The importance of mess in action research

Abstract

A small group of relatively novice action researchers from varying backgrounds gathered together to discuss their experiences of developing action research projects. During their meetings they began to identify significant divergence between what they felt was their experience of research and their interpretations of how action research was described in the literature. This article begins to investigate this divergence. It explores the researchers' struggle first to understand their patterns of research behaviour and then to describe their experience in a manner that acknowledged its importance. Could they find a way of identifying and incorporating their work within a methodology without fixing it as given practice and losing its very essence. © 1998, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.