Action Research For Health And Social Care: A Guide to Practice

This text has been designed for use as a core text on research methods courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level and on professional training courses. It is divided into three parts. Part One traces the history of action research and shows the links between its use in education, community development, management research and nursing. Building on this background, the book explores different ways in which action research has been defined and proposes four different types, each appropriate to a different problem situation and context. In Part Two, five case studies of action research are described from the perspective of the researcher, including case studies of success and instructive failure. Part Three is designed to enable the reader to find a route through the maze of methods and approaches in action research by the use of self-assessment, mapping exercises and a guide to diary keeping and to evaluation.