The action research dissertation : A guide for students and faculty

Content:
Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments;
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 Auto ethnography;
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 Micro politics; The Politics of Redefining Professionalism
The Politics of Knowledge The Macro politics 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