Writing and Doing Action Research

In Writing and Doing Action Research, Jean McNiff provides a comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the practical aspects of writing and doing action research.   Written for practitioners involved in higher degree courses and professional development programmes, and students undertaking methods courses, this book includes guidance on how to: Carry out an action research project in your setting Present your findings in a dissertation, report or thesis Write up your research with an eye to informing policy Demonstrate the quality of your research and writing Be critical and write theoretically Write for journals and prepare thesis and book proposals The book contains excerpts taken from action research projects in a range of settings and presents exercises to help you develop successful written accounts of your research.   Writing and Doing Action Research is an essential text for anyone working with action research, providing vital guidance on the preparation and production of texts, how this type of work is assessed and enabling you to get the best results from your research.

Table of Contents:
Introduction What is written in an action research text? What do you need to know about action research in order to write it? What do you need to know to write action research? Why do you need to know it? What do you write in an action research text? What is the form of an action research text? Becoming a writer: researching writing practices Becoming a writer Writing a good quality text Planning for the production of texts Writing an action research text Writing proposals Masters and doctoral dissertations and theses How will the quality of your action research dissertation/thesis be judged? Writing for publication Writing for academic and professional journals Writing your first academic book The significance of your text The significance of your action research text Some implications – where next?

About the Author :
Jean McNiff is Professor of Educational Research at York St John University, UK. She is also a Visiting Professor at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, and at the Beijing Normal University and Ningxia Teachers’ University, People’s Republic of China. Jean took early retirement from her position as deputy head teacher of a large secondary school in Dorset, UK. She went into business for herself, and developed her writing. Her textbooks on action research and professional education are now used internationally on workplace-based professional education courses and on higher degree courses. Jean provides interdisciplinary consultancy work to institutions around the world where she gives lectures and conducts workshops on planning, doing and writing action research. Jean aims to contribute to personal and social betterment through educational research. She encourages everyone to make their stories public in the form of their personal and collaborative theories of practice; and she firmly believes that each individual is able to contribute to social and planetary wellbeing by explaining how they hold themselves accountable for what they do. In this way she links education with moral accountability. She tries to bring the university to everyday contexts, and everyday contexts into the university, for it is only by involving everyone, she feels, that the world will become a better place for us all.

Review :
The leading expert in practitioner research, Jean McNiff ensures that the practice of writing, as well as the practice of research, is beautifully revealed. In this accessible and inspiring book Jean McNiff draws on a lifetime′s experience of working on collaborative action research projects around the world in many different institutional settings and professional contexts. Writing and Doing Action Research provides a clear and staged introduction to action research methodology and offers sound advice on writing for publication and dissemination. While grounded in the relevant methodological literature it speaks directly and with passion to its readership. Students and practitioners alike will find this an invaluable resource.  The book is a useful addition for those completing masters or doctoral degrees, and early career researchers. It is also a useful text for those who are encountering research, and specifically action research, for the first time to support the emergent researcher to develop academic and writing skills congruent with authenticity and beliefs. However, it is also an important social research text as it reminds us of the power for transformation and change through academic writing. By the end of the introduction, I had been won over by the author’s assertion that I should "be confident to contribute to human and planetary well-being through dialogue", somewhat comforted by the romantic view of myself as an "activist writer". By the final page, I am convinced that it is time to take the first steps down the "tough road" of sufficient self-education to re-engage and start writing about my practice. This book is both a valuable resource for the action researcher and a call to action for the practitioner: whatever your practice, start writing and doing action research.