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Winter (1989) provided an overview of the six key principles of AR:
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Chapter 3 Research Framework
1) Reflecting on issues and processes and making explicit the interpretations,
biases, assumptions and concerns upon which judgements are made (reflexive
critique).
2) Conceptualising phenomena in dialogue in order to understand the set of
relationships between the phenomenon and its context, and between the
elements constituting the phenomenon (dialectical critique).
3) Being a collaborative resource whereby participants in an action research
project are co-researchers.
4) Identifying that the change process may potentially threaten all previously
established ways of doing things (risk).
5) Recognising that the report acts as support for further discussion rather than a
final conclusion (plural structure).
6) AR theory informs practice while practice refines theory in a continuous
transformation (theory, practice and transformation).
Subsequently, Greenwood and Levin (1998) explained AR as a cyclical process of
1) diagnosing problems, 2) planning interventions (change), 3) applying
interventions (making the change), 4) evaluating the interventions (what has been
the outcome of the change), 5) reflecting on the learning (what worked well – what
didn’t work well) and 6) continuing the cycle again in order to continuously improve
the situation (Figure 3.2).
Figure 3.2: Key stages of action research (Greenwood and Levin, 1998)