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Unit 5: Diagnostic, Action and Process

5.3 History of an Action Research Notes

John Dewey translated the scientific method of problem solving into terms understandable to
practitioners and laypersons that incorporated the ideas into action research several years later.

Collier called this form of research action research. Taking effective actions requires research that
is directed to important problems. Also, the solutions must be relevant and feasible. To be able
to implement a good action plan requires cooperation of the client. Action research afforded a
means to mesh these diverse elements.

The other major source of action research, social psychologist Kurt Lewin, was profoundly
interested in applying social science knowledge to help solve social problems. In the mid-1940s
and early 1950s, Lewin and his students conducted action research projects in many different
behavioral domains: Lewin applied action research principles to improving inter group relations
and to changing eating habits; For the Lewin group, action research linked experimentation and
application, and at the same time, people of science and people of action.

5.4 Varieties of An Action Research

Action research projects may be directed toward diverse a goal, which gives rise to several
variations of the model. Lewin, for example, suggested two broad categories of action research:
the investigation of general laws and the diagnosis of a specific situation. The study of general
laws leads to contributions to theory and practice, and to generalizations about natural phenomena;
the diagnosis of a specific situation leads to solving immediate, practical problems.

Raymond Katzell identified three “varieties” of action research in the refinery action research
project he conducted. He found three types of situations in which the research consultant staff
were providing data feedback to managers. The first situation was described as “adventitious,”
that is, the research group happened to have already collected data that turned out to be quite
useful to someone at a later time. The second situation represented preplanned, systematic data
collection on a refinery wide basis, that is, a periodic pulse taking of the organisation. The third
situation was to work intensively with a small “demonstration” group, continuously collecting
data on all sorts of topics and feeding them back to the group as needed.
Chein, Cook, and Harding describe four varieties of action research-diagnostic, participant,
empirical, and experimental.
In diagnostic action research, the scientist enters a problem situation; diagnoses it, and makes
recommendations for remedial treatment to the client.
Participant action research, in which the people who are to take action are involved in the entire
research and action process from the beginning. This involvement increases the likelihood of
carrying out the actions once decided upon, and keeps the recommended actions feasible.
An Empirical action research is that in which the actor keeps a systematic, extensive record of what
he or she did and what effects it had.

A fourth variety of action research, the experimental, is controlled research on the relative
effectiveness of various action techniques. There is almost always more than one possible way
of trying to accomplish some thing. The problem is to find which the best is. This is research on
action in the strictest sense of both words.

Argyris promotes action research under the label of “action science,” and he believes action
science (action research) is more appropriate and effective for studying social change and social
action than is “normal science.” He criticizes traditional scientific methods for focusing on
trivial problems, distorting human subjects and researcher’s alike, generating unreliable data,

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