Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change

The Second Edition of Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change makes social science matter! It focuses on how it is possible to combine practical problem solving with generating new theoretical insights. Authors Davydd J. Greenwood and Morten Levin combine a thorough discussion of the epistemological foundations of action research with a broad overview of major contemporary trends in the field. New to the Second Edition:   Includes a vast amount of updated information: Nine chapters have been significantly updated, including two new chapters that engage readers into the current debates on action research as "tradition" or its own "methodology," and how action research takes shape in the university environment. New textboxes highlight important issues in each chapter and more detailed cases and real-world examples illustrate the practical implications of AR in a variety of settings. Incorporates a new structure: New information pertains specifically to issues of techniques, work forms, and research strategies based on the authors’ experiences in using the book in teaching. The book now has 4 parts instead of 3, with an entirely new section on higher education and democracy as a concluding section. Emphasizes the skill sets needed to do action research: This book deals with the process of educating action researchers and reviews a number of programs that do this. Specific attention is given to the challenges of writing and intellectual property in AR, and more focus is devoted to both adult and formal education, creating a comprehensive overview of the field that is not found in any other action research book. Intended Audience:   This is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Action Research, Social Research, and Qualitative Research across the social sciences.

Table of Contents:
What Is Action Research? Introduction: Action Research, Diversity, and Democracy A History of Action Research Action Research Cases From Practice: The Stories of Stongfjorden, Mondragón, 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

About the Author :
Davydd J. Greenwood, Ph.D., At Cornell University for 37 years, Greenwood has conducted action research in the Spanish Basque Country, Spain’s La Mancha region, in Upstate New York, and in research universities, Greenwood has published Industrial Democracy as Process: Participatory Action Research in the Fagor Cooperative Group of Mondragón (with cooperative members); Teaching Participatory Action Research in the University in Studies in Continuing Education (with the students from the class), and Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change, first and second editions (with Morten Levin), Action Research: The Scandinavian Action Research Development Program, and articles and chapters in the Action Research, the International Journal of Action Research, the Handbook of Qualitative Inquiry, and the Handbook of Action Research. Davydd is working with the CIREM Foundation in Spain on a small business development program based on action research strategies including the construction of small business networks that create co-generative learning arenas. This involves two small business networks in Spain’s La Mancha region, one in Catalonia, and one in Madrid. Davydd is in the fifth year of an international project on the future of public higher education institutions with a particular emphasis on strategies for defending the “public goods” universities once created through action research strategies that engage cross-disciplinary stakeholder teams with external university constituencies in creating co-generative learning/action arenas that could reinvigorate public and political support for higher education. Morten Levin is a partner in both of these projects and Davydd and Morten are now initiating a period of examination of the concepts and practices of academic freedom from an action research perspective.

Review :
"[This book] is an excellent addition to the bookshelf of any social change researcher. Additionally, it is a first-rate resource for educational researchers within organizations or the community."