We had a little snow last night and it was quite cold outside this morning. It felt colder than it was, because of the wind and the slight sad drizzle. There’s a thermometer on the bridge that I check when it’s feeling especially cold, when I checked it today I was disappointed to find that it only read 0°C. I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic, -8°C would have been acceptable.
Above is a diagram I put together this morning for my thesis revisions. It describes an approach to research called ‘action research’, which is a form of research where the researcher engages directly in processes of change in a situation to enquire into a research theme of interest. The diagram is adapted from one presented in a paper by Checkland & Howel (1998), which describes the action research approach and points out some key challenges that action research practitioners must be aware of. Key among these, according to the authors, is that researchers must declare their research framework and methods before entering into a change process. This allows for researchers to ‘keep their intellectual bearings’ and provides a starting position against which to situate subsequent learning.
Action research is a controversial approach and it does raise difficult problems for the researcher, but nevertheless, it does provide a way to approach certain research questions which would be very difficult to address otherwise. Many research questions surrounding design are amenable to an action research approach.
Other happenings this week
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Monday - discussing ‘provotypes’ with Jesper for Indoor Climate project.
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Tuesday - design specialization student presentations.
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Wednesday - teaching HCI: Motor behavior models for HCI.
Reference
Checkland, P. & Holwell, S., 1998. Action Research: Its Nature and Validity. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 11(1), 9-21.