Upon completing the last few weeks of assignments, readings, videos, web conferences, and exercises my greatest insight was that Action Research is and can be the impetus for change. Action Research was to me like discovering that your friend had written a book about how to be a good friend. As the concept of Action Research was taught, I realized that I knew “Action Research” but had never studied it or known it by its name, and it was my friend. I had participated in the process of Action Research many times; sometimes with “criteria for evaluating the relation between effort and achievement” and sometimes without (Lewin , 1946). I had used the Action Research process in my community work, church work, and schoolwork. However, I had never studied the process or even known that it had a name. I also had experienced the use of Force Field Analysis, the Delphi Method, and the Nominal Group Technique through the years, but again did not know the names of these tools for group research. During our course and while I was doing “a certain fact-finding” about Action Research, what really caught my interest was a certain person and his ideas about the need for Action Research, the techniques for Action Research, and the practicality of Action Research; Kurt Lewin. Our two texts reflected his work and gave me a framework for creating and experiencing Action Research.
Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), 34–36.
I had dreaded the thought of a research course but was pleasantly surprised with Action Research. Like you, I found that I was acquainted with the topic but had no formal training. I really enjoyed exploring this process and feel all of us will find many uses for this type of research in the future.
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