Chapter 7: 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 by individuals who are often subjects of research. Action research is about researching with others rather than about others within individual contexts in the everyday. Cohen and Manion (1994)support this understanding in their definition of action research as:

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