Research Responses to Practical Challenges: What Can Action Research Contribute?

"During the last decade a major practical turn in research in general has \nbeen identified and made subject to discussion. One consequence is a \ngrowing interest in what action research can offer in this context. It is a \nmistake to assume that action research can produce theories of the same \nkind as conventional research but which are, in some way or other, more \npractical. The core contributions of action research pertain to how practical \nchallenges are identified, and to how knowledge is made actionable \nthrough dialogically structured processes of interplay between research \nand practical actors. This, however, is not enough. Only when each \ndialogic process is able to grow in quality and number of actors involved, \nis the process able to verify its own power as a democratic mechanism." (author's abstract)