Chapter 16: Action Research With Children

There are many approaches to action research. Reason and Bradbury (2008) describe the diversity of action research models as a “family of approaches” (p. 1). However, there is a core purpose to all of these approaches, which is participation. Action research is about researching with others rather than about others within individual contexts in the every day. Cohen and Manion (1994) support this understanding in their definition of action research as:

The focus of action research is about change, however, for some approaches to action research, the key aim is changing to create more socially just thinking and practice. As seen in Kemmis and McTaggart’s (1988) in their definition: