essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

28 –––– Action Research and Research Action:A Family of Methods ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Frank HellerAction Research is not a single method of knowledge acquisition and change. It can be describedas a family of methods distinguished by having several identifiable objectives and characteristics.However, the term became so diversified that it is difficult to evaluate its usefulness. One of thischapter’s objectives is to restrict the variety of concepts that parade under this name and stresscertain core elements as a way of giving the method a degree of coherence and provide aboundary within which the central family of Action Research methods retains a recognizableidentity. This should open the way for this methodology to be more widely used in research. Itmay also overcome the problems that have led some funding bodies to exclude Action Researchas a valid methodology for which they are prepared to provide funds (Heller, 1997).The chapter starts with making a distinction between Action Research (AR) and ResearchAction (RA). It goes on to describe seven core attributes that can be applied to both AR andRA and the reasons for excluding certain projects from this family of methods. This leads intoa short analysis of the origin and early work of AR/RA and some epistemologicalconsiderations and aspects of validity. I end the chapter with two short cases. One is adiagnostic AR using the socio-technical model, the other is a RA project which extends theprevious research into new territory. These AR/RA projects easily accommodate withRapoport’s (1970) description: ‘action research aims to contribute both to the practicalconcerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to the goals of social scienceby joint collaboration within a mutually acceptable framework’ (1970: 99).DISTINGUISHING ACTION RESEARCH (AR) FROM RESEARCH ACTION (RA) ––––––––––––––––––––––––Within this family of action-oriented methods there are two fairly distinct and legitimateapproaches. In recent decades, the term Action Research has been used to describe projectsthat are based on a body of social science knowledge derived from earlier research, for instancefrom the socio-technical tradition and from theory and evidence in support of semiautonomousjob design and democratic decision making in organizations. This applies to agreat deal of the important Scandinavian work research programmes (Qvale, 1976; Engelstadand Gustavsen, 1993). The emphasis in these AR programmes is on facilitating change basedon readily available and reasonably validated evidence and theory. In these circumstances,putting the word action in front of research is fully justified. Nevertheless these projects havea research role. For instance supporters of Karl Popper (1992) would explain that the functionof AR is to question the validity of previous findings and, perhaps, suggest a betterexplanation. There is also the opportunity to explore the relevance of the work for new