| Authors: Baskerville, R. Date: 2001 Title: “Conducting Action Research: High Risk and High Reward in Theory and Practice” Journal: Qualitative Research in Information Systems Pages: 192 - 218 |
| action research, practical problems, social scientific knowledge, researchers, research subjects, cyclical process, social system, information systems, IS researchers. |
| Action research is a method that solves immediate practical problems while expanding social scientific knowledge. Based on collaboration between researchers and research subjects, it is a cyclical process that builds learning about change into a given social system. (Hult & Lennung, 1980).On the surface, the discipline of information systems (IS) would seem to be very appropriate field, for the use of action research methods. IS is a highly applied field, almost vocational in nature (Banville and Landry, 1989). Action research methods are highly clinical and place IS researchers in a "helping - role" within the organizations being studied. (cf. Schein, 1987,p.11). |