The Evaluative Study of Action Research

Eileen Piggot-Irvine is an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at Royal Roads University, Canada, and Griffith University, Australia. She has published 7 books, 72 refereed journal articles, 25 keynotes, and too many presentations to note. She is chief editor of the ALARA Monograph Series, has directed 11 New Zealand research contracts using an AR methodology and won a national Canadian grant to lead the Evaluative Study of Action Research (ESAR) – the focus of this book. Lesley Ferkins is Professor of Sport Leadership and Governance at Auckland University of Technology and Director of the AUT Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ). As an action researcher, Lesley works closely with sport organisations to develop governance and leadership capability. She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Wendy Rowe is a Professor and founder of the MA in Global Leadership Program at Royal Roads University, Canada, teaching and doing research in areas of strategic leadership, collaborative partnerships, organizational change, program evaluation, action research and research methods. She has over 56 peer reviewed publications and conference presentations. Shankar Sankaran used action research for his PhD while implementing a large- scale change in an engineering operation in Singapore. He has published refereed papers, books and book chapters on the application of action research, action learning and action science and supervises doctoral students applying action research as their methodology.

1. Introduction 2. Conceptualizing Indicator Domains for Evaluating Action Research 3. Action Research Networks: Role and Purpose in the Evaluation of Research Outcomes and Impacts 4. Developing a Framework for Research Evaluation in Complex Contexts Such as Action Research 5. Developmental Progress in Conducting Action Research 6. Goal Attainment Scaling in Action Research: Enhancing a Systems Thinking Orientation 7. Struggling to Achieve Desired Results from Your AR Projects? Insights from the Evaluative Study of Action Research May Help 8. Thumbs Up for Action Research in Case Studies from the Evaluative Study of Action Research 9. Leadership Within Action Research: Surfacing the Collective Nature of Leadership 10. Conclusion and Reflections