The meta-cycle : action research as an orchestrator of situated research inquiry

Kawalek, P; Lorenzo, O; Kawalek, J; Mohamad, MRA

Abstract

The paper presents the role of AR in negotiating the researchers’ relationship with a community and the meaning of that research to the community. Can the researcher maintain both an impulse to be a part of a community and to belong to research? Where does research start and where does it end? What part does the naturalism of the ward or organization play in relation to the formation, framing and value of the research, and how does it confer value upon the outcomes? How does the researcher return to the ward or community and then again depart from it back to the mode of research? Our field of focus is not neurology nor healthcare but Information Systems. Action Research (AR) is the primary methodological focus and we additionally present it as a meta-cycle, standing over other research methods including further instances of AR. The paper presents and reports this meta-cycle. The paper proposes that this meta-cycle connects research and researchers to phenomena with which they must engage; the organizational setting, organizational life, the politics and the future. Research starts in this meta-cycle and it is shaped by it. Research then culminates in this meta-cycle, moving the organization onward and prompting research again as the AR continues. Understanding the meta-cycle enables the greater context and consequence of the research to be understood, and illuminates the phenomena that shape it and give meaning.

Citation

Kawalek, P., Lorenzo, O., Kawalek, J., & Mohamad, M. (2016, December). The meta-cycle : action research as an orchestrator of situated research inquiry. Presented at ICIS Workshop on Advances in Qualitative IS Research Methodologies, Dublin, Ireland

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: ICIS Workshop on Advances in Qualitative IS Research Methodologies
• Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland
• Start Date: Dec 11, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Publisher: Association for Information Systems
• Publisher URL: http://icis2016.aisnet.org/pre-icis-workshop-advances-qualitative-research-methodologies/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Workshop