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A fully-updated and reworked version of the classic book by Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart, now joined by Rhonda Nixon, The Action Research Planner is a detailed guide to developing and conducting a critical participatory action research project. The authors outline new views on 'participation' (based on Jürgen Habermas's notion of a 'public sphere'), 'practice' (as shaped by practice architectures), and 'research' (as research within practice traditions). They provide five extended examples of critical participatory action research studies. The book includes a range of resources for people planning a critical participatory research initiative, providing guidance on how to establish an action research group and identify a shared concern, research ethics, principles of procedure for action researchers, protocols for collaborative work, keeping a journal, gathering evidence, reporting, and choosing academic partners.

Unlike earlier editions, The Action Research Planner focuses specifically on critical participatory action research, which occupies a particular (critical) niche in the action research 'family'.

The Action Research Planner is an essential guide to planning and undertaking this type of research.

The Action Research Planner: Doing critical participatory action research

1. Introducing critical participatory action research
Why we wrote this book
The changing field of action research
The things only participatory research can do
An example: Recycling at Braxton High School, Canada
Action research history: different kinds, foci and purposes of action research
Different kinds of action research
Changing foci of action research in education
Different purposes of action research
Critical participatory action research as a disciplined way of making change
The people who typically conduct critical participatory action research
An example in education
Blurring boundaries: theorists and practitioners, researchers and practitioners
Critical participatory action research as a practice-changing practice
References

2. A new view of participation: Participation in public spheres
Participation in communication
Communicative action and communicative space
Ten key features of public spheres: Comments for critical participatory action researchers Conclusion: 'Participation' in critical participatory action research is participation in public spheres
References

3. A new view of practice: Practices held in place by practice architectures
Defining practice
Practices and practice architectures
Practices and practice architectures in critical participatory action research
Critical participatory action research as a practice-changing practice
References

4. A new view of research: Research within practice traditions
What's critical about critical participatory action research?
Research perspectives in critical participatory action research
Critical participatory action research as a kind of research
Researching practice from within practice traditions
Using the practice architectures analysis table to find a felt concern that will be the focus of a critical participatory action research initiative
References

5. Doing critical participatory action research: The 'planner' part
Practising critical participatory action research
Critical participatory action research in education: Are our practices educational?
Reconnaissance
Opening communicative space - establishing a public sphere
Dialogues between system and lifeworld, strategic action and communicative action
Questions to identify a shared felt concern in relation to our practices and what holds our practices in place
An initial statement about what you intend to do
Planning
Changing practices and practice architectures
The product of planning - a collective rationale and plan for change
Enacting the plan and observing how it works
Enacting and observing: The product
Reflection
Reflection: The product
The spiral of cycles of self-reflection
References

6. Examples of critical participatory action research
Example 1: The recycling project at Braxton High School, Canada
Example 2: The self-directed learning project at Grace Elementary School, Canada
Example 3: The graphic novel project at Joseph Junior High School, Canada
Example 4: The Teacher Talk project in an Australian university
Example 5: The Yirrkala Ganma education project: Critical participatory action research in an Indigenous community
The concept of Ganma
Ganma education and the practice of critical participatory action research
ConclusionReferences

7. Resources for critical participatory action researchers
Resource 1: Creating a public sphere and identifying a shared felt concern
Identifying educational legitimation deficits
Identifying more general legitimation deficits
Resource 2: Some notes on research ethics for critical participatory action researchers
General principles of research ethics: respecting persons, avoiding harm, justice and beneficence
Informed consent and assent
Dependent relationships
Confidentiality and anonymity
Mutual trust and mutual vulnerability
Additional reading
Resource 3: Critical participatory action research group protocols: Ethical agreements for participation in public spheres Resource 4: Principles of procedure for action researchers
Resource 5: Keeping a journal
Resource 6: Gathering evidence, documenting
(1) Diaries, journals, logs, and blogs
(2) Written records: field notes, anecdotal or running records, event sampling
(3) Interviews
(4) Audio and video recording, and photographs
(5) Dataplay and fotonovela
(6) Document analysis
(7) Questionnaires and surveys
(8) Interaction schedules and checklists
(9) Student work samples and assessment tasks
Some cautionary notes
Resource 7: Reporting: For yourself and others
Reporting action research undertaken as part of a course of study
Resource 8: Choosing an academic partner to work with a critical participatory action research initiative
References

Index