Action research: Changing history for people living with dementia in New ZealandO’Sullivan, Grace; Hocking, Clare; Spence, Deb
doi: 10.1177/1476750313509417pmid: N/A
Action research methods were underpinned by critical hermeneutic philosophy to uncover and interpret the support needs of people living with dementia in New Zealand. This involved 11 people with mild to moderate dementia and their primary caregiver in a collaborative process with the researcher. Data collection and analysis were reciprocally integrated, and the participants engaged in the production of knowledge. Coded data generated categories, the adequacy of which was judged by participants to clarify emerging understandings. The participants concluded that the historically rooted understandings of dementia in New Zealand needed to change. Dynamic involvement by the researcher at political, professional and community levels was informed by Kögler’s (1999) version of critical hermeneutics. The actions evolving from the study contributed to significant changes that are occurring in New Zealand’s health care system with regards to people with dementia. These outcomes highlight the value of engaging with critical hermeneutic philosophy.
Politics and action research: An examination of one school’s mandated action research programFlessner, Ryan; Stuckey, Shanna
doi: 10.1177/1476750313515281pmid: N/A
Action research has been shown to empower educators, create lasting changes in schools, and have an impact on student learning outcomes. Given these positive results, many school leaders are beginning to mandate the use of action research within their schools. While some in the field have warned against mandating action research, there is little research examining the effects of doing so. This study examines the mandated school-wide action research program at Fieldstone Elementary. While some results align with the action research literature (importance of collaboration, necessity of time to conduct action research, etc.), this article also examines the political tensions surrounding these ideas. Implications for those interested in mandating action research programs are provided.
Teacher action research and student voice: Making sense of learning in secondary schoolKane, Ruth G; Chimwayange, Chris
doi: 10.1177/1476750313515282pmid: N/A
The Making Sense of Learning project began with the premise that for teachers to understand the ways in which their practice influences student learning, they need to invite and listen to students’ accounts of their learning experiences. Initiated by classroom teachers, supported by a university researcher, and informed by student voice, this teacher action research involved the empirical-reflective (self-) study by teachers of their practice as interpreted and critiqued by their students and themselves. This article explores how researchers challenge teachers to move beyond taken for granted conceptions of teaching, learning, and roles of students, to engage in learning-centered dialog with their students and through this, transform classroom practice. Supported by the researchers, teachers and students gain a sense of empowerment as they deepen their relationships and negotiate new roles as partners and coresearchers making sense of learning in their classrooms. Teachers and students come to situated understandings of the complexity of teaching and learning that reveal transformative and emancipatory outcomes.
“Ang Ating Iisang Kuwento” our collective story: Migrant Filipino workers and participatory action researchFrancisco, Valerie
doi: 10.1177/1476750313515283pmid: N/A
Studies that utilize participatory action research (PAR) methods in immigrant communities draw on participatory methods to explore immigrant health and incorporation. Many of these studies have used PAR, mainly, to contact “hard-to-reach” immigrant populations who are ofttimes isolated from research and social services on the basis of language, status, and location. In this paper, I argue that PAR methodology and principles can be maximized in immigrant communities if it asserts migrants’ lived experiences as “expertise” on the global institutionalization of migration and low-wage migrant work in the US. I provide data on the Filipino migrant experience and a PAR project with Filipino domestic workers in New York City to show how PAR can capture the systematically organized Philippine labor export policy alongside the individual experience of Filipino immigrants in the US. I discuss kuwentohan, or talk story in Tagalog, and theater as forms of participatory collection and analysis that captures the complex dynamics of migration from macro to micro scales. Lastly, I argue that the political potential of PAR in migrant communities presents itself when migrant workers recount their own experience and begin to understand that those individual stories are part of a larger story of forced migration, labor export policy, and low-wage work. PAR allows for these structural critiques to emerge through the research process.
Researching prisoner experiences with prison officers: An action research-inspired approachDrake, Deborah H
doi: 10.1177/1476750313516810pmid: N/A
This article reports on research that incorporated action research-inspired dimensions on a project conducted in three maximum-security prisons in England. The project was aimed at collecting ethnographically informed data on prisoner experiences, at developing a method by which such data could be systematically and routinely collected by prison staff and at facilitating opportunities for prison officers to understand the ‘pains of imprisonment’ from the perspectives of prisoners. The challenges and limitations of the project are discussed, with particular reference to the paradox of participation and the role of power relations within prisons and within the research process. It is suggested that despite the inherent difficulties of attempting a participative approach with more powerful actors, facilitating change on a larger scale may be best served by developing a ‘pedagogy of the oppressors’ alongside a ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’.