Sorry,

I do not have any answers, but I feel that the questions are extremely relevant and important. I strongly recommend your contribution. Thank you very much. I surely will follow up, if someone has made experience in this....

Thanks!

Hi Angela,

I think your question should be addressed in two scenarios:

First, if the action research is designed to cover a long enough span of time, then, the impact of the action research - which is defined as an intervention into a certain community/area taken place at the beginning of the research, will be measured by the difference between the baseline data and end-line data (when the research ends). By doing so, if the action researcher finds out any changes from the baseline to endline data in the intervened community/area, then s/he would claim that her/his research has made some impact.

Second, if the action research spans in only a short period, but the intervention of the research will remain to be carried out afterward, then it will need a follow-up impact evaluation to answer the question.

I don't know any books discussing this philosophical question. But there are several good books that arguing how to conducting this type of research. I myself found these two texts useful.

Quantitative perspective:

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2693/520990PUB0EPI1101Official0Use0Only1.pdf?sequence=1

Qualitative perspective:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/314610087/Qualitative-Research-Evaluation-Methods-by-Michael-Patton

Hope it helps,

kien

Hi Kien,

Thanks a lot for your answer. I agree with what you wrote, which makes me think about how important drawing a baseline is. Many of the contribution on action research I found, do not stress the significance of a properly documented baseline. However, many authors emphasise the importance of spontaneity of action research and adapting on the go, conflicting a bit with the idea of a strict plan. Planning, instead, is normally done dependent on the baseline. So here again, I am wondering how to combine a good degree of flexibility with the ability to keep track of researcher's impact, properly monitoring baselines, actual changes, and ultimately state that these changes could be/are our research output.