starting pointers

• www.qual.auckland.ac.nz
• http//www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/ari/arihome.h
  tml
• Braa, K. and R. Vidgen (1999). "Interpretation,
  intervention, and reduction in the organisational
  laboratory a framework for in-context
  information system research." Accounting
  Management and Information Technologies 9 25-47.
• Baskerville, R. L. and A. T. Wood-Harper (1996).
  "A critical perspective on action research as a
  method for information systems research." Journal
  of information technology JIT 11(3) 235.

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Conclusions

• AR has many faces
• AR will be capable of providing a framework for
  PhD research
• Framework with limitations but others have
  similar issues without the advantages
• Need to have a good theory generation strategy
  combination with Grounded Theory

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Questions please

• Critical perspective on Action Research for
  Postgraduate Researcher
• Aleksej Heinze
• E A.Heinze_at_salford.ac.uk
• T 0161 295 5025
• SPARC 2004