South Africa
October 2010
The Self Study for Transformative Higher Education and Social Action (SeStuTHESA) headed by Professor Joan Conolly, from Durban University of Technology (DUT) held a series of workshops at DUT on Action Research. World-renowned Action Research practitioner, Professor Jack Whitehead, conducted the workshops. Click here to go to (SeStuTHESA) blog.
Professor Jack Whitehead, used The ReDress Consultancy’s website as an “excellent and one of the best websites I have seen that utilizes social network platforms that engages the audience on a number of social, political, economic and research concepts and actions,” said Prof. Whitehead.
Review what Prof. J. Whitehead says about The ReDress Consultancy’s website.
Professor Ahmead Bawa, the Vice-Chancellor and principal of DUT as well as Professor Sibusiso Moyo, also from DUT stated that they supported and endorsed the groundbreaking work and the challenges that Action Research presents to the traditional academic methods of knowledge transfer.
The “Living Action Research Africa Network” was launched at the workshop. A link to this network can be found on The Action Research Network website: Click here. When you enter the site see right bottom of screen for link.
Professor Whitehead explains what Action Research is:
“ In a living educational theory approach to action research and a human existence, individuals hold their lives to account by producing explanations of their educational influences in their own learning in enquiries of the kind, 'How am I improving what I am doing?' They do this in contexts where they are seeking to live the values they use to give life meaning and purpose as fully as they can. The living educational theories of professional educators and other practitioner-researchers usually explain their educational influences in the learning of their students and can also explain their educational influences in the learning of social formations.”
The Methodological Approach of Action Research
Action research is known by many other names, including participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextural action research, but all are variations on a theme. Put simply, action research is “learning by doing” - a group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again. While this is the essence of the approach, there are other key attributes of action research that differentiate it from common problem-solving activities that we all engage in every day. A more succinct definition is:
"Action research...aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously. Thus, there is a dual commitment in action research to study a system and concurrently to collaborate with members of the system in changing it in what is together regarded as a desirable direction. Accomplishing this twin goal requires the active collaboration of researcher and client, and thus it stresses the importance of co-learning as a primary aspect of the research process.”
Several attributes separate action research from other types of research. Primary is its focus on turning the people involved into researchers, too - people learn best, and more willingly apply what they have learned, when they do it themselves. It also has a social dimension - the research takes place in real-world situations, and aims to solve real problems. Finally, the initiating researcher, unlike in other disciplines, makes no attempt to remain objective, but openly acknowledges their bias to the other participants.
Reference:
An overview of the Methodological Approach of Action Research by Rory O’Brien, University of Toronto, 1998
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