Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization

The Fourth Edition of this best-selling book is packed full of practical, expert advice on how to navigate the murky waters of ethics, politics and management in your own organization. Multidisciplinary in its approach to action research, the book sets out a step-by-step template for researchers to follow and adapt. Coghlan and Brannick: Introduce and contextualize action research as a method Provide guidance on how to design and implement your action research project Explore interlevel dynamics Discuss role duality and access Suggest effective ways to analyze your data Provide helpful tips on how to disseminate your findings. The book and supporting companion website are the ideal resource for students, researchers and practitioners hoping to generate real change through their action research project and will be particularly relevant to those studying Business and Management, Nursing and Health, Education and Sociology.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS Introducing Action Research Inquiring in your own organization A brief introduction to action research Three audiences, voices or practices Enacting action research cycles The action research cycles Pre-step: context and purpose Main steps Meta-learning Quality and rigour in action research Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 1.1: Enacting the action research cycles Knowing in Action Knowing and learning General empirical method Authenticity Action science and collaborative developmental inquiry as first-person practice Second-person skills Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 2.1 First-person knowing in action Exercise 2.2 Keeping a journal Exercise 2.3 Developing inquiry skills Understanding Action Research Action Research as practical knowing The foundations of action research The philosophy of action research Modalities of action research Organization development through action research Conclusions Recommended reading PART TWO: IMPLEMENTATION Constructing and Selecting Your Insider Project Constructing the action research project Selecting the research project Writing an insider action research proposal Developing the action research Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 4.1 Questions for constructing and selecting Exercise 4.2 Writing a thesis proposal Designing and Implementing Your Action Research Project The process of planned change Planned change through action research Learning mechanisms Data generation as intervention The role of technology How do you know when to stop? Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 5.1 The process of implementation Exercise 5. 2 Reflection for praxis Interlevel Dynamics in Insider Action Research Interlevel dynamics of change Interlevel dynamics of strategy Levels of analysis in action research Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 6.1 Applying interlevel dynamics Exercise 6.2 Change issues Exercise 6.3 The learning window Using Frameworks to Study Organizations in Action Organizational diagnosis Systems thinking and practice Change and learning Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 7.1 Understanding Your Organization Exercise 7.2 Using Systems Thinking PART THREE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN RESEARCHING YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION Researching Your Own Organization Focus of the researcher and system Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2 Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4 Action Research at Home Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 8.1 Assessing your research focus Preunderstanding, Role Duality and Access Preunderstanding Role duality: Organizational and researcher roles Access Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 9.1 Assessing Your Preunderstanding Managing Ethics and Organizational Politics Ethics Politics Integrating roles, politics and ethics Conclusions Recommended reading Exercise 10.1 Assessing ethics and politics Exercise 10.2 Force field analysis Writing up Your Insider Action Research Work An action research dissertation Constructing and writing your dissertation Dissemination Publishing Conclusions Recommended reading In Conclusion

About the Author :
David Coghlan is a Professor Emeritus and Fellow Emeritus at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is author of over 250 articles and book chapters. Recent books include: Collaborative Inquiry in Organization Development and Change (with A.B. Shani, Edward Elgar, 2021), Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization (5th ed. Sage 2019); Conducting Action Research for Business and Management Students (with A.B. Shani, Sage 2018), Inside Organizations (Sage, 2016) and he is co-editor of The Sage Encyclopedia of Action Research (2014) and the 4 volume set, Action Research in Business and Management (A.B. Shani, Sage, 2016). He serves on the editorial advisory boards of several journals.       Teresa Brannick (1950-2012) was a lecturer in the business research programme at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland. Her undergraduate degree was in mathematics, her masters in sociology and her Ph.D. in marketing research. She had been a practising researcher for over thirty years and had published over thirty research papers in such diverse fields as epidemiology, public policy, industrial relations and marketing. She was the editor-in-chief of Irish Journal of Management and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Management. She was co-editor of Business Research Methods: Theories, Techniques and Sources (Oak Tree Press: Dublin, 1997).

Review :
A comprehensive, accessible and informative text, this is ideal for any undergraduate or postgraduate research student - it clearly guides the reader through theory, implementation & the operational challenges of undertaking action research within your own organisation -- David Gaylard, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Chichester University