--

6 (2) 2016

A review of action research - An approach for change and development in management study


Author - Affiliation:
Nguyen Thi Bich Tram - University of Liverpool, United Kingdom , Vietnam
Corresponding author: Nguyen Thi Bich Tram - tram.nguyen@liverpool.ac.uk

Abstract
This paper introduces action research as an approach for change and development in management research based on its outstanding characteristics and discusses the application notion of action research by critically reviewing its strengths and limitations as well as representing an example case to demonstrate how to employ it in practical setting. Finally, the author draws attention to bias avoidance in action research by introducing three effective practices to mitigate against sources of bias.

Keywords
action research; research method; bias avoidance.

Full Text:
PDF

References

Abraham, B. et al. (2014). Action and Collaboration Between Scholarship and Practice. OD Practitioner, 46 (4), 35-39.


Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. (2000). Doing critical management research. Sage.


Bruce, L. B. (2004). Action Research. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Pearson Education, 5th Edition.


Coghlan, D., & Brannick, T. (2014). Doing action research in your own organization. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2014.


Cooperrider, D. & Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 1, 129-169.


Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects. Maidenhead: McGrawHill/Open University Press, 2010.


Denzin, N. K. (1978). Sociological methods: A sourcebook, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw Hill.


Elliott, J. (1991). Action Research for Educational Change, Open University Press: Milton Keynes.


Elliott, J. (2010). Building social capital for educational action research: the contribution of Bridget Somekh. Educational Action Research, 18(1), 19-28.


Ghoshal, S. and Moran, P. (1996). Bad for practice: a critique of the transaction cost theory. Academy of Management Review, 21, 13–47.


Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.


Gummesson, E. (2000). Qualitative Methods in Management Research, 2nd ed., Sage, London.


Gustavsen, B. (2005). Innovation and action research. International Journal of Action Research, 1(3), 267-289.


Gustavsen, B., Agneta H., and Thoralf U. Q. (2008). 4 Action Research and the Challenge of Scope. The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, 2nd edition, 64 - 77. London, England: SAGE Publications.


Huxham, C. & Vangen, S. (2003). Researching Organizational Practice Through Action Research: Case Studies and Design Choices. Organizational Research Methods, 6(3), 383-403.


Kaplan, R. S. (1998). Innovation Action Research: Creating New Management Theory and Practice. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 10, 89-118.


Kathryn, H. and Gary, L. A. (2005). 4 Quality Criteria for Action Research: An ongoing Conversation. The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.


Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R. (1988). The Action Research Planner. Deakin University Press, Geelong, Victoria, 3rd edition.


Lewin, K. (1946). Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues.


Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B.C. (2002). Qualitative communication research methods, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


Middel, R. et al. (2006). Action Research in Collaborative Improvement. International Journal of Technology Management, 33(1), 2006, 67-91.


Reason, C.P. and Bradbury, H. (2008). Introduction. The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, 2nd edition, 1–11. London, England: SAGE Publications.


Rytter, N. G. et al. (2007). Conceptualizing operations strategy processes. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 27(10), 1093-1114.


Schein, E. (1995). Process consultation, action research and clinical inquiry: Are they the same? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 10(6), 14-19.


Shani, A.B. (Rami) and Pasmore, W.A. (1985). Organization inquiry: towards a new model of the action research process”, in D.D. Warrick (ed.), Contemporary Organization Development: Current Thinking and Applications. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 438-448.


Shento, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for Information, 22(2), 63-75.


Somekh, B. (1995). The Contribution of Action Research to Development in Social Endeavours: a position paper on action research methodology. British Educational Research Journal, 21(3), 34.


Somekh, B. (2005). Action Research: A Methodology for Change and Development. Berkshire, GBR: McGraw-Hill Education.


Sumara, D.J. and Luce-Kapler, R. (1993). Action Research as a Writerly Text: locating co-laboring in collaboration. Educational Action Research, 1(3), 87– 96.


Touboulic, A. & Walker, H. (2016). A relational, transformative and engaged approach to sustainable supply chain management: The potential of action research. Human Relations, 69(2), 301-343.


Townsend, A. J. (2013). Action research: the challenges of understanding and changing practice. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education.


Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative Quality: Eight ‘big tent’ criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851.


Whyte, W. F. (1989). Advancing Scientific Knowledge Through Participatory Action Research. Sociological Forum, 4(3), 367.



Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.