Rigour

Credibility

Credibility requires convincing evidence of the integrity of the research and the plausibility of both the process and the results. Rigour in action research can achieve credibility in unique ways. One way involves a sufficient time commitment to enable a demonstration of how the results of the actions taken achieved a solution that assuaged the practical problem at hand. Such demonstrations might be qualitative or quantitative, but there should be convincing evidence that an enduring problem solution arose from the study. In action research, these achievements often occur after multiple iterations of an action research cycle have both rejected unproductive theories and established useful ones that precipitate valuable results. Action research can draw rigour from the achievement of a useful outcome that is demonstrably relevant to the action undertaken. Because action research results are actionable, the success of the action is one possible confirmation of the results. However, because action research engagements are sometimes situated in complex social contexts, they can become prolonged until such a demonstrably relevant solution becomes evident.

Credibility also arises when the research rigorously tracks the consequences of actions in terms of the problem under examination and the theory underlying the formulation of the action. Such a focus on the relevance of the theory-action-consequence relationship in each of the study iterations adds rigour in terms of the persistent observations that are required to cover both practical and theoretical outcomes.

Credibility is further enhanced by the iterative nature of most action research methods and the rich sources of data that become available when researchers intervene in social settings. Interview data is useful, but there are also meeting notes, log files, memoranda, e-mail, participant journals and so on. Such rich and varied data sources arise because actors in the setting (often both researchers and subjects) are usually deeply engaged in determining serious actions and interventions in the research setting. Further, multiple iterations of action research can involve changing or adapting the theory base for determining action. These data sources and expressed theories are replicated in each of the iterations of the study. Iterations build a large volume of empirical data in the study. More important, this research database provides a potential means for triangulation on the findings from multiple data sources, multiple theories and multiple iterations in which theories are applied to determine actions in the setting. Triangulation as an element of action research rigour means that multiple sources of data, multiple iterations of method and multiple theories all point to the findings that embody the knowledge produced in the research.

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