I)+Key+References

__**Ten Best**__

Cohen, L., L. Manion, & K. Morrison. (2003). Research Methods in Education (5th Edition). London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Chapter 13 is focused on Action Research. It gives a summary of definitions and core characteristics from different action researchers which helps to describe to the reader the vast array of ideas when it comes to action research. The chapter also goes into Action Research as critical praxis, and Procedures for Action Research.

Burgess, R.G. (ed.) (1985). Issues in Qualitative Research: Qualitative Methods. Lewes: Falmer Press.
Chapter 78 written by Alison Kelly is a good overview of a case she worked on. She includes some historical background, and methods used in the research. The case she outlines shows a variation of action research we may come across in our classrooms (administration initiated research).

**Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (1992). The action research planner. Victoria: Deakin** **University Press**.
Kemmis and McTaggart distinguish it from the normal practice of teaching in the following way: • "It is not the usual thinking teachers do when they think about their teaching. Action research is more systematic and collaborative in collecting evidence on which to base their group reflection. • It is not simply problem solving. Action research involves problem-posing, not just problem-solving. It does not start from a view of ‘problems’ as pathologies. It is motivated by a quest to improve and understand the world by changing it and learning how to improve it from the effects of the changes made. • It is not research done on other people. Action research is research by particular people on their own work, to help them improve what they do, including how they work with and for others. • Action research is not 'the scientific method' applied to teaching. There is not just one view of “the scientific method”; there are many.’ (p.21-22)

** Heron, J. (1996). Cooperative inquiry: research into the human condition//.// Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd. **
Heron distinguish cooperative inquiry as action research as it involves:
 * Participative decision-making (all subjects are co-researchers)
 * Interplay between reflection and making sense and experience and action
 * Epistemic participation: relation between knower and the known
 * Political participation: relation between people in the inquiry and how decisions affect them
 * Shared and dialogic embodiment: reciprocal participation and dialogue with others engaged in lived experience
 * Ongoing management involves negotiation with participants in their natural setting and accounts are validated and checked by participants
 * Participants involved in empowering evaluation, intervention research, critical worker research, phenomenological studies, &/or clinical research
 * Democratization of content where all informants are involved in decisions
 * Researcher seeks to negotiate WITH people being studied (includes access to setting, issues involved with mgmt, & interpretations

Nodie Oja, S. & Smulyan, L. (1989). Collaborative Action Research: A Developmental Approach. Philidelphia, PA: The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis Inc.
This book is an excellent resource when begining your journey through action research. The information and writing begins as easy reading with easily understandable examples.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 15(4), Hartford, CT: Elsevier Science Ltd., pp. 333-49.
Rearick and Feldman focuses on methodological variations that occur within the broad methodological perspective, Participatory Action Research (PAR). There are numerous methodological variations for PAR including participatory research, classroom action research, action learning, soft systems approaches, industrial action research, and action science.

The differences among the PAR approaches are determined by the objectives and interests for the research study. The authors propose a framework to guide the PAR approach employed. The framework is based on the following three considerations: 1. What orientations were served? Technical, Practical, or Emancipatory 2. What purposes were emphasized? Personal, Professional, or Political 3. What types of reflective processes were used? Autobiographical, Collaborative, or Communal

Rearick and Feldman use examples of Action Research to demonstrate how their framework can help guide the selection of the model for future PAR projects. Moreover, one can understand one’s own practice and the practice of others within the PAR dimension.

The authors review of literature provides a collection of definitions for PAR which also helps future and present PAR researchers understand the practice.

Reason, P. (1990). Human Inquiry in Action: Developments in New Paradigm Research: London: Sage Publications Ltd.
This book is an easy to understand mini-guide to action research. It includes the grounding, some philosophy, and methods used in participatory action research. Included are also some of the changes that have been happening within the area of action research.

===**Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (2009).** //**The Handbook of Action Research: Concise Paperback Edition.**// **Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.** ===

The introduction of this handbook, written by Reason & Bradbury defines and grounds action research as well as gets into the historical and philosophical background behind this research methodology.

Action Research definition: a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview which we believe is emerging at this historical moment.

- seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities.

Participatory Worldview: been described as systemic, holistic, relational, feminine, experiential, but its defining characteristic is that it is participatory: our world does not consist of separate things but of relationships which we co-author.

===**Somekh, B. and Lewin, C. (2005). Research Methods in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.** ===

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This article touched on methodological variations: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Professional – improving what is offered to clients in professional settings <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Personal – developing greater self knowledge and a deeper understanding of one’s own practice <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Political – social action to combat oppression

It also went into major personalities in the construction of action research and discussed what was happening in the various countries in which action research was popular.

Stringer, E.T. (1999). Action Research (2nd Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
This book has a focus on Community-base Action Research. It is written for teachers, health workers, social workers, community and youth workers, planners and a whole range of other people who function in teaching, service delivery or managerial roles. The book is presented as a handbook for practitioners taking into account the critiques of traditional research methodologies that are inherent in postmodern, feminist and critical theory.

__**All Other References**__

Elliott, John (1991) Action Research for Educational Change. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Evans, M., Lomax, P. & Morgan, H. (2000). Closing the Circle: action research partnerships towards better learning and teaching in schools. Cambridge Journal of Education, 30.

Herr, K. and Gary L. Anderson. (2005). The Action Research Dissertation: a guide for students and faculty. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (1982) //The Action Research Planner//. Victoria: Deakin University Press.

Masters, J. (2000). The History of Action Research. //Action Research E-Reports, 3//. Available at: [] first published, 1995.

Noffke, S.E. (1989, March). The Social Context of Action Research: A Comparative and historical Analysis. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Neuman, W.L. (2006). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantiative Approaches. Toronto: Pearson.

Richards, Monica. (1987). A Teacher's Action Research Study: The "Bums" of 8H (A Humanistic of Motivational Strategies with Low Achievers). //Peabody Journal// //of Education//, 64(2), The Potential and Practice of Action Research: Part 1, pp. 65-79.

Stenhouse, L. (1975). //An introduction to curriculum research and development//. London: Heinemann.

Titchen, A. & Manley, K. (2006). Spiralling towards transformational action research: philosophical and practical journeys. Educational Action Research, 14, 333-356.