Davydd J. Greenwood

Introduction to action research : social research for social change

What Is Action Research? Introduction: Action Research, Diversity, and Democracy A History of Action Research Action Research Cases From Practice: The Stories of Stongfjorden, Mondragon, and Programs for Employment and Workplace Systems at Cornell University Science, Epistemology, and Practice in Action Research An Epistemological Foundation for Action Research Scientific Method and Action Research Social Science Research Techniques, Work Forms, and Research Strategies in Action Research Knowledge Generation in Action Research: The Dialectics of Local Knowledge and Research-based Knowledge The Friendly Outsider: From AR as a Research Strategy to the Skills Needed to Become an Action Researcher Varieties of Action Research Praxis: Liberating Human Potential Pragmatic Action Research Power, Liberation, Adult Education, Feminism, and Social Reform Educational Action Research Participatory evaluation Rapid Rural Appraisal, Participatory Rural Appraisal, and Participatory Learning and Analysis Human Inquiry, Collaborative Inquiry, Cooperative Inquiry, Action Inquiry, Self-reflective Inquiry, and Mapping the Varieties of Action Research Action Science and Organizational Learning Action Research, Higher Education, and Democracy Educating Action Researchers Action Research, Participation, and Democratization

Participatory Action Research as a Process and as a Goal

Participatory action research is presented as a social research method and process and as a goal that social research should always strive to achieve. After describing the key features and strengths of participatory action research, we briefly analyze its role in promoting social change through organizational learning in three very different kinds of organizations. We argue that participatory action research is always an emergent process that can often be intensified and that works effectively to link participation, social action, and knowledge generation.

Participatory Action Research: Through Practice to Science in Social Research.

Introduction - William Foote Whyte PAR IN INDUSTRY Participatory Action Research - William Foote Whyte, Davydd J Greenwood and Peter Lazes Through Practice to Science in Social Research Participatory Action Research - Larry A Pace and Dominick R Argona A View from Xerox Participatory Action Research - Anthony J Constanza A View from ACTWU Participatory Action Research - Jose Luis Gonzalez Santos A View from FAGOR Participatory Action Research and Action Science Compared - Chris Argyris and Donald Schon A Commentary Comparing PAR and Action Science - William Foote Whyte Research, Action and Participation - Richard E Walton and Michael Gaffney The Merchant Shipping Case Co-Generative Learning - Max Elden and Morton Levin Bringing Participation into Action Research Action Research as Method - Jan Irgen Karlsen Reflections from a Program for Developing Methods and Competence Participant Observer Research - Robert E Cole An Activist Role PAR IN AGRICULTURE Participatory Strategies in Agricultural Research and Development - William Foote Whyte A Joint Venture in Technology Transfer to Increase Adoption Rates - Ramiro Ortiz Participatory Action Research in Togo - Richard Maclure and Michael Bassey An Inquiry into Maize Storage Systems The Role of the Social Scientist in Participatory Action research - Sergio Ruano Social Scientists in International Agriculture Resarch - Douglas E Horton Ensuring Relevance and Conributing to the Knowledge Base Conclusions - William Foote Whyte

Tourism as an agent of change: A Spanish basque case

Abstract Beginning with a brief general discussion of mass tourism in historical and social scientific perspective, this article reviews the history and effects of international tourism in the Spanish Basque municipality of Fuenterrabia. Paying particular attention to the effects of tourism on the local people, the article details the process by which tourism first benefited them, only later to come to be controlled by outside developers who have captured most of the major economic rewards. It also discusses changes in local social stratification and political structure wrought by tourism development. The need for a systematic, broadly conceived appraisal of the costs and benefits of tourism as an agent of economic development is stressed.

A re-examination of the relationship between action research and human subjects review processes

In this brief article, we review the history of the human subjects review process and identify key aspects of that review as they relate to action research. In particular, we examine the issues of coercion, predictability, confidentiality, and risk –concerns central to the criteria used in current review processes but reflecting fundamental differences in the basic conceptualization of ethical practice as this is understood in action research.

PROMISES AND DILEMMAS OF PARTICIPATION: ACTION RESEARCH, SEARCH CONFERENCE METHODOLOGY, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Participatory approaches currently occupy a prominent position in community development practice. However, despite the claims made for the benefits of participation for community members and practitioners alike, critical reflections on how participatory approaches shape the longer-term processes of community development have been relatively few. This scarcity ultimately results in a shortage of knowledge about the best practices and potential pitfalls of these approaches. This paper attempts to fill this gap through a case study assessment of two socially and organizationally distinct communities and their use of Action Research (AR) strategies, including the Search Conference, as participatory-based approaches to community strategic planning and action. We find that while Search Conferences and AR strategies effectively identified important community issues and provided an initial catalyst for community action, each case also illustrates how organizational dilemmas and pre-existing local power structures challenge some of the basic assumptions of participation. The implications for community development practice are discussed.

Teaching/learning action research requires fundamental reforms in public higher education:

Action researchers have rarely focused attention on reforming higher education and I argue that this is a mistake. The article reviews some of my failed attempts to make AR a sustainable teaching, research, and extension strategy in my own university. These experiences show that AR works well in the classroom and in small and marginal projects but this small scale and marginality and invisibility also makes such efforts fragile and short-lived. We action researchers have yet to use AR strategies successfully to guide necessary reforms in the relation between universities and the extra-university stakeholders and to deepen collaborative relationships within universities among students, staff, and administrators.

Action research, science, and the co-optation of social research

This paper centers on our argument that action research (AR) produces “better” research than orthodox social research but that AR is marginalized in “Northern” universities because it connects social research to social reform. The key viewpoints informing our work are easily stated but elaborate arguments are required to justify them. We argue that AR is the most credible and methodologically coherent way to create and apply reliable knowledge in social research. Existing power structures prefer orthodox social research, not because it produces better research but because it does not interfere with existing social arrangements. The demand for social distance and objectification separates the researcher from the subject and prevents social research from becoming an instrument of social change. The dominance of these frameworks in university environments reveals that universities, in addition to being centers of learning, play an important role in replicating existing social arrangements (Noam Chomsky et al...

Doing and learning action research in the neo-liberal world of contemporary higher education:

Understanding how action research can be practiced, taught, and learned in contemporary universities requires understanding the dominant structures that organize higher education in the 21st century. This article presents the neo-liberal and Taylorist structures affecting higher education and then places the practice and study of action research in this context to outline ways action research could contribute to an improved future for higher education.

Re-Organizing Universities and ‘Knowing How’: University Restructuring and Knowledge Creation for the 21st Century

University domination over research and higher education is in rapid decline. Almost no one argues against the need for some university reform but the abundant, mostly polemical literature is long on assertion and short on demonstration. The few sustained studies of universities from a critical social science perspective (e.g. Bourdieu’s Homo Academicus, 1988) reveal how complex and dynamic university structures and processes are, and suggest that homilies are not a sensible response to the current situation. Perhaps the most striking feature of the literature is how systematically social scientists have kept away from the study of their own professional environments. It appears that university-based scholars want to believe that they operate as free and individualistic intellectuals and that the organization within which they perform their daily work has no impact on their teaching or research. Yet, it is evident that universities embody forms of work organization created by historical moments and ideological constructions. This ‘Speaking Out’ is a call for a more systematic effort to examine and analyze universities as social systems and to redirect inquiry substantially. We believe that universities can make a valuable contribution to society based on the critical and reflective knowledge that systematic research techniques bring forward. Universities are among the very few designated centers of knowledge generation and transfer in our society and have amassed immense resources in libraries, equipment, and faculty. Thus, they have an important role to play. No other institution seems to have the resources to do this while educating new generations of skilled citizens. But, if universities do not begin to take these social challenges more seriously soon, more market-responsive institutions will replace them (Eurich, 1985). Intensifying ‘business as usual’ under pressure would obviously be a merely reactive strategy to the changing reality of university life. A more Volume 8(2): 433–440 Copyright