Jean McNiffs booklet on her website: https://www.jeanmcniff.com/ar-booklet.asp offers a practical and illuminating overview of Action Research.
McNiff hi-lights the intuitive nature of AR, likening it to riding a bike. You naturally fall off, try a different strategy, evaluate it etc. It’s an ongoing process of evaluation and improvement.
McNiffs account of AR places the individual conducting the research at the centre. ‘researchers do research on themselves’. (McNiff, 2021) She stresses the importance of clarifying ones values and using this as the basis for research. ‘Action Research begins with values’ (McNiff, 2021)
McNiff also describes the flexibility of AR, ‘there is no one correct way’. (McNiff, 2021)
She emphasises the need for balance between individual enquiry (done along your own unique lines) and a systematic approach so findings can be clearly communicated and rigor demonstrated.
For me, McNiffs description challenged a notion of research as existing in a controlled vacuum, separate from the individual and lived experience and practice. Showing instead, how it can be integrated in to the natural rhythm of academic practice, personal reflection and individual values.
McNiff, J., 2021. Jean McNiff – AR Booklet. [online] Jeanmcniff.com. Available at: <https://www.jeanmcniff.com/ar-booklet.asp> [Accessed 12 November 2021].