Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
1. Introduction: What Is an Action Research Dissertation?
The Many Faces of Action Research
Toward a Definition of Action Research
The Action Research Dissertation
2. Action Research Traditions and Knowledge Interests
The Multiple Traditions of Action Research
Action Research and Organizational Development/Learning
Action Science
Participatory Research: The Legacy of Paulo Freire
Participatory Evaluation
Action Research and Community Psychology
Action Research in Education
The Teacher-as-Researcher Movement in Britain
The Practitioner Research Movement in North America
The Danger of Co-Optation
Participatory Action Research with Youth: YPAR
Action Research as Narrative: Self-Study and Autoethnography
Arts-Based Approaches to Action Research
Feminist, Post-Colonial, and Antiracist Approaches to Action Research
The Knowledge Interests of Action Research
Notes
3. The Continuum of Positionality in Action Research
Insider: Researcher Studies Own Self/Practice
Insider in Collaboration With Other Insiders
Insider(s) in Collaboration With Outsider(s)
PAR: Reciprocal Collaboration (Insider-Outsider Teams)
PAR: Outsider(s) in Collaboration With Insider(s)
Outsider(s) Studies Insider(s)
Multiple Positionalities
The Outsider-Within Stance as a Flawed Approach to Action Research
Conclusion
Note
4. Quality Criteria for Action Research: An Ongoing Conversation
Delegitimizing Action Research: Opposition in the Academy
Redefining Rigor: Criteria of Quality for Action Research
Reason and Bradbury’s Discussion of Validity and Choice Points
Addressing Bias in Action Research
Are the Findings of Action Research Generalizable?
The Politics of Action Research
Institutional Micropolitics
The Politics of Redefining Professionalism
The Politics of Knowledge
The Macropolitics of Action Research Projects
Note
5. Designing the Plane While Flying it: Proposing and Doing the Dissertation
Possibilities of a Pilot Study
The Dissertation Proposal
Introducing the Proposed Inquiry
Situating the Study in Relevant Literature
Methodological Considerations
Data Analysis and Representation
Where Do Action Research Questions Come From?
Insider Action Research
Outsider Action Research
Issues of Design and Methodology
Designing Insider Action Research
Designing Outsider Action Research
The Literature Review: Literature in Dialogue With the Data
Writing the Dissertation
Defending the Dissertation
6. What Does an Action Research Dissertation Look Like?
Lynne Mock: Carving a Dissertation Out of a PAR Project
The Entry Process
Creating Participatory Structures
Writing the Dissertation
Emphasizing the Strengths of Action Research
Researcher-Initiated PAR Studies
Initiating the PAR Study
The Emergent Design of the PAR Process
Collaborative Data Analysis
Disseminating the Results: Multiple Forms of Representation and Audiences
John Mark Dyke: Insider Action Research
First Phase of the Work
Iterative Cycles of Inquiry
The Dissertation Research
Gary W. Street: A Principal Cultivating Action Research
Conclusion
Note
7. Ethical Considerations and Action Research
Working with Institutional Review Process
Ethics in Practice
Authentic Collaboration
Learning to Be Researchers
Who’s the Writing For?
Moving Beyond Do No Harm
8. Final Thoughts
References
Index

About the Author

Kathryn G. Herr is a faculty member in the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey.  She is co-author of the book Studying Your Own School: An Educator’s Guide to Qualitative Practitioner Research (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1994). She is also Editor of the interdisciplinary journal Youth and Society. Her professional background is in Social Work and Education. Gary L. Anderson is a professor in the Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University. He is a former teacher and high school principal. He has written numerous articles on action research with co-author Kathryn Herr as well as articles and books on educational policy and leadership. He is the author of Advocacy Leadership: Toward a Post-reform Agenda (Routledge).

Reviews

"Finally, a thoughtful, accessible, and immensely helpful volume designed to promote dialogue among doctoral students and faculty about dissertation studies grounded in the everyday worlds of practice. By creating spaces for deep discussion about the decisions dissertators make (rather than proposing and arguing for particular solutions), the book sets doctoral researchers on their own quest for meaning, clarity and coherence. The rhetoric and contents of the book thus mirror its authors commitment to agency for doctoral students seeking to make their inquiries of value both within and beyond the academy."--Susan Lytle

"The Action Research Dissertation should be required reading for any student contemplating using an action research approach in a thesis or dissertation project. Kathryn Herr and Gary Anderson serve as able and amiable navigators through the challenging but equally rewarding process of planning, carrying out, and completing an action research dissertation. Clear explanations, compelling exemplars, and an honest discussion of the challenges of conducting an action research project combined with a sense of the passion and commitment of those who choose this path, make the volume a balanced and engaging guide to all would-be action researchers."--Mary Brydon-Miller

The authors have deftly produced a thoughtful, comprehensive, and much needed overview of the process of creating an action research dissertation that is sure to benefit generations of students and their faculty mentors."--Davydd Greenwood

"This book fills an important gap in the action research literature by specifically addressing the growing practice of action research master s studies and doctoral dissertations in colleges and universities throughout the world. Like the authors previous work, this book provides a broad and clear overview of the varieties of action research. The discussion of the underlying choices that action researchers operating in a university degree program need to make and how such choices affect the quality of an action research project from different perspectives is an extremely valuable resource for students and faculty. I plan to use this book with my own graduate students on a regular basis."--Ken Zeichner