Action Research in Education and

Applied Linguistics

4.1. Traditional and critical

orientation towards action research
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
 The old and the
new paradigm of
work organisation
Comparison of the
traditional and
critical orientation
towards action
research
 VARIETY OF APPROACHES WITHIN
ACTION RESEARCH

Action researchers use various cognitive strategies which are commonly known as 1st, 2nd and 3rd person
action research. These strategies show how a researcher, or a group of researchers can carry out a cognitive
process through researching, designing and implementing change. David Coghlan and Teresa Brannick
[2014] remark that the integrating approach to research includes all three types of “voices and audiences.”
Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury-Huang [2013] hold a similar opinion, pointing out that the most
convincing and lasting action research combines three cognitive strategies: 1st person (which we may name
as individual action research), 2nd person (collective action research) and 3rd person (social action research).
Comparison of the
types of approach
to action research
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 Action Research in Education and
Applied Linguistics

4.2. Types of Action Research

MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 1 Action
research

Action research is a term used for defining an entire array of research forms combining research with
action. We could say that this term is a kind of umbrella which covers a range of action research types, and
not simply one of action research types.
Spiral of action
research cycles
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 2
Participatory action research

Participatory action research begins with people. What follows is learning about their problems, their
ambitions and what they would like to do. Participatory action research can be carried out in various types
of organisations (business, public, non-governmental) as well as in local communities.
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 3.YPAR –
Participatory action research with
youth/Youth-led participatory action research
Their purpose is questioning and transforming systems and institutions towards greater social justice
[Cammarota, Fine 2008]. The key principle of YPAR is the fact that research topics are always based on
youth’s own experiences and concerns. The second principle is the participatory nature of the research –
young people collaborate in the research process. Furthermore, YPAR is a transformative process: the
objective is always intervention which entails producing new knowledge and changing practices in order to
improve the lives of the youth and their communities [Anyon, Bender, Kennedy, Dechants 2018]. An
example of such a study is e.g. resolving the problem of school violence, when students define the essence
of the problem, study their fellow students’ perception of the problem, and then suggest solutions to
school authorities [Anyon, Kennedy, Durbahn, Jenson 2018].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 4. CPAR
— Critical participatory action research

According to Stephen Kemmis [2010, p. 86] critical participatory action research is research conducted by
“participants in order to reach historical self-awareness (or ‘historically-effected consciousness’) oriented
towards the awareness of the historical subject and historicalness of the person interpreting this subject in
practice and practice understood as praxis.” This research is not conducted exclusively for the practical
interest, but it also fulfils emancipatory goals, develops individual and collective self-reflection through the
opening of the communication space and intervenes in the occurring collective history and adopts
appropriate action as its practical purpose [Kemmis, 2010]. CPAR is a social process of shared learning in
the name of individual and collective self-education. The main objective of groups working on CPAR is
changing “here and now” practices, and not research referring to possible albeit abstract situations [Kemmis,
McTaggart, Nixon 2014].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 5. Action
science

Action science is a form of action research aiming at producing knowledge which can be used by people to
improve individual, group, organisational and other practices [Friedman, Putnam 2014]. Action science
relies on the concept of generating useful knowledge which aims not only at explaining the world, but also
showing how it can be changed [Chrostowski, Jemielniak 2011]. Action science is also defined as a form of
social practice which integrates both production and the use of knowledge for the promotion of learning
with and among individual people and systems [Friedman, Rogers, 2013]. It is assumed that in this approach
people create theories to test them later [Chrostowski, Jemielniak 2011]. Key features of this approach
include creating a community of researchers in communities of practitioners, building individual and
collective theories of action, combining interpretation with rigorous theory testing, creating alternatives for
the existing status quo and providing inspiration to change [Friedman, Rogers 2013].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 6.
Collaborative action research

In collaborative action research , the goal of the research is always formulated by practitioners, and learning
must be the motivation to take up the research while researchers conducting both research and taking action
must be able to have real impact on the research subject. Collaborative Action Research in not a monolithic
approach. Within Collaborative Action Research ,it is possible to distinguish other forms where formalised
cooperation constitutes the core of action research.
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 7.
Educational action research

Action research in the area of education has been carried out since the 1950s and it began in the USA
[Noffke, Brennan 2014]. It is often understood as teachers’ reflection on their practice and as a tool of
education [Hardy, Rönnerman, Edwards-Groves 2018]. Newton and Burgess [2008] distinguish three types
of educational action research: emancipatory, practical and knowledge generating. At the same time, they
claim that most EAR is not primarily emancipatory. Quoting Japie Heydenrych [2001] they remark that
educational action research should not assume a simple reflection on the practice and finding ways to
improve productivity. It should concentrate on studying educational practices which are often taken for
granted and unthinkingly accepted, and then problematise them [Newton, Burgess 2008].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 8.
Appreciative inquiry

This approach assumes that the best solutions already exist inside organisations, people, teams, or
communities, and it is possible to discover them, provided we are sufficiently attentive [McKeown, Fortune,
Dupuis 2016]. In appreciative inquiry the researcher is not an objective, external observer, but someone
actively involved in the organisation or community studied. Research participants engage in a dialogue
during which they discover positive aspects of the organisation and use them as a foundation for planning
future changes [Zandee 2014].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH:
9.Participatory rural appraisal

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) is defined as a family of approaches and methods used to enable
members of local (rural or urban) communities to express, enhance, share and analyse their knowledge of
life and conditions in which they operate, as well as to plan and act for their development [Chambers 1994,
p. 1253]. PRA draws on two traditions: rural rapid appraisal [RRA] and the premises of participatory action
research inspired by Paulo Freire’s research [Chambers 1994]. PRA is applied especially in such areas as
natural resource management (forestry, fishery, wildlife, etc.) and agriculture, health, nutrition, food safety
and programmes combatting poverty [Chambers 1994].
 TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 10.
Feminist participatory action research

This approach draws inspiration and its research apparatus from feminist studies, action research and
participatory action research. The subjects of feminist studies include various forms of women’s
marginalisation in social life, or limitations resulting from gender-based discrimination. In feminist
participatory action research these issues are subjected to academic reflection, and then transformed into
actions which are to assist women in e.g. challenging discriminatory, patriarchal relationships in their
communities.
TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH: 11. Insider
action research

In insider action research, a member of a given organisation undertakes research on processes occurring
within it, while remaining its member and fulfilling their assigned roles and tasks. This type of researcher,
called a complete member by Coghlan [2019, p. 19], is a full-fledged member of an organisation and wants
to remain one after the research is completed. It is a different situation from the one where an external
researcher wants to solve a problem together with a given social group or organisation, and their
relationship with their research collaborators is temporary.
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 Action Research in Education and
Applied Linguistics

4.3. Data Collection Methods in

action research
MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
 Step 1
DATA
Selected methods of data collection and analysis
COLLECTION
METHODS Step 2
AND
ANALYSIS Collecting data for a thesis and keeping a research journal

TECHNIQUES Step 3
IN ACTION
RESEARCH Selection of action research methods conducted
with unprivileged groups
According to the study, professional researchers collect their data
in action research by using mostly interviews, questionnaires,
observations, field work notes, literature reviews, as well as
(significantly less frequently) other methods, e.g. website analysis,
oral accounts and documents [Chen, Huang, Zeng 2018, p. 346].
Data collection methods used by research participants are to
support the process in which they are the owners of the research
process and learn to use tools for conducting research, to be able
to study their situation on their own, and not serve as research
subjects.

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The most commonly applied techniques include participant and non-
participant observation, in-depth interview, survey, and focus group. At the
same time, research journals were a very important tool in the process of data
collection. A research journal is a tool for data collection and reflection on the
course of the research process. The researcher writes down their observations,
impressions, doubts and questions which emerge in the process of entering
the organisation and the studied problem. It is a type of a field work diary that
constitutes an extremely valuable source of information about what happens
in the studied area, as well as how the perception of a given problem changes
in the eyes of the researcher. It can be kept in an electronic form or as
a traditional paper journal. Some people prefer carrying it around as
a notebook writing down their observations as they come, others – fill it out
after a given event, meeting, recording their notes on a computer.

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Often the subject of action research, especially within critical forms of this approach, are
social injustices affecting excluded or vulnerable groups. Vulnerables are, according to Mary
Silva [1995, p. 15, quoted in: Liamputtong 2007] people who experience “diminished
autonomy due to physiological/psychological factors or status inequalities”. They are usually
not able to make decisions on their own that affect their lives, or to be independent. They are
tangled in a web of relations that does not allow them to become emancipated, which usually
results from the social injustice they experience. What they have in common is the fact that
they are often “invisible” groups within society, and their needs are sometimes marginalised.
Groups of vulnerables may include children, senior citizens, ethnic minority communities,
immigrants, the unemployed, religious minorities, addicts, sex workers, the homeless, LGBT
community, as well as women and people with chronic illnesses [Liamputtong 2007]. There
are also groups whose vulnerability is compounded. For instance, unemployed women from
ethnic minorities who are single mothers.
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 Action Research in Education and
Applied Linguistics

4.4. Action Research Process

MSc. Ana Isabel Villegas
 Stage 1
action, i.e. the stage of planning and applying the ideas in practice, but
also, if the researcher is an outsider, learning about the character of the
organisation or community, learning and reflecting on its method of
functioning

Stage 2
ACTION
RESEARCH observation, i.e. the stage of collecting data and building a picture of
the action,

PROCESS
Stage 3
and finally, reflection, i.e. analysing, interpreting and explaining what
the researcher found out about the action and designing recommended
changes or specific interventions.
 Building
relationships:
challenges, action
strategies and
competences of
a researcher
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