Action Research: Living Theory

Whitehead & McNiff141290854X

This book is about the practice and theory of action research. It is written for practitioner
action researchers who are committed to improving their learning, and offering expla-
nations for how and why they are doing so. Specifically it is written for those on
formal accredited courses and their lecturers, and also for those at a more advanced
stage of their workplace enquiries, who wish to engage with ideas about the practicali-
ties of doing action research, and about its theoretical underpinnings.
The book is a guide to the most pressing topics in the field, including the little
addressed yet probably most urgent issue of how it is possible to assess quality in action
research, so that it can generate theory whose validity can be tested against publicly
communicable standards of judgement. This is especially urgent in light of many gov-
ernments’ policies regarding the future directions of educational research, how it should
be funded, and the potential implications for education. Currently, funding for educa-
tional research tends to go to those institutions that have demonstrated quality research
output. In the UK, funding goes to those with the highest grades in the national research
assessment exercise. These institutions tend to be those whose research is clearly within
the social sciences. The possible continuation of the social sciences as the dominant par-
adigm in educational research carries deep implications for the likely continued posi-
tioning of practitioners as participants in higher-education-led research, rather than
researchers and theorists who are conducting their own practice-based research in their
own right.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Prelims……Page 2
Table of Contents……Page 6
Introduction……Page 8
Part 1: Backgrounds and Contexts……Page 16
1. Background to our research:……Page 18
2. Contexts of our research……Page 35
3. Looking for data……Page 54
Part 2: Gathering Data and Generating Evidence……Page 68
4. Monitoring practice and gathering data……Page 70
5. Interpreting the data and generating evidence……Page 87
6. Validity, legitimacy and moral authority……Page 104
Part 3: Establishing Validity and Legitimacy……Page 102
7. The potential significance of our research……Page 119
Part 4: Implications, Evaluation and Dissemination……Page 132
8. Case studies……Page 134
9. Evaluating the account of our research……Page 147
Part 5: Testing our Claims to Educational Knowledge……Page 160
10. Into new research……Page 162
References……Page 175
Index……Page 184