Informed by the authors' years of field research, teaching, and consulting, this readable, accessible new volume will assist novice researchers to understand qualitative, action research. The authors first define action research and clarifies its nature, providing a clear description of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative research. They then offer step-by-step procedures for planning, implementing, and evaluating the kind of research projects that help people use their own understanding and expertise to work systematically through a data gathering process, and, ultimately, find a solution to the problem they are investigating. Up-to-date coverage based on the work of earlier researchers clearly delineates the place of action research in the current research methodology scene; and speaks directly to the needs of those involved on a daily basis in health care settings. For future researchers.
Ernest T. Stringer is author of numerous influential books on action research, including Action Research in Education (2008), Action Research in Health (with Bill Genat, 2004), and Action Research in Human Services (with Rosalie Dwyer, 2005). After an early career as primary teacher and school principal, Stringer served as lecturer in education at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia. From the mid-eighties, based at Curtin s Centre for Aboriginal Studies, he worked collaboratively with Aboriginal staff and community people to develop a wide variety of innovative and highly successful education and community development programs and services. As visiting professor at the University of New Mexico and Texas A&M, he has taught research methods courses and engaged in projects with African American and Latino community and neighborhood groups. As a UNICEF consultant, he recently engaged in a major project to increase parent participation in the schools in East Timor. Stringer has served (until prior to publication of this book) as a member of the editorial board of the Action Research Journal and is past president of the Action Learning and Action Research Association (ALARA).