Collaborative Action Research

The idea of collaboration in action research is one which emerges as a feature of the work of the early pioneers of action research, whose aspirations were for groups of people to achieve social and professional change through working in partnership with each other, sometimes including external researchers or facilitators as a part of the partnership. Since the inception of action research, the development of the field has also seen the evolution of a particular group of approaches which emphasize the collaborative aspects of the knowledge-generating change process of action research and which, in presenting particular means by which this can be achieved, can be regarded as being a distinctive approach to action research. Whilst collaboration is, therefore, a recurring theme in all interpretations of action research, collaborative action research, in this sense, is a particular form of action research.

The arguments underpinning the ideals of collaborative action research are in part pragmatic and in part principled. The pragmatic justifications for collaborative action research are based on a strategic desire to achieve change. In this, collaboration is perceived as an efficient way to get the desired results. From a principled, idealistic view, the adoption of collaborative approaches is related to a particular set of beliefs about the ways in which change in social settings should be achieved and the power that people gain over their own destinies from working with each other. In this, the term collaboration denotes a more active role for people in social and professional change processes than might be implied by some more passive notions of participation, such as consultative forms of political change.

In comparing with other modalities of action research, the ‘collaborative’ aspect of the phrase collaborative action research places an emphasis on the social, relational and interactive aspects of the conduct of action research. The iterative aspects of the process of action research, which are emphasized in some process models of action research, can still be evident in collaborative action research, but the distinctive features of this approach are in the mutual benefit of people, with differing but complementary knowledge, skills, responsibilities and sometimes social status, working together in trying to achieve change in a shared aspect of their work and life.