Description
Cases and Stories of Transformative Action Research builds on its companion book, Principles and Methods of Transformative Action Research, by describing and analyzing dozens of examples of successful action research efforts pursued in the past five decades by students and faculty of the Western Institute for Social Research.
Some projects are large-scale, and some are modest interventions in the everyday lives of those participating. Some are formal organizational efforts; others are the results of individual or small group initiatives. Included are chapters on community needs assessments and innovative grassroots approaches to program evaluation; the challenges of improving our decision-making during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic; strategies of intellectual activism in addressing the growing problem of workplace bullying; action research to preserve and share the history of the Omaha tribe; and plans for an innovative school-based project based on collaborative action-and-inquiry between students and Artificial Intelligence. In addition, there are a number of detailed stories about the use of transformative action research in such areas as somatic and trauma counseling, ethnic studies, health disparities, gender differences, grassroots popular education, and the improvement of statewide steps for preventing child abuse, among many others.
This book can serve as an undergraduate or graduate social sciences text on research methods. It is also a guidebook for action-oriented research by academics, professionals, and lay people alike.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Part I. Applications
2. Program Evaluations
3. Uses of Action research in Community Organizations
4. Community-Based Think Tanks
5. Toward Expert Knowledge and Human Development: The Curriculum of the "Experimenting Community"
6. Using Transformative Action-Inquiry during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Critiquing Studies and Facing Decision-Making Dilemmas
Part II. Illustrations
7. Intellectual Activism and Action research: A Case Study on Workplace Bullying
David Yamada, JD, PhD
8. Multifaceted, Comprehensive Action-Oriented Research Aimed at Preserving and Restoring the Omaha Culture
Dennis Hastings, PhD and Margery Coffey, PhD
9. Stories, Concepts and Methods of Participatory Action Research: Transforming Individuals and Groups
Sudia Paloma McCaleb, EdD
10. Getting Out of the Book and into the World: Ways to Understand Action Research
Marilyn Jackson, PhD
11. Teaching and Learning Physics as Inquiry: Similarities with Transformative Action Research
12. Plans for a School-Based Project to Involve Students as Teachers, Learners and Colleagues of Artificial Intelligence
Kence Anderson, BS and John Bilorusky
13. Stories of Action research from WISR Learners
14. Autobiographical Analysis of the Role of Social Learning in Transformative Action-and-Inquiry
