Читать книгу 100 Questions (and Answers) About Action Research - Luke Duesbery - Страница 14

Technical action research, practical action research, and critical action research are three different and generally agreed-upon types of action research. How do you choose? Answering questions about your project will dictate the type, or style, of action research you use. For example, does the action research project intend to examine the effectiveness of a “new” or “adaptive” practice? Or does the action research project intend to change the existing working workplace culture? Answers to these may seem rudimentary, but they are critical to choosing the appropriate style of action research.

 Technical action research asks you to apply an existing practice from somewhere else and test its effectiveness in your setting. Technical action research is probably the most widely used, as it addresses some current issue for which there is an offered solution. Technical action research also more closely follows traditional research design protocols (e.g., group comparison designs) and attends to internal validity more than other types (i.e., control for extraneous variables). For example, perhaps a plant manager notices inefficiency or a preponderance of errors in the accounting department. He or she then goes to a trade show and sees a new piece of accounting software espoused to cut time and increase productivity. The technical action research project would compare the outcome variables across time to judge the software developers’ claims. Technical action research is typically an either/or proposition. In the example, the software works or it doesn’t.

 Practical action research differs from technical action research in that you design the changes, not merely adopt an existing practice.

 Critical action research changes the game in that you want to change existing structures and actively engage in changing the “system,” by working with or against other participants in the same context.

All three styles can be used in combination. Typically, action research projects start on the technical side, as it addresses an immediate observed issue. However, because all contexts are individual, existing programs don’t necessarily generalize. There are many different participants and structures that require some sort of adaptation.

More questions? See questions 37, 38, 39, and 40.