Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
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1
Action Research Principles
in Seminars on Qualitative Research
Nitza Shafriri, Ph.D
Academic College of Jordan Valley, Israel
The academic reality in Israel teaches that despite the legitimacy that exists to carry
out research according to the qualitative-constructivist-interpretative paradigm, it is
still necessary to establish its place alongside the positivist-quantitative paradigm.
This need led to the establishment of a special interest group that has been engaged
since 2001 in the study of various issues in qualitative research and in the
implications of its application in different academic frameworks in Israel.
1
One of this group's unique activities is biannual seminars, each dedicated to a
different genre of qualitative research
2
. The seminar preparation process and the
conducting thereof are based on a constructivist approach that enables a gradual
build-up of knowledge grounded in the experience of the participating researchers
3
.
In many respects, this process resembles action research setups characterized by
iterative steps of identifying problems, studying their characteristics, acting,
evaluation and renewed action (Kemmis & McTaggart 2000). The different stages of
action research are described as answers to a series of questions that evolve from
one another during the research (McNiff & Whitehead 2002). The seminar
preparation process, and the conducting thereof, especially resembles participatory
action research, which is based on dialectic deliberation, reflective discourse, bearing
responsibility and reciprocity between all participants.
Retrospectively, five stages can be discerned that characterize action research, and
that were experienced while preparing, conducting and summarizing the seminars:
1
The establishment of the interest group was the initiative of Prof. Naama Sabar Ben-
Yehoshua, one of the leaders in qualitative research in Israel. Group activities are held at the
MOFET Institute, Israel's training center for training teachers for teachers colleges.
2
The first seminar was held in February 2003 and was dedicated to the genre of action
research. The second seminar was held in January-February 2005 and was dedicated to the
narrative research genre. The seminars lasted two and a half days and are held in dormitory
conditions in the Kinneret area (Sea of Galilee).
3
The seminars are open to researchers from all disciplines. To date, seminar participants
included researchers from the disciplines of education, science education, psychology,
sociology, anthropology, social work, literature and architecture.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2
1. Identification, description and definition of the problem (What do we know
about the studied phenomenon? How do we know it?)
2. Planning action for dealing with the problem (What is the action plan?)
3. Execution of action, reports and feedback, and ongoing documentation of the
steps (How to test and validate new knowledge?)
4. Processing and dissemination of new knowledge (How to formulate and
disseminate the knowledge created?)
5.
Future implications (How to use new knowledge and what are the
implications of the action?).
The purpose of this presentation is to describe the various aforementioned stages.
Identification of the problem, its description and definition
The decision to dedicate the first seminar to the genre of action research, and
particularly to the relationship action research and the qualitative paradigm, stemmed
from recognition of the situation at teaching colleges in which the name action
research was in fact given to an assortment of sub-genres and strategies in
qualitative and quantitative research. In light of this state of affairs, it seemed
important to establish the knowledge of the leading researchers in this genre, to
explore its boundaries, and the difficulties and advantages of integrating the various
research setups in the training process and professional development of teachers -
researchers. The second seminar was dedicated to narrative research, since this is a
prevalent genre in recent years in education studies as well as in other disciplines of
the behavioral sciences and social sciences, and at the same time, the use of
narrative approaches has expanded into the therapeutic, critical, aesthetic and
literary disciplines to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the
concept of narrative research and other uses of the term narrative.
After defining the need to hold the seminar and having determined its subject, the
steering committee prepared for the formulation of a manifesto, which was to present
the objectives of the seminar and invite an appropriate target audience to attend. The
decision to hold a study seminar (rather than a conference) entailed limiting the
number of participants (not to exceed 35). The participants were selected based on a
position paper written by the various candidates, in which they were requested to
specify their experience in the field that is the subject of the seminar (action research
or narrative research), and describe a critical position toward the current activity in
this area.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3
To our delight, we received in response to our call for papers an abundance of
viewpoints, questions and relevant issues that arose from the fieldwork of those
involved in the subject at various academic institutions in Israel. The steering
committee then evaluated the position papers and selected those that most suited
the objectives of each of the two seminars. In addition, the committee invited guest
researchers considered to be international experts in their fields; Prof. Jean McNiff
from England participated in the first seminar and Prof. Amia Liblich from Jerusalem
in the second. The subjects are engaged with, and served as the basis for the
seminar topics. For instance, topics covered by the first seminar were a comparison
between action research and qualitative research; the role of the researcher in
ethnographic research and in action research; the reciprocal relations between
researchers and their subjects and between researchers and the studied world; the
contribution of qualitative research and action research in the training of teachers and
in the professional and personal development of teachers; the contribution of action
research in the school setting; critical action research as an instrument of social
change; ethics and politics in qualitative research in general, and in action research
in particular; what is considered to be a success in action research; and "quality
control" issues. Topics of the second seminar covered six main issues, as follows:
The essence of truth and knowledge in narrative research; the researcher, the
narrator and all that is between them; the dynamics between the personal and the
public; issues in analysis and interpretation; representation forms of the narrative and
of its processing; and ethics in narrative research.
As mentioned, the subjects extracted from the position papers constituted the source
for determining the seminar contents, defined the main problems with which the
researcher and teachers in this field are grappling, and raised a broad and rich
variety of epistemological, methodological and practical topics. Writers of position
papers who were accepted to the seminar received detailed instructions on how to
rewrite, focus and turn their position papers into working papers. The working papers
were put on the seminar's website and essentially constituted the end of the "problem
definition" and its description stage. An edited and printed booklet containing the
working papers was distributed among the participants at the seminar itself and
served as a basis for the learning that took place during the seminar.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4
Planning the Action and its Execution - Seminar Learning Frameworks
and Activities
The seminar was planned by a cooperative steering committee composed of eight
researchers-experts and the seminar itself was conducted in way similar to a
Learning Community or a Self-Organizing System, characteristic of participatory
action research. This system gives a place of honor to the personal knowledge of
each and every one of the participants, and from the assortment of viewpoints, the
new knowledge is together gradually created. It is a gradual process of development
from personal knowledge, to group knowledge. This kind of structure requires the
continuous participation of the participants during the course of the entire seminar
and the development of knowledge takes place through various discussion
frameworks that build on each other and support each other:
a. Primary discussion groups - Seminar contents and questions discussed in such
groups were not predetermined by the steering committee but rather formed by the
participants themselves in the course of the ongoing processing from position papers
to working papers. Therefore, we decided that each of the working papers would be
presented and an initial discussion held in the framework of several rounds of parallel
discussion groups (3 papers in each). Group mediators were requested to document
the gist of the discussions and report on such during the plenary sessions held later
on.
b. Secondary discussion groups - Further discussion of the ideas and topics raised in
the primary groups was held in three discussion groups: epistemology, methodology
and practice (in the first seminar), or in groups whose participants selected a
discussion topic from among a list of suggested topics (in the second seminar). The
group mediators were responsible for leading and documenting the discussion.
c. Plenary sessions - Plenary sessions included general lectures, reports from the
primary and secondary discussion groups, feedback periods and the final summary
of the seminar. The limited number of participants enabled patient listening to all
speakers and effective discussions, even in the plenary sessions.
d. Learning workshops - An addition to the second seminar was a framework of study
workshops in which participants could learn a new tool or approach proposed by
fellow participants (for instance, a tool for the analysis of narratives).
e. Free discussion - In addition to the aforementioned frameworks, several informal
social-cultural activities took place (sightseeing in the area, artistic performance)
during which the exchange of opinions continued, as well as during meal times and
breaks.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
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5
Throughout the seminars, and particularly during the summing-up period, participants
described a unique experience and expressed a high level of satisfaction. For
example:
• "We underwent here a very intensive and enriching social intellectual
experience…"
• "I felt that I was very much enlightened by different points of view, particularly
those of people who do not come from my context".
• "I came with a lot of questions and I'm leaving with even more questions…"
• "The thing that was great was the relinquishing of positions of strength and
there was a completely free dialog here…"
• "All of the conditions here and the entire atmosphere was such that enables
learning. It was possible to share, to ask questions and to build additional layers
with respect to the concept of qualitative research and action research."
• "The opportunity given to us all to be active, enabled participatory learning…
from the wondering grew a statement that was meaningful to all participants.
The clarification of something obscure led to learning."
• "I left the action research seminar with a lot of questions and here (in narrative
seminar) there were answers too and not only questions."
• "I feel that I have “a community and a family” and my outlook connects to
others. At the university, I find that is very much missing."
Processing of the new information and its dissemination
After the seminar ended, all participants were invited to write an article for a book that
was to deal with subjects raised during the seminar. Those participants who
responded to the call sent abstracts, which enabled the steering committee to
evaluate the book's potential, and received guideline for writing the final articles. All
members of the steering committee participated in the evaluation of the articles and
thus continued to be full partners, even at the book production stage. The articles in
the first seminar's book were arranged in chapters representing different types of
knowledge discussed at the seminar. This book is scheduled for publication within
the next several months. The book opens with a Prologue describing the planning of
the seminar and its implementation, and concludes with an Epilogue that connects
the chapters and discusses the place of action research in the academic world.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6
The first chapter, Action Research in Theory, presents four articles that treat the
philosophical and epistemological aspects of action research. The second chapter,
Action Research in Practice, describes five action researches in the field of
education, each one of which acts in a different context and raises different insights
about the potential of action researches. The third chapter, Between Ethnography
and Action Research, includes three articles that compare ethnographic research
and action research as sub-genres of qualitative research. In the fourth chapter,
Action Research in a Multi-Disciplinary View, the boundaries of classic action
research in the field of education are broken and action research spills into additional
fields such as design and social work.
Production of the second seminar's book began immediately following the end of the
seminar in February 2005, and we are now in the midst of evaluating abstracts sent
by participants who expressed their desire to contribute to the book. Like in the first
book, here too the material will be arranged in meaningful chapters related to the
main topics raised and discussed in the seminar.
Future Implications
This is the final stage in any action research setup, and in the case of the seminars,
is manifested by a decision to continue to hold seminars in a similar format, which will
be dedicated to addition genres of qualitative research. In light of this decision, we
held the second seminar in 2005, exactly in parallel to the process of producing the
first seminar's book.
The third seminar will be held in January-February 2007, and probably will be
dedicated to the genre of ethnographic research. The success of the first two
seminars and the satisfaction of their participants, as well as the high quality of the
first seminar's book, indicate that such seminars constitute a successful way to
create and consolidate theoretical and methodological knowledge, and to form a
community of experts on the paradigm of qualitative research, a body that is so
lacking in the academic landscape in Israel.
Conclusion
The need to deepen the knowledge on the various genres of qualitative research led
to the suggestion to hold a series of biannual seminars on qualitative research. We
did not decide in advance on the seminars' methodology nor did we formulate topics
beforehand. Rather, we asked the candidates to speak out and formulate their
understanding and autonomous positions on the general subject of the seminar.
Nitza Shafriri
First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 5-7 2005
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7
Our intention was to create conditions for open thought and to transmit willingness to
examine issues from different points of view and through various lenses. The variety
of issues raised served as a starting point for the seminar discussions and, following
the seminar, the knowledge was consolidated into a "grounded theory", which is
related to the practical aspect and which stems and grows from the pondering the
experience in various genres of qualitative research. While preparing the first
seminar, and especially when drawing the conclusions at its end, an awareness and
a desire were born to continue with a series of seminars each one of which would be
dedicated to a different sub-genre of qualitative research. Conscience reflection
during and after the first seminar enabled operationalizaiton of the preparation of the
second seminar, and convinced us that the principles of action research constitute a
suitable and efficient strategy for future planning and conducting of such academic
seminars.
Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (2000). Participatory action research. In M.K. Denzin &
Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 567-606).
Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publication.
McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2002). Action Research: Principles and Practice.
Routledge Falmer, London and New York.
Oвo je html верзија датотеке http://www.c4qi.org/qi2005/papers/shafriri.pdf.