Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization is the essential resource for anyone embarking on a research project in their own organization or as part of a work placement programme whether in business, healthcare, government, education, social work or third sector organizations. The authors provide an easy-to-follow, hands-on guide to every aspect of conducting an action research project and have added in the Third Edition: - more on politics and ethics to help researchers negotiate gaining access and permission, and building and maintaining support from peers and relevant subsystems within an organization - more on writing an action research dissertation, and treatment of sensitive issues such as: giving feedback to one’s superiors and peers, disseminating the research to the wider community, and handling interpretations or outcomes which may be perceived negatively by the organization involved. - more case examples and reflective exercises taken from a wide variety of organizational settings to aid students and researchers whatever their background discipline.

This book is the essential resource for any researcher embarking on an action research project in their own organization, and all students of organization studies, education, health studies, and community studies. In this brand new edition of the popular work, David Coghlan and Teresa Brannick provide an easy-to-follow, hands-on guide to every aspect of conducting an action research project in your own organization. Revised and updated, this Third Edition contains: An expanded discussion on politics and ethics of insider action research An expanded chapter on writing an action research dissertation and an action research report More case examples and reflective exercises taken from a wide variety of organizational settings

′The clear intention of the authors is to motivate, persuade and give confidence to those who might otherwise think that research can only be carried out by teams of university staff′ - ESCalate Most Teaching Assistants (TAs) studying for Foundation Degrees need to do Action Research projects. This book acts as an introduction to research methods, and will be especially useful if you are doing such work for the first time. It: " introduces the basic principles and practice of research methods; " provides an overview of the processes involved in Action Research; " shows you how to identify an issue, design and carry out a course of action and evaluate the impact of this action; " uses real case studies from practising TAs. The content of the book relates to both Early Years and Primary settings, and there are case studies from a variety of settings. Anyone studying for a Foundation Degree, or working towards HLTA status, will find this book meets their needs. Claire Taylor is Programme Leader for the Foundation Degree at Bishop Grosseteste College, Lincoln. Min Wilkie is Programme Leader for the Foundation Degree in Educational Studies for Teaching Assistants at the University of Leicester. Judith Baser has worked in a wide range of educational settings, including 5 years as a teaching assistant. More recently, she has run training courses for teaching assistants in ways to support children′s learning and development.

In Conducting Action Research, Coghlan and Shani explain how action research differs from more detached research methods and provides expert guidance on how to engage effectively with it, helping the reader to complete both a successful research project and produce findings that are useful in an organizational context. Ideal for Business and Management students reading for a Master’s degree, each book in the series may also serve as reference books for doctoral students and faculty members interested in the method. Part of SAGE′s Mastering Business Research Methods, conceived and edited by Bill Lee, Mark N. K. Saunders and Vadake K. Narayanan and designed to support researchers by providing in-depth and practical guidance on using a chosen method of data collection or analysis.

Improvement is fundamental to the competitiveness of networks and requires the participating firms to collaborate in identifying and introducing changes. This book presents collaborative strategic improvement as a cycle of activities in which firms in a network can engage together. Drawing on actual cases, authors link this cycle with disciplined action learning as a means of building upon experience generated through collaborative action. They describe how a network can learn from experience and deploy that learning in the marketplace.

Since the first edition of this established text was published in 1988, action research has gained ground as a popular method amongst educational researchers, and in particular for practising teachers doing higher-level courses. In this new edition Jean McNiff provides updates on methodological discussions and includes new sections of case study material and information on supporting action research. The book raises issues about how action research is theorised, whether it is seen as a spectator discipline or as a real life practice, and how practitioners position themselves within the debate. It discusses the importance for educators of understanding their own work and showing how their educative influence can lead to the development of good orders in formal and informal learning settings and in the wider community. This second edition comes at a time when, after years of debate over what counts as action research, it is now considered an acceptable and useful part of mainstream research practice.

SAGE FUNDAMENTALS OF APPLIED RESEARCH The SAGE Fundamentals of Applied Research (FAR) series brings together the essential and forward thinking articles on doing research in applied contexts with or for specific groups from the foremost publications and edited by established names in the field. Volumes showcase methodological innovations, key debates, and maintain a focus on the professional/applied context of the research and on the methodological and practical implications of doing research within institutional and socio-cultural contexts of such research. The series includes historically seminal pieces alongside the very best pieces from the last few years that express the ‘cutting edge’ in the field.