Action research: Tradition and renewal

The chapter offers an introduction to the history of action research, presents a brief literature review and explains how action research can be understood in a social constructionist view. The major focus in this chapter is how people co-construct knowledge, learning and change together through action research and gives an insight of the special characteristics when approaching action research from a social constructionist stance. There is no “short answer” to the question “What is action research from a social constructionist stance?” However, the aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with an overall idea and inspiration to seek more knowledge by delving deeper into the further chapters of the book. It is our hope that the chapter, and the book as such, will encourage postgraduate students, PhD students and senior researchers to engage reflexively in action research processes with enthusiasm, as well as with ethical concerns for the participants, the surroundings and the process itself.