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Reason and Bradbury (2008) define action research as a:
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Chapter 3 Research Framework
“Participatory process concerned with developing practical knowing in the
pursuit of worthwhile human purposes. It seeks to bring together action and
reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of
practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more
generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”.
(Reason and Bradbury, 2008, pp.8)
This definition reveals that AR is multi-faceted and collaborative as it brings people
together in order to reflect and act. Action researchers believe that people
accumulate, organise and use complex knowledge and experience constantly in
everyday life. AR is thus a process that engages with problems and learning in order
to create a change (Greenwood and Levin, 1998). Action research is a form of
enquiry that enables practitioners everywhere to investigate and evaluate their work.
They ask, “What am I doing? What do I need to improve? How do I improve it?” It
is coming to be seen as methodology for real-world social change (Greenwood and
Levin, 1998).
3.4.1.6 Case Study
According to Yin (2009), case studies provide a systematic way of looking at events,
collecting data, analysing information and reporting the results. As a result the
researcher may gain a sharpened understanding of why the instance happened as it
did and what might become important to look at more extensively in future research.
The essence of case study is that it tries to illuminate a decision or set of decisions:
why they were taken, how they were implemented and with what result (Schramm,
1971). Firstly, the case study can explain the presumed causal links in real-life
interventions that are too complex for other research methods. Secondly, it can
describe an intervention and the real-life context in which it occurred. Thirdly, it can
illustrate certain topics within an evaluation, and finally it can enlighten a situation in
which an intervention is being evaluated (Schramm, 1971).
Zucker (2001) identified case study research for nurses as a method that centralises
the patient in the process. Gangeness and Yurkovich (2006) stated that case study