Creating Practical Knowledge Through Action Research

Book excerpt: This issue is a nuts-and-bolts guide to action research, a powerful technique for identifying and meeting instructional challenges and for improving programs for adult learners. The authors outline the action research process step-by-step, provide a convenient project planner, and present examples to show how action research yielded genuine improvements in six different settings, including a hospital, a university and a literacy education program. This sourcebook is intAnded for educators and trainers of adults in formal settings, such as higher education; continuing progessional education; corporate training; adult basic and literacy education; and religious or health education. It is also intAnded for those working in many of the informal adult education activities, including volunteer training, some types of distance education, and community development work. In any of these settings, action research provides a systematic discovery process that has helped hundreds of adult education practitioners understand, analyze, interpret, and resolve day-to-day problems in the educational workplace. This is the 73rd issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.