The Design of Action Research

Abstract

This chapter arises from my belief that there is a degree of inherent incompatibility between action and research, in the sense that maximizing one tends to minimize the other. The incompatibility is not absolute, for some of the most significant scientific contributions of recent years have stemmed from the combining of action and research. Further, the prime contemporary regions of needed scientific advance are those involving systemic and dynamic theories about organizational and social-psychological phenomena, to which action research strategies are particularly applicable. At the same time, it must be recognized that the scientific product of organizational intervention by social scientists is often modest in relation to the money and man-hours invested, and that research is widely regarded as an unfortunate impediment to effective action in a particular case.