Action
Research (AR) is a type of research that is started with the aim of developing
a solution to either current or future problems. Besides that, AR is a
reflective process of progressive problem solving which is initiated and led by
individuals working as a team or working as a part of a community practice in a
bid to improve how issues are addressed and problem solved. The strategy
purpose of AR is solving a specific problem while producing guidelines for best
practice in the future.
AR involves active participation in change
participation through an organization while conducting research simultaneously.
Established organizations or institutions may also undertake AR with assistance
from professional researchers with the focus being improvement of the situation
within the environment in which they conduct the practice. Researchers
collaborate with others as designers and stakeholders in proposing a new course
of action to help the community in which they live to improve the situation in
the workplaces (Brown & Jones, 2001).
Types of AR
The
choice of AR over the other is influenced by purpose, emphasis, and results.
For this reason there are three types of AR that give educators an opportunity
to conduct an investigation in the areas of concern and solve the challenges
within their classrooms and their schools in general. AR can also improve the
quality of an organization. The researcher collects data through which they
diagnose problems, search for solutions, and act on developed solutions while
they monitor the working of the action. The three types of AR are (Anderson
& Herr, 1999):
·
Individual Teacher Research:
It is conducted by a single teacher where the time spent doing the tasks depend
on the teacher and the type of research he is developing. The area under
investigation leads to the discovery of the problem in the institution or the
society. Methods of collection, organization, and analysis of data depend on
the researcher as well. The researcher then shares the outcomes of the research
with members of the research group. The outcomes may be used in decision
making.
·
Traditional AR: It
originated from Kurt Lewin’s work within organizations where it comprises the
concepts and practices of field theory, group dynamics, T-groups, and clinical
models. Increase in the importance of relations between labor management
resulted in the AR in the areas of organization development. The traditional AR
is conservative and maintains status quo.
·
Radical AR: This
AR focus strongly on emancipation and how to overcome power imbalances. It
focuses on international development circles and strives for social
transformation. It also focuses on strengthening peripheral groups in the
society.
·
Educational AR: It
is founded in the works of Thomas Dewey, the American philosopher during the
1920s and 1930s. The philosopher believed that educators should be involved in
solving the problems of the community. Most of its practitioners operate out of
educational institutions. It also focuses on curriculum and professional
development.
·
Contextual AR: It
is also known as action learning. It is a derivation of Trist’s work on
organizational relations. It deals with reconstitution of the structural
relations among actors in the society. It involves all the impacted parties and
stakeholders. All the participants understand the work of the whole group, and
it emphasizes that participants act as project designers and co-researchers.
History of AR
There
is no clarity about the origins of AR according to the current literature.
However, studies have shown that AR originated with Kurt Lewin, a psychologist
in the America in 1946. It has evolved since its first use where careful study
of the literature shows that it is derived from the scientific method. However,
there is evidence that there are several social reformers such as Lippit,
Collier, and Radke might have been using AR before discovery by Lewin. A work
by Altricher and Gestetner cites physician named Moreno using group participation
as far as 1913 in a community development in Vienna. Kurt Lewin described AR
that it proceeds in spiral steps where each comprises planning, action,
observation, and reflection as follows (Heikkinen, Huttunen, & Syrjala,
2007):
·
Planning: The phase
involves development of a plan of the action the researchers intend to take or
the change they intend to make.
·
Action: The phase
involves working and executing the plan previously made in the planning phase.
·
Observation: The
phase entails monitoring and recording various activities from the action phase
to help evaluate the effect of action and the effectiveness of the proposed
intervention.
·
Reflection: The
researcher reflects on what has happened using the outcomes of the observations
and other notes in his diary. They also evaluate what has gone on well and what
has not gone well and how they can be improved.
Application of AR
AR
is action oriented as the name suggests. AR is applied in affecting teachers’
actions, beliefs, activities, and effects. Researchers direct AR towards both
understanding and improvement of the practice. Researchers essentially engage
in AR with the intention of using the collected data to help educators
understand or try new required methods for teaching and administering their
teaching activities. There is action in the evaluation of the new strategies
for the future use in instruction. AR leads in cropping up of new questions for
examination. Therefore, it forges new forms of comprehending and deeper
detailed insights into practice. AR, therefore, helps in fostering much of the
teacher-based improvements in institutions of learning naturally (Moghaddam,
2007).
Appropriateness of AR in .Net Technology
AR
helps in understanding how systems interact is making it one of the simplest
method of comprehending social and organization systems. AR advocates the
researchers to understand systems by trying to change them. One of the things a
.net technology introduces is the theory that has the potential to inject a
change in the system. AR does similar things thereby making it a suitable
methodology of .net technology. The .net technology involves problem and change
management making AR fits it appropriately (Salmon, 2003).
The
.net technology passes through the process of gathering and consuming
application knowledge. There is also the allocation of the piece of .net
technology project to the developer. The .net technology developer identifies
all the logical errors and finally corrects them. Other stages of the .net
technology development are where the developer implements changes and documents
everything. The development of .net technology is a full system development
life cycle (SDLC) meaning the last stage also applies where the developers
maintain the new development. For this reason, it can be attested the AR is a
suitable tool that could be used in tracking and management of .net technology
development (White, 1999).
References
Anderson, G. L., &
Herr, K. (1999). The new paradigm wars: Is there room for rigorous practitioner knowledge ion schools and university?
Educational Researcher, 28 (5), 12- 21.
Heikkinen, H.,
Huttunen, T., & Syrjala, L. (2007). Action research as narrative: Five
principles for validation. Educational Action Research, 15 (1),
5-19.
Moghaddam, A. (2007).
Action research: A spiral inquiry for valid and useful knowledge. Alberta
Journal of Educational Research, 53 (2), 228-239.
Salmon, P. (2003). How
do we recognize good research? The
Psychologist, 16 (1), 24-27.
T.Brown, & Jones,
L. (2001). Action research and
postmodernism: Congruence and critique. Philadelphia:
Open University Press.
White, J. D. (1999). Taking language seriously: The narrative
foundations of public administration
research. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
