Action Research

Introduction

It is possible to bring about satisfactory change in an organization through action research. It can be achieved through effective monitoring and evaluation to address problems of significance to the organization. Toward the end of the 1990s, Information Technology sector saw a beginning in growing popularity for application in scholarly investigations of information systems. (McLaughlin & Ayubayeva, 2015)The use of Action research in information system has evidently produced highly relevant research results given that it is grounded in practical action, aimed at solving an immediate problem situation and tour đài loan từ hà nội informing theory.

The particular task will be IS action research project in regards to a semantic database prototyping. The research setting will involve one organization. The immediate problem situation concerns the failure to complete a systems analysis. The organization has undergone two unhappy and failed attempts at analysis of their information requirements. A complicated analysis requirement and the database have puzzled two earlier attempts. (McLaughlin & Ayubayeva, 2015)These failures have further complicated requirements analysis since the users have grown hostile and suspicious of analysts and designers. The purpose of the action research will solve the IS design problems. The task will intentionally seek to achieve valuable goals for kynghidongduong.vn the organization.

Action researchers believe that complex social systems should not be reduced for meaningful study. Thus, human organizations can be understood as whole entities due to the context that interacts with information technologies. A key implication of the use of this assumption is that factoring of a social setting such as an organization and its IT into components cannot lead to useful knowledge about the whole organization. Then, tour đài loan từ hà nội how can a researcher develop an understanding of the interaction of organizations and tour đài loan giá rẻ their information systems? It can happen by the action researcher introducing changes into these processes and analyzing the effects of these changes. This change-oriented contention will profoundly shape the proposed action research approach. The action research project will involve various activities from the beginning.

The Action Research Cycle (Burns, 2014).

A period of data collection will in the organization give the researchers insights into the day-to-day functioning of the organization information system. The method of data collection will allow for the collection of a greater amount of data to test research hypotheses. A period of experimental implementation will then follow on the feedback of data. The choice of the information system will be made in consultation with departmental management and staff. However, Action research is typically cyclical. Action failures are as important as action successes. Action will continue until the immediate problem situation is relieved. Actions that relieve an immediate problem setting will be a powerful evidence of the practical effectiveness of an underlying theory.

Methodology: Action research

In the mid-1940s, Kurt Lewin, came up with a theory of action research describing action research as scheduled in several steps, comprising of planning, action, and the evaluation. According to Lewin, to effectively "comprehend and alter diverse social practices, researchers have to involve practitioners who experience the social practices in all the whole process of inquiry. The coining of the theory of action research made it a widely used method of acceptable inquiry. Accordingly, Action research is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. The practitioner designs and conducts action research and analyzes the data to improve his or her practice. Action research can also be carried out by teams. Practitioners engage in action research in order to improve and refine their actions

The action research model (Hansen& Brady, 2011)

The figure clearly shows the fundamental difference between other types of research models and action research. First, the research is problem-focused. Secondly, defining the problems is a collaborative process involving researchers and practitioners. Thirdly, the application and evaluation point is built in through the experimental innovation stage. Action research is presented as a type of organizational problem-solving where the role of the consultant is played by the external researcher.

Practitioners, who engage in Action research as an inquiry or research in the context of focused efforts, find it to be an empowering experience. This method of research has different positive impacts for many reasons. Evidently, the most important reason it is that always relevant to participants. Relevance is guaranteed given that the focus of the research project is determined by the researcher who is also the primary consumer of the findings. Even more important is that the method assists the researcher to bring about change in a program or organization while increasing the understanding on the part of the participant. At the extreme, the findings may take the form of increased understanding on the part of those directly involved.

Action research is known as collaborative inquiry, participatory research, emancipatory research, contextual action research, and action learning. All these variations are based on a theme. Put simply, action research involves "learning by doing." A researcher identifies a problem, takes steps to resolve it, observes how successful his or her effort was, and if not satisfied, tries again. While the essence of the action research approach is to engage the researcher in the identification and formulation of problem and solution, there are various key attributes that differentiate it from other problem-solving activities. In general, action research aims to contribute to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation while furthering the goals of social science simultaneously. Thus, there exists a dual commitment to the methodology to study a system and at the same time collaborating with members of the system in changing it. Achieving the two goals requires the active teamwork of researcher and client, and hence it emphasizes the importance of co-learning as a primary aspect of the research process.

What separates action research from general problem-solving or professional practices is the emphasis on scientific study. It is to say that the researcher studies the problem scientifically and ascertains that the intervention is based on theoretical considerations. A considerable amount of the researcher's time is spent refining methodological tools to go with the demands of the situation. The researcher also collects, analyzes, and presents data on an ongoing, cyclical basis.

Why use action research

There are various reasons why action research methodology was selected for this project. The first one is based on its primary focus on turning the people involved into researchers. The nature of the methodology thus ensures people learn best, and more freely apply the lesson, when they do it themselves. Action research also has a social dimension - it is carried out in real-world situations and aims to solve real problems. Additionally, the methodology allows the researcher remain objective by openly acknowledging biases to other participants. The approach in action research collaborative, however, it is achieved through the critically examined action of individual members of the group. (Wood and Avison, 1985) Practitioners who employ action research certainly find it to be an empowering experience with a positive effect for various reasons. The most outstanding is that the practice is all the time relevant to the participants. The focus of action research is determined by members who also the primary consumers of the findings hence are guaranteed the relevance.

Additionally, it is possible to achieve validity in action research. Some Important strategies used in achieving validity are a cyclic process and creation of dialectic. The cyclic process helps the researcher to get early interpretations can be challenged and refined. The creation of dialectic happens between two different sources of information or perspectives on them.

Types of action research approaches

There are different types of recognized approaches in action research. Accordingly, action research may be divided largely into three types: emancipator, practical and technical. However, different researchers have grouped action research into different groups. The Technical approach involves the testing of certain intervention on the basis of an existing theoretical framework. The practitioner engages in the process of implementation after the researcher identifies a particular problem and recommends a specific intervention. The practical approach involves a mutual understanding normally reached between the practitioner and researcher. Action research is purposely undertaken to improve practice through personal application of the participant�s wisdom. The critical approach focuses on bridging the gap existing in the specific setting. (Aakhus & Teeni, 2014)

There are various forms of action research within this class of action research approaches. As concerns the information systems, these forms are inventoried and analyzed from different perspectives. One perspective recognizes ten distinct forms of action research in information systems, with four individual. The characteristics of IS action research include process model, structure, typical involvement and primary goals.

Domains of Action Research

The type of learning created by action research represents promotes the understanding of a complex organizational problem. The domain of action research is clearest where the human organization interacts with participants. The domain includes one where a contingent value can be attached to the findings. The research should address a particular social setting. However, the knowledge generated knowledge should enhance the Development of the general theory. The researcher must be valued by those being researched, and both parties should successfully negotiate their goals. (Warmington, 1980) Otherwise, tension might destroy the participative validity of the research. The proposed sets of goals must be satisfied in the study

References

Warmington, A. (1980) Action Research Method, and Its Implications Journal of Applied Systems Analysis , (7) 4, pp. 23-39

Wood-Harper, T., L. Antill and D. E. Avison. (1985) Information Systems Definition: The Multiview Approach, Oxford: Blackwell Scientific

McLaughlin, C., & Ayubayeva, N. (2015). `It is the research of self-experience�: feeling the value in action research. Educational Action Research, 23(1), 51-67. doi:10.1080/09650792.2014.994018

Aakhus, M., Agerfalk, P. J., Lyytinen, K., & Teeni, D. (2014). Symbolic action research in information systems: introduction to the special issue1. mis Quarterly, 38(4), 1187-1200.

Burns, D. (2014). Systemic action research: Changing system dynamics to support sustainable change. Action Research, 12(1), 3-18. doi:10.1177/1476750313513910

Hansen, R. J., & Brady, E. M. (2011). Solving Problems Through Action Research. LLI Review, 682-90.