Action Research by Ernest T. Stringer

Author:Ernest T. Stringer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781483320731
Publisher: Sage
Published: 2014-10-25T16:00:00+00:00

The use of experience-near concepts does not eliminate the need for rigorous inquiry. Restricted or cursory analyses that produce superficial solutions to deep-seated and complex problems are unlikely to be effective. Researchers and facilitators can ensure that explanatory frameworks are sufficiently rigorous to move people past stereotypical or simplistic interpretations of their situations, but these frameworks must be grounded in the reality of their everyday lives. They must acknowledge the experiences and perspectives of those to whom programs and services are directed, rather than of those who deliver those services.

In the early phases of a recent project in East Timor, principals and superintendents often commented that parents were not interested in their children’s schooling—that it would be difficult to get them to participate in school life. Through a series of parent workshops I was able to demonstrate that parents had high levels of interest in their children’s schooling. Using participatory processes of inquiry based on small-group techniques, these workshops gave parents opportunities to express their concerns about the school and to suggest ways that they might be able to engage in activities that would assist the staff of the school in dealing with the issues that emerged. In most schools parents identified a number of ways that they would be willing to participate in improving the school, and many successful projects emerged—fund-raising; school repair and maintenance; garden maintenance; teaching materials manufacture; local crafts, art, songs, and dances; and assisting with school security arrangements. Parents found many ways that they, with their limited education and resources, could make a difference in their children’s schooling.

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