A topic in research methodology
Research generally produces knowledge claims that are considered to contribute to public knowledge.
Such knowledge is usually expected to aspire to be theoretical: to be abstracted from the findings from particular contexts.
Yet in action research, AR, we tend to primarily produce personal knowledge:
“the gaze is ultimately on the researcher. It doesn't matter which [techniques] we elect to use, in the end the account becomes a laying out of our personal understanding … We come out of all of these experiences with an expanded appreciation of the complexity of learning, of teaching, and a stronger sense of how external realities affect what we can really do”
Newman, 2000: ¶12
This is because AR has different priorities:
“AR is … characterised by … the attitude to the knowledge developed. AR may well produce reportable new understandings, and these may be applicable elsewhere, but the aim of the research is to solve a problem or improve a situation. Where a solution is found, it will be implemented even if this compromises the collection and analysis of data – if a suspected solution is not helping, it will be abandoned to try something else, even though it may not yet have been rigorously evaluated…action research is highly contextualised, and reports (where reports are produced) may well offer little readily generalised knowledge to inform other practitioners.”
Taber, 2013: 107-108
This is because
“The fundamental aim of action research is to improve practice rather than to produce knowledge. The production and utilization of knowledge is subordinate to, and conditioned by, this fundamental aim.”
Elliot, 1991, p. 49
Sources cited:
- Elliott, J. (1991). Action Research for Educational Change. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
- Newman, J. M. (2000). Action research: A brief overview. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(1). Retrieved from http://qualitative-research.net/fqs
- Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
