Yesterday, today, tomorrow: Reflections on action research and qualitative inquiry

Abstract

In this article the author argues that the current state of educational inquiry, particularly as it relates to action research and qualitative inquiry, is in high flux. If this were true, several possible implications follow. First is the idea that with this flux all inquiry occurs in a context that is politcial, organisational, and geographical. Second is the need to see local adaptations of action research–origins, structures, variations, and meanings for the participants. Inquirers and practitioners work in these local settings and typically hope to make improvements and reforms there. Third, a historical view seems exceedingly important as one assesses the current situation and looks to the future of action research. Knowing how things ‘were’ facilitates possible visions of the future. Fourth, each of these implications has importance in the breadth or narrowness of the definition(s) of action research, that is, what counts as action research. Finally, working on the belief that most if not all action research is autobiographical, the author carries the argument through a series of autobiographical stories of a particular local endeavor involved in building an action research community. For some, that might be an unusual organisational structure of an article. © 2004, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.