The action research dissertation: a guide for students and faculty

Introduction: What Is an Action Research Dissertation?

The Many Faces of Action Research

Toward a Definition of Action Research

The Action Research Dissertation

2. Action Research Traditions and Knowledge Interests

The Multiple Traditions of Action Research

Action Research and Organizational Development/Learning

Action Science

Participatory Research: The Legacy of Paulo Freire

Participatory Evaluation

Action Research and Community Psychology

Action Research in Education

The Teacher-as-Researcher Movement in Britain

The Practitioner Research Movement in North America

The Danger of Co-Optation

Participatory Action Research with Youth: YPAR

Action Research as Narrative: Self-Study and Autoethnography

Arts-Based Approaches to Action Research

Feminist, Post-Colonial, and Antiracist

Approaches to Action Research

The Knowledge Interests of Action Research

Notes

3. The Continuum of Positionality in Action Research

Insider: Researcher Studies Own Self/Practice

Insider in Collaboration With Other Insiders

Insider(s) in Collaboration With Outsider(s).

PAR: Reciprocal Collaboration (Insider-Outsider Teams) PAR: Outsider(s) in Collaboration With Insider(s) Outsider(s) Studies Insider(s) Multiple Positionalities The Outsider-Within Stance as a Flawed Approach to Action Research Conclusion Note 4. Quality Criteria for Action Research: An Ongoing Conversation Delegitimizing Action Research: Opposition in the Academy Redefining Rigor: Criteria of Quality for Action Research Reason and Bradbury's Discussion of Validity and Choice Points Addressing Bias in Action Research Are the Findings of Action Research Generalizable? The Politics of Action Research Institutional Micropolitics The Politics of Redefining Professionalism The Politics of Knowledge The Macropolitics of Action Research Projects Note 5. Designing the Plane While Flying it: Proposing and Doing the Dissertation Possibilities of a Pilot Study The Dissertation Proposal Introducing the Proposed Inquiry Situating the Study in Relevant Literature Methodological Considerations Data Analysis and Representation

Where Do Action Research Questions Come From?

Insider Action Research

Outsider Action Research

Issues of Design and Methodology

Designing Insider Action Research

Designing Outsider Action Research

The Literature Review: Literature in Dialogue With the Data

Writing the Dissertation

Defending the Dissertation

6. What Does an Action Research Dissertation Look Like?

Lynne Mock: Carving a Dissertation Out of a PAR Project

The Entry Process

Creating Participatory Structures

Writing the Dissertation

Emphasizing the Strengths of Action Research

Researcher-Initiated PAR Studies

Initiating the PAR Study

The Emergent Design of the PAR Process

Collaborative Data Analysis

Disseminating the Results: Multiple Forms of Representation and Audiences

John Mark Dyke: Insider Action Research First Phase of the Work Iterative Cycles of Inquiry The Dissertation Research

Gary W. Street: A Principal Cultivating Action Research

Conclusion

Note

7. Ethical Considerations and Action Research

Working with Institutional Review Process

Ethics in Practice

Authentic Collaboration

Learning to Be Researchers

Who's the Writing For?

Moving Beyond Do No Harm

8. Final Thoughts.