Action research a Handbook for Students

participants and methods used by both these groups together. Methods used by 
professional researchers are those carried out and controlled by academics, but 
not practitioners. According to the study, professional researchers collect their 
data in action research by using mostly interviews, questionnaires, observations, 
field work notes, literature reviews, as well as (significantly less frequently) oth-
er methods, e.g. website analysis, oral accounts and documents [Chen, Huang, 
Zeng 2018, p. 346]. Data collection methods used by research participants are 
to support the process in which they are the owners of the research process and 
learn to use tools for conducting research, to be able to study their situation on 
their own, and not serve as research subjects. According to the analysis by Chen 
et al. [2018, p. 346] the most popular methods used by research participants are 
reflective journals/diaries, homework and reports. Others, less frequently selected 
methods, included e.g. community mapping, rich pictures, think aloud protocols, 
participatory theatre, modelling, games, Facebook, blogs, drawings and posters. 
When data collection methods are chosen by researcher and research partici-
pants together, they often use such forms as forums, photovoices and workshops 
[Chen et al, 2018, p.346]. Therefore, we can unambiguously conclude that action 
research in which studies are designed and carried out by practitioners use an 
array of less formalised methods, while scientists incline towards the selection of 
traditional academic data collection methods.
The approach to data collection is somewhat different within CPAR. Kem-
mis, McTaggart and Nixon [2014, p. 69] point out that in this approach people 

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carrying out action research are not so much interested in collecting data (in the 
scientific sense) as in collecting evidence (in the historical sense). This means that 
the researcher who carries out their research with a critical perspective should 
devote particular attention to collecting evidence of the occurring change, the 
transformation within the conducted project. This evidence should be doc-
umented which will enable its analysis, interpretation, reflection and sharing 
results with others. The relevance of evidence is assessed primarily in terms of 
whether it enables answering questions formulated in the course of the research 
process. The research part of critical action research should support the process 
of self-reflection on practices and their understanding, as well as on conditions 
in which practices subject to reflection are carried out [Kemmis, McTaggart, 
Nixon 2014]. The key role here belongs to such tools as the researcher’s journal, 
blogs, research notes, interviews, audio and video footage, photographs, docu-
ment analysis and surveys.
Data analysis techniques in action research are also very diverse. However, 
as Chen, Huang and Zeng [2018, p.347] discovered, in most studied cases au-
thors of academic papers did not inform explicitly what data analysis techniques 
they had used. The main techniques that did get mentioned include thematic 
analysis, content analysis and grounded theory. We should remember that co-
operation between researcher-practitioners and professional researchers in the 
course of data analysis allow for a better understanding of the collected data, 
and it validates those research participants who are not professional researchers. 
Collaboration in data analysis is therefore highly desirable. At the same time, as 
Herr and Anderson [2015] remark, participatory action research can be partici-
patory at each of its stages, or only during selected phases of the research.
3.2 Collecting data for a thesis and keeping a research journal
The array of research methods and data analysis methods selected by students 
writing their final theses based on action research can be very broad. Examples 
of work conducted within the Research for practice project show that these meth-
ods were usually mixed — qualitative and quantitative methods intertwined in 
the process of research in organisations. The most commonly applied techniques 
include participant and non-participant observation, in-depth interview, survey, 
and focus group. At the same time, research journals were a very important tool 
in the process of data collection. A research journal is a tool for data collec-
tion and reflection on the course of the research process. The researcher writes 
down their observations, impressions, doubts and questions which emerge in 
the process of entering the organisation and the studied problem. It is a type of 

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a field work diary that constitutes an extremely valuable source of information 
about what happens in the studied area, as well as how the perception of a given 
problem changes in the eyes of the researcher. It can be kept in an electronic 
form or as a traditional paper journal. Some people prefer carrying it around as 
a notebook writing down their observations as they come, others – fill it out after 
a given event, meeting, recording their notes on a computer.
As Kemmis, McTaggart and Nixon [2014] explain, keeping a journal helps 
the researcher maintain discipline through the requirement of regular reflection 
on what happens in the project, how they react to it and what their thoughts 
are on the subject. It also enables better visualisation of what has been done, and 
what the progress is in achieving the desired change. Furthermore, a journal can 
become a very valuable source of quotations that can be used to illustrate the 
master’s thesis, or an academic paper. In summary, a research journal is an ex-
tremely important tool which enables the researcher to steer the process of their 
own learning, and it should be kept from the very initiation of action research.
3.3 Selection of action research methods conducted
with unprivileged groups
A specific situation which requires particular attention in selecting methods 
of data collection and analysis is conducting research with groups of people 
who are excluded, unprivileged or experience inappropriate treatment. Often 
the subject of action research, especially within critical forms of this approach, 
are social injustices affecting excluded or vulnerable groups. Vulnerables are, ac-
cording to Mary Silva [1995, p. 15, quoted in: Liamputtong 2007] people who 
experience “diminished autonomy due to physiological/psychological factors or 
status inequalities”. They are usually not able to make decisions on their own 
that affect their lives, or to be independent. They are tangled in a web of relations 
that does not allow them to become emancipated, which usually results from the 
social injustice they experience. What they have in common is the fact that they 
are often “invisible” groups within society, and their needs are sometimes mar-
ginalised. Groups of vulnerables may include children, senior citizens, ethnic mi-
nority communities, immigrants, the unemployed, religious minorities, addicts, 
sex workers, the homeless, LGBT community, as well as women and people with 
chronic illnesses [Liamputtong 2007]. There are also groups whose vulnerability 
is compounded. For instance, unemployed women from ethnic minorities who 
are single mothers.
Conducting action research by such a group or by an external researcher col-
laborating with unprivileged people is a task that requires particular sensitivity, 

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and the application of appropriate research methods. Unprivileged people of-
ten experience various difficulties, they are going through or have gone through 
trauma. Social researchers working with marginalised groups enter these peo-
ple’s lives — an area which is usually not visible and accessible from the outside. 
Marlene De Laine [2000, p. 67, cited in: Liamputtong 2007] calls these areas