Action Research Methodology: Streams, Design, and Comparison with PAR

Research Approaches: Comparison and Logic

This summary compares key aspects of Social Research, Action Research (AR), and Participatory Action Research (PAR).

Value and Role of the Researcher

• Social Research: The researcher investigates.
• Action Research (AR): The researcher investigates, but is not equal to the investigated party.
• Participatory Action Research (PAR): The researcher equals the investigated party; another researcher investigates equally.

Research Objectives

• Social Research: Observe to see.
• Action Research (AR): Intervening to transform.
• Participatory Action Research (PAR): Transform to transform.

Logic of Inquiry

• Social Research: Scientific research.
• Action Research (AR): Intervention.
• Participatory Action Research (PAR): Transformation.

Action Research (AR) Project Streams

Action Research (AR) encompasses at least three distinct streams:

1. Pragmatic Action Research

This stream faithfully follows the tenets of Dewey's pragmatism, based on two core ideas:

1. Knowledge generation through pilot action.
2. Democratic participation.

Its field of study is experimental psychosocial research. Its methodological approach aligns with social research but maintains the essential educational nature of the research process.

2. Cooperative Action Research

Cooperative AR emphasizes the ability of joint research to enhance personal growth, self-improvement, and willpower. It is typically applied to groups that are discriminated against or in situations of exclusion.

3. Systemic Action Research

Systemic AR is based on system dynamics theory and the idea of emancipation proposed by critical sociology. It posits that people live in unpredictable and complex systems undergoing continuous transformation. Individuals learn to understand their position and role as part of an overall system, which allows them to make decisions leading toward emancipation.

Note: This approach has hardly been implemented in practice.

The Pragmatic AR Project Design

The Pragmatic Action Research Project (PARP) design is performed prior to fieldwork. Researchers, based on previous reports from participants and collected information, formulate the objectives and hypotheses that will guide their intervention.

Once the project is launched, researchers transition into evaluators of the results caused by the intervention. While the results report requires the involvement of the observed researcher, the overall framework continues to act as a synthesizer. The project is conceived as a course of action very similar to EML (likely a reference to Experiential Methodology or similar).

Phases of the Pragmatic AR Project

1. Initial joint exploration.
2. Problem statement and assumptions.
3. Design and project planning.
4. Implementation, analysis, and presentation of results.
5. Interpreting findings and new decisions.