Action Research A Methodology for Change and Development

22 ACTION RESEARCH
constraints of the larger activity system which frames their actions.
Engeström has developed a method of Developmental Work Research
(DWR) that uses cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT) as the basis for
working with those who share in a common area of practice (such as care
for children with chronic multiple health needs) to generate knowledge
about their work practices, identify points of contradiction in the activity
system and use these as the basis for refining and improving it (Engeström
2005). In terms of the theories of action I have been discussing, activity
theory is particularly helpful because it gives priority to collaborative decision
making on the basis of sharing knowledge about identified ‘contradictions’.
A further development of these theories is the concept of ‘distributed
cognition’ (Salomon 1993), which gives emphasis to the generation of
knowledge by an activity system as a whole rather than by individuals
working within it. In practice, few have gone so far as to reject the significance
of individual minds of learners/workers in shaping the activity
system, but many see an additional significant role for distributed cognition
as groups carry out joint activity, sometimes moving to a point – as in
the example of air traffic controllers – where no one individual holds the
knowledge and skills to carry out the whole of the activity and it can be said
to be jointly carried out by the group as a whole who share responsibility
for it between them (Hutchins and Klausen 1996).
Socio-cultural theories, drawing as they do on the inter-related and
embedded nature of action and the way in which it is shaped by socio-cultural
tools and historically derived practices, make it clear why the simple
model of an individual planning and implementing change by undertaking
action research in isolation from others is unrealistic. The systemic nature
of human activity makes it critically important for action research to be
undertaken collaboratively.
Collaboration and emancipation
Another of the key concepts in action research, which has tended to be
adopted too simplistically, is collaboration. The importance of social rather
than individual action is frequently assumed in the literature (Mead 1934;
Dewey 1944; Habermas 1984) and for Carr and Kemmis (1983) collaboration
was an essential component of emancipatory action research. When
engaging in action research projects it would seem that the starting point is
often an assumption that the process of collaboration will be supportive
and unproblematic. This was certainly my own position when embarking
on the PALM project (see Chapter 4). It was necessary for us to learn about
the problematics of collaboration through the conduct of the research. It
was not just the operation of power that constrained our working relation-