The Action Research Podcast

Join us for this inspiring and thought-provoking discussion. Adam and Joe sit down with three members of the Restorative Community Solutions (RCS) team based in San Francisco: Earl Simms (executive director), Kezia "Zia" Martinis (community engagement lead) and Couper Orona (community engagement operations). RCS is a nonprofit founded in 2022, led by a group of dedicated professionals with a deep history of direct service, dedicated to “support[ing] those experiencing the transition back into society from institutional settings, homelessness, prison, jails, and treatment facilities” through peer support. [00:02:27] We first learn about each guest and how their life experiences inform their work as well as [00:05:16] learn more about Restorative Community Solutions's (RCS) mandate. [00:08:35] Adam asks our guests to describe the challenges of doing peer support in a non-profit context. Zia discusses the challenges of representation of all community voices. Earl talks about dynamics of contracting with government agencies in San Francisco with extractive approaches and the risks of policy violence—when policy makers are “10, 000 feet above the problem” they can't “see the nuances and the different intricacies that are happening on the ground.” Couper ties it back to the importance of a trauma-responsive peer support approach. Our hosts ask the team to reflect on their work through the angle of action research. They discuss the importance first of bringing that qualitative part that humanizes and works toward accountability, [00:20:02] “mak[ing] sure that people's solutions are grounded in reality.” RCS's action research question asks, “What is one thing that San Francisco can do to change your life?” [00:23:34] Earl reflects on how participatory action research came into the methodology of their work, and they describe how co-researchers co-create survey questions, help with focus groups, use different tools to synthesize data, and then formulate recommendations to different organizations. [00:28:47] As Couper argues, there needs to be “more guts” in city government and the way things are done because “there's so much uncaring… so much distance between folks.” [00:30:51] Earl discusses balancing different hats and [00:32:20] Zia emphasizes the importance of paying people a living wage and giving folks the agency to vote on policies that directly affect them: “The stipend that I received was more than I had pretty much made in my lifetime” and “I never knew three years ago that I'd be voting on a commission where I have a say in allocating all that proxy money.” [00:35:48] Adam asks the RCS guests “Where can you take this movement? How can you get involved with policy in such a way where your day to day grind is going to be what gets it there?” Jump into this episode to benefit from the nuances of their important insights and the rich variety of concrete examples they share from their research experiences. [00:52:10] Finally the team plugs a few things which we cite below. [00:54:26] RCS is looking for volunteers, “anybody that wants to be boots on the ground or has any kind of compassion towards this work we've done to help support that.” They are looking for lawyers, as well as any students. Just reach out to them! Or, as Couper throws in [00:54:49], “if you have a million dollars laying around or something, that'd be great.”Thanks Earl, Zia and Couper for sharing your work with us.You can subscribe to our podcast on most major podcast distribution platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Action Research Podcast, created by Adam Stieglitz, Joe Levitan, Shikha De Walker, Cory Legasic, and Vanessa Gold. How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be...

Guess what? It's summer, July 2024, and the team is distracted doing summer things. So we are taking a little break this month before we sit down and get back into recording conversations with our upcoming guests for the episodes ahead. We also realized that we are in our fourth season, and we can now do what seasoned podcasters do: look back and share with you one of our team's favorite past episodes. With more than 30 episodes under our belt, this episode stands out to us from our first season that we recorded back on November 5th, 2020, during the height of the pandemic lockdown. And summer is a great time for reflection. With that, we give you, once again, Adam and Joe in Season 1 Episode 6's discussion on “Reflexivity in Action Research with Dr. Lisa Starr”.Thanks for tuning in, and now, onto our hosts.—---------------------------------------In this episode reprise, Adam and Joe have a conversation with Dr. Lisa Starr about the role of reflexivity in action research. To understand this complex topic, they discuss two chapters Lisa wrote using reflexive and autoethnographic methods. It just so happens (or was it more than a coincidence?) that Adam is working on the chapter in his dissertation in which he reflexively discusses his positionality, so he asks Lisa to share her expertise (12:34) on how to approach reflexivity in Action Research (15:51). Later in the episode, Joe asks Lisa about the frameworks to reflexively understand one's identity in her chapters (25:11).If you are interested in the chapters mentioned in our podcast citations are below:Starr, L.J. & Mitchell C. (2020, accepted for Publication). Traveling in Circles Along Roads Less Traveled in Awe of Open Spaces. In Mitchell, C, Giritli Nygren, K, Moletsane, R. (eds.) Where am I in the Picture? Researcher Positionality in Rural Studies. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto PressStarr, L.J. (2019). Locating who (I am) in what (I) do: An autoethnography encounter with relational curriculum. In T. Strong-Wilson, C. Ehret, D. Lewkowich & S. Chang Kredl (Eds.), Making/Unmaking Curriculum through Provoking Curriculum Encounters (pp. 103-115). William Pinar/Routledge for the Studies in Curriculum Theory series. New York, NY: Routledge.

In this episode, Adam and Cory co-host while Joe joins as our guest alongside Dr. Catherine Potvin. We learn about Catherine's career as a biologist working on climate issues in solidarity with Indigenous communities. Together, Catherine and Joe explore their collaboration doing action research in both culturally grounded health care and education. First, [2:50] Catherine and Joe center relationship-building with the Emberá community at the heart of their collaborations in Panama: it's about persistence and long time presence. [5:02] Catherine shares an overview of her history working with Indigenous communities along with the deep shifts and re-orientations in her career: [6:24] “I realized I had everything wrong, like completely everything wrong. [...] I understood that if you want to keep the forest, you need to care for the people.” Adam and Cory ask [7:50] about the contexts that inform the focus on reforestation and community empowerment and [11:27] the role of social scientists in working alongside biologists in these collaborations. [12:02] Dr. Potvin talks about the notion of reflexivity as “a total social science thing” and the importance of researchers positioning themselves in the work they do. She also talks about how important it has been to look at reforestation from an economics and training perspective, what Joe calls “learning for capacity building”. Their collaboration also helped support [16:20] a community-based collective decision-making process, and Joe names a few examples of its outcomes. At this point, Joe [19:56] spends some time walking us through an understanding of culturally-grounded education and healthcare: It's a “phenomenological pragmatist perspective” that asks [20:53] “How do we start from who we are and our experience, and then identify what matters to us?” Potvin [23:02] shares a few anecdotes from her experiences over the years of learning to approach climate science from a more culturally grounded approach, and some of the colonial systemic barriers that students and community members face. Adam's last big question [29:45] asks our guests: “To what extent are you identifying or acknowledging economic empowerment for the communities that you're working with in Panama as a way to conserve and preserve the community's Indigenous lifestyles and knowledge?” Potvin discusses [33:37] the need to “find a number of different economical pathways for women, for men, for youth, for elders that will allow them to live a decent life.” Joe brings the reality of “using resources from outside of the community, but also thinking about how to do that in a way that's circular and self-directed.” They both offer examples of projects from recent years. Wrapping up, Cory and Adam share some takeaways and use the final moments to congratulate (and challenge) Potvin's upcoming retirement. To which she responds, and we wanted to quote at length…“You know, in ecology, when a tree falls, that's where the diversity of a forest gets recreated, right? Because there's all these new trees that will take the space of the old big tree, because the old big tree sucks up a lot of resources. And when it disappears, it creates opportunity for new trees, more adapted to the new reality to grow. So I think I see retirement that way, it's supporting and creating opportunities to go further than where I've been.” Thank you both for sharing your work with us, and congratulations Dr. Potvin on your retirement!. You can subscribe to our podcast on most major podcast distribution platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Action Research Podcast, created by Adam Stieglitz, Joe Levitan, Shikha Diwakar, Cory Legassic, and Vanessa Gold. How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be interviewed or share one of your projects? Get in touch with...

Adam and Joe sit down with Dr. Lisa Levinger, an educator with over 30 years of experience at all instructional levels. She also completed her PhD at Northeastern University in May of 2023 doing action research around poverty-induced trauma (PIT) and literacy. She is currently acting as the Dean of Literacy at a Diversity by Design charter school in Queens, New York. To start, Adam and Joe spend some time getting to know Lisa [02:38] in our lightning round. We learn about a hidden talent, her connection to Adam, her recipe for good action research, and some quick advice for emerging grad action researchers. Next [07:42], Adam and Joe dive into learning about poverty-induced trauma and how Lisa approaches literacy and action research: the contexts, the challenges and the insights. A key question that drives her work [13:37] is, “How do I teach teachers about poverty-induced trauma?” She describes what collaboration and co-creation looked like during the height of Covid and walks us through the shifts and iterative cycles [16:14] of her research. Levinger's research focuses on helping teachers grapple with important questions that emerged in the action research process [16:47]:How do I think about poverty-induced trauma when I'm doing lesson plans? How do I select books that mirror the stories of the students in front of me? How do I plan for what I call pit stops—moments of reflection that ask, what's happening right now in your body? Have you ever felt this way before? Adam [17:35] asks Lisa to outline in more detail her action research design process. She describes the methods in each cycle [18:29] as “an iterative process just like an onion that kept getting peeled away [...] and at the same time, there were all these beautiful layers that just kept being added…” Lisa elaborates her TallTales framework [19:40]—Trauma Aware Literacy Lessons, Teaching and Learning for Equity and Success—and [21:15] how she brought this work into her position as Dean. She follows up by sharing [22:56] the two major findings from this ongoing work: (1) how important it is to engage teachers in learning about PIT, and (2) how to define the TallTale framework specifications. Finally, Joe [27:20] asks Lisa about the role of reflection and positionality in her research. She offers more advice: “If you're not in the kind of program that's asking you to reflect on your positionality for every course, just grab a journal and do it yourself, and think about who am I in this space, and what am I bringing to this story, and who are the people I'm selecting.” Lisa also circles back to earlier advice on how to keep the momentum going in your research and writing. She has the help of her [30:38] doctoral divas who cheerlead and check in on each other. Thanks Dr. Levinger for sharing your work with us. You can subscribe to our podcast on most major podcast distribution platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Action Research Podcast, created by Adam Stieglitz, Joe Levitan, Shikha De Walker, Cory Legasic, and Vanessa Gold. How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be interviewed or share one of your projects? Get in touch with us. Here are citations related to this discussion: Levinger, L. (2023). For Teachers by Teachers: Cocreating a Literacy Framework with Educators to Serve Students with Poverty-Induced Trauma (Doctoral dissertation, Northeastern University).

Adam and Joe sit down with Dr. Joseph Winberry to talk about information sciences and community-based participatory action research (CBPAR). Dr. Winberry is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science. Much of his teaching and research revolves around critical librarianship, information marginalization, and older adults. Jumping into our lightning round, [00:45] Dr. Winberry walks us through the choices and experiences that led him to the crossroads of studying CBPAR and older adults.[04:33] Winberry tells us about the important work around “information marginalization” (Gibson & Martin, 2019) that guides his research and [07:22] what action research looks like more broadly in his context. At this point, our hosts dig in deeper into his dissertation study: a CBPAR project with LGBT older adults that was [09:02] “led by the community and addressing issues that they believe are important.” First, [09:11] he shares insights on what is critical to success in an action research investigation: time, relationships and flexibility. [10:35] He then offers advice to graduate students who are considering action research as their methodology for their thesis or dissertation. Joe asks Winberry to [12:54] tell us more about what brought him to community-based participatory action research, specifically. We get to hear about how his experience with community organizing and his role at the Office on Aging informed his passion for information sciences and action-oriented research. [20:02] Winberry shares some of the key scholars that shaped his work, and we share some of those references below. [21:33] Like many action research researcher-practitioners, Winberry also [21:30] faced some pushback about doing action research as part of a dissertation and walks us through his responses to those challenges. Any listeners interested in CBPAR will want to listen [23:29] to Winberry describe the methods and steps of his CBPAR process. The work led to the development of [25:33] a strategic plan, a series of community consultations to validate that plan, and then the establishment of a committee to follow up on that plan—called the Aging Rainbow Coalition or ARC. [31:19] Winberry spends some time sharing how he handled the hurdles of working with the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) for ethics approval and the important role of informal data collection. As a final discussion, our hosts prompt Winberry to talk about [33:01] positionality and reflexivity in CBPAR. For Winberry, “how I approached the study and how it ultimately looked” was absolutely shaped by his background. What are Winberry's parting words of encouragement to future action researchers? “Don't be afraid to take risks and don't be afraid to engage the community.” And more.Thanks Dr. Winberry for reaching out to us and sharing your work.How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be interviewed or share one of your projects? Get in touch with us. Here are citations related to this discussion: Bharat Mehra. Mehra, B. (2021). Social justice design and implementation: Innovative pedagogies to transform LIS education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 62(4), 460-476.Kitzie, V. L., Wagner, T. L., & Vera, A. N. (2020, March). “In the beginning, it was little whispers… now, we're almost a roar”: Conceptualizing a model for community and self in LGBTQ+ health information practices. In International Conference on Information (pp. 15-31). Cham: Springer International Publishing.Winberry, J. (2018). Shades of Silver. The International Journal of...

In the exciting second part of our discussion on YPAR and arts-based methods, new grad student co-hosts Shikha and Cory continue their conversation with Dr Kristen Goessling, Dr Dana Wright, Dr Amanda Wager and Dr. Marit Dewhurst, researchers and editors of Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice: Opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and research with young people that came out in 2021. First, in our lightning round, we continue learning about our guests as we ask them about their pet peeves in collaboration–which are quite funny and enlightening! [1:15]. We also talk about an outline of common stages or phases in a YPAR project [2:16]. Some highlights include a discussion on relationship building as a design process [6:40] and building group dynamics [9:20] through participatory arts-based methods, like mapping and collage. In their projects, we can really see “PAR as a verb” in terms of supporting adults who work with young people as “PAR-ing” [11:48]. Throughout, our guests emphasize the pedagogical dimensions of YPAR because YPAR insists on sharing and learning skills together and democratizing knowledge production. For example, Amanda draws on theatre-based activities like the ”hot seat” to rehearse data collection methods like interviewing. YPAR challenges adultism with its “misconceptions about young people” and pushes adults to take youth seriously [15:25]. At its heart, “PAR is essentially doing two research projects at once: You are engaging in a process that you are studying because you are studying the praxis and so that you can hone it, refine it, and make it more effective; and you are studying the subject at hand” [18:48]. While navigating these layers, our YPAR guests explore navigating power dynamics [20:35] and participants shifting energies and motivations with and among youth [24:09]. Finally, [31:57] our guests offer advice to novice YPAR researchers on how to push the bar on meaningful participation in working with youth. They each share some encouragement and remind us that, ultimately, “anyone [who] has any designs on working with young people should be prepared that [young people] are the smartest people in the room and they will know if you are authentic or if you are trustworthy […] so it's best to bring your authentic self” [39:37].Here is the citation for their book on YPAR and arts-based methods: Goessling, K. P., Wright, D. E., Wager, A. C., & Dewhurst, Marit. (2021). Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and research with young people. Routledge; WorldCat.org. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=6469802Here are the YPAR handbooks mentioned in our conversationCommunity Futures, Community Lore: Learn to use youth participatory action research (YPAR), community mapping, public data and cultural organizing to generate solutions for our collective future.Berkeley YPAR hub: This hub features expansive curriculum and resources to enrich YPAR projects.Here are other publications by our guests:Goessling, K. P., Wright, D., Wager, A. C., & Dewhurst, M. (2020). A critical mixtape for the movement: Reflecting on creative and critical youth practices in research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 33(1), 1-7.Goessling, K. P., Wright, D. E., Wager, A. C., & Dewhurst, M. (2021)....

In the first episode led by our new co-hosts(!) Cory and Shikha sit down with Dr Kristen Goessling, Dr Dana Wright, Dr Amanda Wager, and Dr. Marit Dewhurst, researchers and editors of Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice: Opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and research with young people, which came out in 2021. This special two-part series begins with our lightning round to get to know our guests. They give us lots of interesting soundbites for defining Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)! Highlights from our discussions in PART 1 include: common assumptions about art-based research rigor and subjectivity; the continuum of arts-based methods; the importance of power-sharing, building trust and centering youth perspectives. The guests emphasize process over product, democratizing research through art, tapping different ways of knowing, and art as freedom for imagination and social change. The heart of their work involves further examining subjective dimensions of research, assessing arts-based methods, and implementing creative techniques to build relationships and share power with youth researchers. It was super interesting, and as co-hosts we learned a lot, so tune in!Our guests have a lot of important ideas to share, so after listening to this episode, join us in our next episode “Part 2 with Dana, Kristen, Amanda and Marit” where we dig into more of the “what and why” of YPAR. Here is the citation for their book on YPAR and arts-based methods: Goessling, K. P., Wright, D. E., Wager, A. C., & Dewhurst, Marit. (2021). Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and research with young people. Routledge; WorldCat.org. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=6469802

Welcome to Season 4 of the Action Research Podcast. In this launch episode for Season 4, we find out what the team has been up to during their fall pause. (Hint, it was some time to consider new goals and orientations for our podcast, and bring in more voices!)Join Joe and Adam who welcome Shikha and Cory to the table as new co-hosts alongside their roles as producers. Now that Adam is exploring life after completing a PhD, Shikha and Cory take on the role of grad students helping ask the questions.[2:06] In this episode, we get to know a bit more about them, and then they turn the tables on Joe and Adam by putting them into the hot seat with questions.During this conversation, the 4 co-host discuss the role of podcasting in the world of action research. For example, one of the issues with academic publications is that they are well polished descriptions of research designs. While that leads to valuable discussion and analysis, it may not always offer the information that budding researchers and practitioners need and want. So, through this podcast we have the opportunity to lean into the messiness of action research that makes each of our guests relatable and the opportunity to dig into the stories of what doesn't always make it into published findings. [12:27] As an example, Shikha and Cory also ask Joe and Adam to describe how they have responded to emerging messiness in their own work–a discussion with surprises![24:40] Tune in for this and more as Adam and Joe also offer some advice on what they have learned about hosting a podcast. [26:20] Then, listen to the team share what to expect in the rest of the season and, most importantly, we hope you take our invitation at the end to get involved with our team.How have you found yourself in the world of action research? Want to be interviewed or share one of your projects? Get in touch with us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.

In this episode, our team of hosts and producers debrief Season 3 of the Action Research Podcast. (2:33) Co-producers Shikha and Cory introduce themselves as students in different stages of their PhD work while working on this podcast and (5:09) discuss lessons from the podcast influencing their research—especially when it comes to the productive messiness of the AR process. (9:47) Adam and Joe reflect on the evolution of the podcast since Season 1 and the various formats the team has been developing. From basic introductions to key concepts, to guest hosts sharing the nuanced details of diverse AR projects, to the struggles of developing “Voices from the Field” segments, the podcast is an emerging process much like AR. Adam looks forward to “creating more formats and pushing the limits of how an academic podcast can be considered empirical work.” Joe talks about the importance of students working on air and behind the scenes “so that our podcast stays relevant.” (16:10) Shikha reflects on how important discussions on the podcast, such as the importance of relationship building in AR, are mirroring developing conversations in the field. (17:09) The debrief turns to a discussion of the role of podcasts in literature reviews and ways that podcasts can be recognized as legitimate academic media. In a “publish or perish type environment,” Joe discusses a “hierarchy of knowledge,” the gold standard of double-blind peer-viewed articles and the potential role of podcasts in contributing to much needed procedural knowledge. [22:55] “Podcasts are an excellent space for thinking through method, and [they] add to the pantheon of what it means to engage in knowledge construction.” So for Season 4, building on Season 3's theme of communication and action research, with an eye to increase engagement with podcast audiences, [29:27] Cory and Shikha suggest bringing on more students as guest hosts to engage with practitioners and scholars in the field, to dig in deeper to the messiness of AR cycles.A shout out to Vanessa Gold who was missing in this conversation, but whose hard work and insights have been invaluable to the growth of the podcast. Vanessa also set the bar for being a great student-host in Season 2 Episode 3 “Student Voice and Action Research with Marc I. Brasof”.

In this episode, our team follows up with Dr. Danny Burns and Dr. Marina Apgar who first joined us in Episode 4 to discuss systemic action research. Danny Burns is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) a think tank affiliated with the University of Sussex in England. He has directed more than 25 action research projects and programmes. His work focuses on participatory learning for social change with a strong emphasis on systems thinking and complexity. Marina Apgar is Research Fellow in the Participation, Inclusion and Social Change cluster at IDS. She is a human ecologist with 20 years experience working in the research-practice divide with marginalized communities in international development supporting learning and change in complex systems.[02:38] Marina reminds listeners about their large-scale system-changing project called Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia [CLARISSA]. Started in 2016, CLARISSA has a team of more than 150 members. In this episode, [06:13] Joe asks our guests to update on developments and any changes in light of shifts in pandemic policies. Danny and Marina describe in further depth the first phase of their work with children in the worst forms of child labor. They share experience of the team working with stakeholders in the sex industry (such as the employers of the children, business owners, parents and guardians). For Marina and Danny, action research can be an implementation modality that can help co-researchers respond to complex problems such as these. Our guests describe some of the ways the project went about understanding issues based on the lived experience of the children—starting with an extensive life story collection and analysis project. Through this process “the children actually themselves do a causal analysis of their experience, building a systemic picture of the issue of child labor. And then they decide what the intervention points are in the system.” [09:44] Danny describes children's involvement in mapping the streets and identifying where the businesses were, through a process called A Day in the Life. This work provided an important “evidential base” because it allowed them to challenge a lot of assumptions which proved to be critical to the starting point of 13 action research groups. In fact, [17:45] this process evidenced “ how children actually reflecting on an issue from their own experience can create a different narrative.” [20:19] Reflecting on procedural knowledge, Marina discusses how the work in this first phase is also providing evidence for other important and central questions in this program: How is trust built? How does participation work, and how can it be sustained? [25:57] Danny offers some thoughts on safeguarding and relevance, and [29:29] Marina reflects on the evolution of expected outputs in the process of this research. [32:37] Danny picks up on these points and talks about policy work, in the context of generalizable vs transferable knowledge. [35:17] Marina is thankful that “even in the evaluation community, we're moving much more to transferability as being a core criteria. And action research, like a lot of qualitative and case-based kind of methods, is really well placed to do that.” Towards the end of the podcast, [37:19] Danny and Marina reflect on the need for a participatory management to go with any large-scale participatory process.After some discussion among the podcast team, we were curious to follow up on some of the ethics approval process and finer details in some of the methods used in the Clarissa project. We look forward to continuing our discussion with Danny and Marina, and we encourage you to keep an eye on further resources we hope to add below. **If you have...

Part 2 of this two part episode concludes the conversation between Adam, Joe and our guest Alfredo about the “what?” and “why?” of research in action research. Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón is an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer. In the last episode, Part 1, the conversation turned toward the ways theories bridge research and practice. In this episode, Part 2, Adam, Joe and Alfredo pick up the conversation by reflecting on the place of writing and reading in their own projects. We jump back in here with Adam who's reflecting on the audience of action research. Adam recently finished his dissertation and is thinking about his work outside of the context of PhD research. [03:03] Alfredo looks at how theorizing in some of his projects helps him appreciate the influence of storytelling and story-based knowledge outside of publishing research. [06:09] Joe situates the work of research and the role of theorizing in the contexts of procedural and declarative knowledge and begins making the case for the value of action research in generating procedural knowledge. [08:23] Alfredo agrees and, through reflecting on his experience editing journals and sharing more projects he's worked on, see this orientation toward procedural knowledge as an area of growth for action research: “Honoring people's expert knowledge, but turning it into a form that other people can see the expertise in it.” At this point, [13:33] Adam questions the role of the literature review in action research. [16:12] Alfredo makes the familiar case that literature reviews can be useful to action research projects, but argues that literature, and theories, should be at the service of the problems in “the real world,” and not the other way around. [20:04] Joe backs this up with his experiences doing action research with teachers in Peru. But… when do practitioners have time to do lit reviews? [23:50] Perhaps the controversial part of this episode, Joe and Alfredo explore division of labor, roles, and the suggestion that academics can provide a “knowledge service,” where “we come in, and help to document more of local practitioner knowledge, community knowledge literally as a service.” Wrapping up, [30:14] Alfredo insists that action research does really challenge dominant notions of research: “Research is working with people on the ground, hearing their stories, creating avenues for that processing, finding ways to turn them into creative visual form, turning stories into evidence… spending time with people.”If you are interested in Alfredo's work here are a few citations and links: Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2021). Action research (Fifth edition). Sage publications.Community-engaged participatory action research (PAR): Rewriting the script for equitable healthcare https://www.partners4healthequity.com/resource-library/community-engaged-participatory-action-research-par-rewriting-script-equitable**If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this episode, Adam and Joe speak again with Adam's close friend, professor, and mentor, Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer. This episode explores the “what?” and “why?” of research in action research. Adam, Joe and Alfredo all went into their PhDs already working as practitioners and the conversation steers first toward the specific impact of their PhDs on their practice. Adam [7:15] thinks about the process and impact of his literature review on his work and Alfredo [9:20] reflects on how his PhD process opened his eyes to new ways of thinking about practice. Listen to Alfredo elaborate on the PhD as a period of discovering “meaningful methodology” and “amazing theories” (e.g., soft systems theory) that would energize his work and speak directly to frustrations he was having with “linear ways of thinking” in the field. The conversation turns toward the ways theories bridge research and practice. Joe [15:45] picks up on research's ability to help practitioners “draw the curtains back” and help us see things more clearly. But it's not “a one-way street,” since the practitioner-researcher contributes back to developing theories. Alfredo [18:15] offers some tough love by challenging doctoral students who might use theories uncritically to validate their work rather than engage with them dynamically as tools in tension with other theories in their projects. He gives us an example of how the dynamic tension between soft system theory and complexity theory enriched his own work: “Those two theories don't like each other, but I needed both of them to be able to explain how the things that I was doing were helping or not.” Here, Joe [21:05] echoes Alfredo's argument by drawing insights from an article he wrote “The Danger of a Single Theory” on his work with youth in a student voice project.To close Part 1 of this conversation, Adam [22:35] asks Alfredo if he is still working with theories from his dissertation. Alfredo uses his work in The Community Health and Wellbeing Project and The Breastfeeding Women Project to bring back into focus the role of stakeholders in action research: “Whether or not you're bringing in a formal theoretical framework or not, we are treating people's experiences as a source of knowledge and evidence, and trying to get them involved in doing so. That is only happening because I learned something about action research.”We have more to say, so join us in our next episode “Part 2 with Alfredo” where we dig into more of the “what and why” of research in action research. If you are interested in Joe's article or Aldredo's (with Ernie Stringer) book on Action Research, the citations are below: Levitan, J. A. S. (2018). The danger of a single theory: Understanding students' voices and social justice in the Peruvian Andes. Teachers College Record, 120(2). WorldCat.org.Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2021). Action research (Fifth edition). Sage publications **If you have your own questionsabout Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us atActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

To our listeners! Here is a quick update on the podcast. The ArPod team have been busy with exciting projects running across globe. We can't wait to share an update soon with upcoming exciting episodes. Stay tune!

If you haven't listened to episodes one and two of the series, find the links below! We are excited to bring the third installment of this exciting mini-series that brings you “behind the scenes” of action research projects to demonstrate what action research looks like, in action. In this episode, Adam catches Joe up on what has been happening in Café Orígenes, and there are some exciting updates! Throughout the episode Adam and Joe dive deep into how issues of communication, democracy, and finances intersect and impact a project, with some tips for other action researchers out there from lessons learned. Tune-in to learn more! Episode 2 https://the-action-research-pod.captivate.fm/episode/voices-from-the-field-cafe-origenes-part-2 Episode 1 https://the-action-research-pod.captivate.fm/episode/introducing-a-new-segment-voices-from-the-field-cafe-origenes

In this episode, we welcome two guests, Patricia Canto andMiren Larrea, who recently published a paper together titled “Rethinking the Communication of Action Research: Can we Make it Dialogic?” Adam and Joe bring you an enriching conversation with the authors. Patricia Canto is a researcher at Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from University of Deusto. She investigates the role that communication plays in articulating academic knowledge in territorial development processes and international knowledge networks. Her research areas include the social impact of research, scholarly publishing and communication, and universities' role in regional socioeconomic development. Miren Larrea is a senior researcher at Orkestra. She began her professional career as a research assistant at the University of Deusto, where she wrote her doctoral thesis on the local production systems of the Basque Country. After a decade dedicated to teaching and research, she worked for six years at a local development agency, where she combined her experience as a regional development professional with her work as a university researcher.The episode starts with a “Lightning Round”, asking questions like, What is AR? What is the most important component of Action Research? What is a major consideration when communicating AR? What distinguishes AR from other forms of research? (4:15). Later in the episode, our guests share the story behind the collaboration that led to the article (6:46), along with discussion about some important themes highlighted in the paper such as: how do you hold true to AR principles like dialogue in the communication of your research findings (10:23)? Why do linear formats in AR communication reduce its potential to transform society (11:39)? How do we make action research dialogic and inclusive with all the stakeholders involved (21:01)? Tune in to listen! Links https://dgroups.org/groups/perfadtReferencesCanto-Farachala, P., & Larrea, M. (2022). Rethinking the communication of action research: Can we make it dialogic? Action Research, 20(2), 199–218**If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

Welcome back to Part 2 of the episode; Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research with Joe. In this episode, we are continuing our conversation from last season on ethical relationship building based on an article that Joe published. If you haven't heard that one, it is episode 10 of season 2. It's great when friends of the podcast engage with our conversations, and in this episode, our good friend Alfredo Ortiz Aragon sent us some great insights about thinking through some of the implications of the ideas in the first episode and trying to find different ways to contextualize some points. Joe, Vanessa, & Adam start the conversation with responding to Ortiz's comments (2:13). They then carefully articulate their thoughts on themes such as role of emotions in research (8:11), how emotions can manifest in the field (11:25), how relationship building through reflexivity is both internal and external process (22:57), and how we can build ethical relationships while navigating the complexities in the AR process (29:01). Tune in to listen to this wholesome episode with our trio Joe, Vanessa and Adam. ReferencesLevitan, J.(2019). Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research: Getting Out ofWestern Norms to Foster Equitable Collaboration. The Canadian Journal of ActionResearch. 21 (1), 11-29.Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Salir adelante: Collaboratively developing culturally grounded curriculum with marginalized communities. American Journal of Education, 126(2), 195-230.Levitan, J. (2018). The danger of a single theory: Understanding students' voices and social justice in the Peruvian Andes. Teachers College Record, 120(2), 1-36.**If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this special episode, the AR Pod team discusses an amazing new book by our very own Joe Levitan and friend of the Podcast, Marc Brasof. The book, Student Voice Research: Theory, Methods, and Innovations from the Field, discusses the “how” of useful and quality student voice research to make schools better places to learn. The book has a lot of overlaps with Action Research.  This firsthand conversation by the editors of the book delves into why not only the theoretical understanding of student voice research is important but also practical knowledge from the field. Joe, Adam and Marc, bring highlights about the process of this collaboration, how this book came into existence, and some comments about the field. The book is not just relevant for students but also practitioners in action research who would like to include youth in change processes and research. Many of these paradigms, methodologies, or ways of thinking about information and decision-making need more of procedural knowledge which this book offers. Alright, no more spoilers, listen to the episode to know more about the book from editors themselves! Also, a special shout out to Vanessa Gold, co-producer of this podcast, who co-authored one of the chapters in this book! Here's the link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Student-Voice-Research-Methods-Innovations/dp/0807767131 (https://www.amazon.com/Student-Voice-Research-Methods-Innovations/dp/0807767131) **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this special, first episode of season 3, Joe interviews our very own, newly "minted," *Dr.* Adam Stieglitz! The co-hosts discuss his Action Research dissertation and his experiences as a PhD student. Tune in to learn about the ups, downs, and adventures of Dr. Stieglitz! References Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2014). The action research dissertation: A guide for students and faculty. Sage publications. Coghlan, D., & Brydon-Miller, M. (Eds.). (2014). The SAGE encyclopedia of action research. SAGE. Cousins, J. B., & Chouinard, J. A. (2012). Participatory evaluation up close: An integration of research based knowledge. Information Age Publishing, Inc. Coghlan, D. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization. London: SAGE. Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2020). Action research. Sage publications. **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

Welcome to our last episode of season two where the host becomes the guest! For this season finale, we put Joe on the hot seat to discuss his amazing article published in 2019 on Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research. Vanessa, Shikha, and Cory, the production team of the podcast (and Joe's supervisees), take this opportunity to ask Joe some hard-hitting questions. The discussion opens with the lightning round (2:14): What is ethical relationship building? Why is ethical relationship building in action research important? What's the number one thing researchers can do to support ethical relationship building in their work? What's theoretical orthodoxy? Why is interrogating theoretical orthodoxy important in Action Research? Later in the episode, we start to dig deeper into Joe's responses to the lightning round questions. We ask: what are the major turns in the relationship building in the AR process? (5:22), how might Action Researchers build an ethical relationship with the diversity within a community? (15:10) how might an Action Researcher create a meaningful space for communicating difficult emotions? (20:29)? Tune in to listen more! Then, stay tuned for Season 3 of the Action Research Podcast coming out in September 2022! You will hear more about building ethical relationships in action research (Part 2 of this series), and hear more voices from the field!   References Levitan, J. (2019). Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research: Getting Out of Western Norms to Foster Equitable Collaboration. The Canadian Journal of Action Research. 21 (1), 11-29. Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Salir adelante: Collaboratively developing culturally grounded curriculum with marginalized communities. American Journal of Education, 126(2), 195-230. Levitan, J. (2018). The danger of a single theory: Understanding students' voices and social justice in the Peruvian Andes. Teachers College Record, 120(2), 1-36. **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

This episode brings you stories of action research from one of the most renowned authors in the field, Ernest T Stringer. He is the author of Action Research (Sage, 2007), Action Research in Education (Pearson, 2008), Action Research in Health (with Bill Genat; Pearson, 2004), and Action Research in Human Services (with Rosalie Dwyer; Pearson, 2005). Starting his career as a primary teacher and school principal, Ernie was a lecturer in education at the Curtin University of Technology in Australia. From the mid-1980s, based at Curtin's Centre for Aboriginal Studies, he worked collaboratively with Aboriginal staff and community people to develop a wide variety of innovative and highly successful education and community development programs and services.  This episode consists of a rich discussion around the story of Ernie Stringer and how he got involved with action research (3:33), as well as two of his more recent projects: the Breakfast Club, and the center for Aboriginal studies at Curtin University (13:02). The group then moves on to and the road ahead for action research (38:28). Later in the lightning round segment, Joe and Adam raised our all-time favorite questions around the what, how, and why of the action research (43:30). Tune in to listen to the full episode!   References Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2020). Action research. Sage publications. 5th ed. Stringer, E. T. (2014). Action research (4th edition). SAGE. Stringer, E. T. (2007). Action research (3rd edition). Sage Publications. Stringer, E. T. (2008). Action research in education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

In this episode, our team welcomes Dr. Meghan McGlinn Manfra (Ph.D.). She is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. She is the author of Action Research for Classroom, Schools, and Communities (Sage) and editor of the Handbook of Social Studies Research (Wiley Press). Joe and Adam open up the conversation with a lightning round (2:54) aiming to ask-what is action research? What does action research look like in education? What has been the greatest challenge for you using AR in your research? Why is it important for teacher professional development? Based on Meghan's response to some of the lightning round questions, Adam and Joe continue the conversation with Dr. Manfra to understand the process of integrating with the teacher community (8:48), building relationships and developing socially just power dynamics with teachers (10:21), and incorporating student voices in action research (17:39)? Tune in to listen more!  References https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jj6dJKGLnaukNrfBwCKsolW3EhAzV4w6/view (Manfra, M.M. (2021). Action research for classrooms, schools, and communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Reviewed in Teacher's College Record here {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jj6dJKGLnaukNrfBwCKsolW3EhAzV4w6/view}) Manfra, M. M. (2019). Action Research and Systematic, Intentional Change in Teaching Practice. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 163–196. https://doi.org/https://doi-org.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/10.3102/0091732X18821132 (10.3102/0091732X18821132)   **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.** CHECK THIS OUT- https://www.tcpress.com/student-voice-research-9780807767122 (https://www.tcpress.com/student-voice-research-9780807767122) Are you looking for an insightful resource to understand how to emphasize youth voice, specific conceptual tools to reflect on research bias, power dynamics, and relationship building in the meaning-making process? Marc Brasof and Joseph Levitan have developed a comprehensive must-have volume for anyone doing research about and with youth.  

If you haven't listened to episode one of the series, find the link below! We are excited to bring the second episode of this mini-series that brings you “behind the scenes” of action research projects to demonstrate what action research looks like, in action. In this episode, Joe interviews Adam to get a general idea about what, when, why, and how of Adam's project Café Orígenes in Calca Peru. Later, they dive into some meta-analysis of the project to understand the model of Café Orígenes from an action research perspective. Tune-in to learn more!   Links for relevant episodes Episode 1 of the series: https://the-action-research-pod.captivate.fm/episode/introducing-a-new-segment-voices-from-the-field-cafe-origenes (https://the-action-research-pod.captivate.fm/episode/introducing-a-new-segment-voices-from-the-field-cafe-origenes) Episode 1-https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a3d61857-58c5-4bb8-bbcb-123361922b54 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a3d61857-58c5-4bb8-bbcb-123361922b54) Episode 2- https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c235a206-9a43-4191-b3f0-c7b72bc73c07 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c235a206-9a43-4191-b3f0-c7b72bc73c07) Episode 3- https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1f8a6e3f-6e36-495a-ad7b-924c0f0804e0 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1f8a6e3f-6e36-495a-ad7b-924c0f0804e0) Music retrieved from pixabay: "Inspiring Epic Dubstep" and "Documentary" by Coma-Media https://pixabay.com/users/coma-media-24399569/ (https://pixabay.com/users/coma-media-24399569/) **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

In this episode, our AR Pod team is excited to host Dr. Davin Carr-Chellman, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Dayton, as well as a third-generation watchmaker, a philosopher, and carpenter. This episode covers a range of topics that we reflect on in our daily lives as action researchers. For example, how do we build good relationships? How do we navigate our transformation from an outsider to an insider during an action research project? In navigating our role as a researcher/community participant, how do we reflect on our positionality in order to foster transformation? These topics are hard and time-consuming processes. In this episode, Adam, Davin and Joe reflect on some of these profound topics such as the researchers' positionality (5:10), the role of trust within AR (5:23), transformation (of insider and outsider) (5:54), the idea of empowerment in AR (6:37), ecologies and systems of relationships in AR (19:54), and relationship building (26:26). To learn more, tune in! References Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1993). Researching Change and Changing the Researcher. Harvard Educational Review, 63(4), 389–412. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.63.4.b336053463h71081 Davin's work: Wargo, E., Budge, K., Carr-Chellman D., & Canfield-Davis, K. (2021). Leadership for rural school district improvement: The case of one statewide research practice partnership. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.26209/jrre3701 Levitan, J. & Carr-Chellman, D.J. (2018). Learning, selfhood, and pragmatic identity theory: Towards a practical and comprehensive framework of identity development in education. Journal of educational thought, 51(2). Levitan, J., Carr-Chellman, D., & Carr-Chellman, A. (2017). Accidental ethnography: A method for practitioner-based education research. Action Research, 1476750317709078. Carr-Chellman, D.J. & Kroth, M. (2017). The Spiritual disciplines as practices of transformation. International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Technology. V.8, Issue 1 Carr-Chellman, D.J. (2016). Freirean principles for e-learning. eLearn Magazine. vol. 2016, Issue 12. Doi: 10.1145/3022733.3026475 **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**    

We are excited to introduce you all, our listeners, to a new segment in the Action Research Podcast: Voices from the Field! In this segment we bring you “behind the scenes” of action research projects to demonstrate what action research looks like, in action. The aim of this series is to bring voices from the field to rethink the existence of knowledge in academia. In this trailer episode, Adam and Joe discuss the first of our Voices from the Field Projects. Co-led by our very own Adam Stieglitz, Café Orígenes in Calca Peru is an economic justice action research project with the goal of collaborating with farmers in the Andean highlands to earn a better income for their products. Adam and Joe introduce the first voice from the field, Aaron Ebner, who is the executive director and a co-founder of Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development, a social change organization. Tune in to learn more! Links for relevant episodes Episode 1-https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a3d61857-58c5-4bb8-bbcb-123361922b54 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a3d61857-58c5-4bb8-bbcb-123361922b54) Episode 2- https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c235a206-9a43-4191-b3f0-c7b72bc73c07 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c235a206-9a43-4191-b3f0-c7b72bc73c07) Episode 3- https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1f8a6e3f-6e36-495a-ad7b-924c0f0804e0 (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1f8a6e3f-6e36-495a-ad7b-924c0f0804e0) Open-source music retrieved from pixabay: "Inspiring Epic Dubstep" and "Documentary" by Coma-Media https://pixabay.com/users/coma-media-24399569/ (https://pixabay.com/users/coma-media-24399569/) **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this episode, our team has an insightful conversation with Dr. Danny Burns and Dr. Marina Apgar. Danny Burns is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) a think tank affiliated with the University of Sussex in England. He has directed more than 25 action research projects and programmes. His work focuses on participatory learning for social change with a strong emphasis on systems thinking and complexity. Marina Apgar is Research Fellow in the Participation, Inclusion and Social Change cluster at IDS. She is a human ecologist with 20 years experience working in the research-practice divide with marginalised communities in international development supporting learning and change in complex systems. Danny and Marina are working on a large-scale system-changing project called Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia [CLARISSA]. Started in 2016, CLARISSA has a team of more than 150 members. In this episode, Adam and Joe discuss what AR looks like on the ground, and specifically in a large-scale project. What does the creation process look like? How does this huge collaborative team work reflexively in this AR framework? This conversation starts with our classic lightning round where we dive into questions such as: what is systemic AR? (5:17) what does collaboration look like in systemic AR? (6:34) what is IDS? what makes IDS a fertile ground for this sort of AR? (7:40) And, what is your greatest critique of AR? (12:20). In the later segment, we dive deeper to learn more about CLARISSA, which is built on three core values (but not limited to them): 1. child-centred, 2. participation, and 3. being truly integrated (16:55). This is a really big project that involves a lot of stakeholders, participants, and organizations who work collaboratively in variety of different ways (26:57). How does the creation of processes look in this space? To understand this, Adam and Joe ask questions about how the planning process, facilitation and relationship building looks (36:11). Our team wraps up the conversation by raising one of the classic and significant question that we are trying to explore layer by layer in our podcast-Reflexivity! One of the core components of PAR is reflexivity. Find out how Marina and Danny engage reflexively in such a huge collaborative team in CLARISSA (48:00), by tuning in!   References Apgar, J. M., Allen, W., Albert, J., Douthwaite, B., Paz Ybarnegaray, R., & Lunda, J. (2017). Getting beneath the surface in program planning, monitoring and evaluation: Learning from use of participatory action research and theory of change in the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Action Research, 15(1), 15–34. https://doi.org/https://doi-org.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/10.1177/1476750316673879 (10.1177/1476750316673879) Zimowski, P. F., Perry, D., Bales, D. K., Davis, D. T., Mattar, D. M. Y., Burrows, H., Moore, H., Ochen, V., Christopher, E., Jewell, S., Smiragina-Ingelström, P., Cockayne, D. J., Setter, C., Ariyo, D., Kumar, V., Otiende, S., Trodd, D. Z., McQuade, D. A., Greer, B. T., … Liwanga, R.-C. (2021). Child Labour Special Edition: JOURNAL OF MODERN SLAVERY A multidisciplinary exploration of human trafficking solutions. Publisher: SlaveFree Today. 6(4), 152. Other links https://clarissa.global/ (https://clarissa.global/) https://clarissa.global/resource/designing-a-participatory-programme-at-scale/ (https://clarissa.global/resource/designing-a-participatory-programme-at-scale/) https://clarissa.global/resource/how-does-participatory-action-research-generate-innovation-findings-from-a-rapid-realist-review/ (https://clarissa.global/resource/how-does-participatory-action-research-generate-innovation-findings-from-a-rapid-realist-review/) **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at...

In this episode, we invited Dr. Marc Brasof, an Associate Professor at the School of Education, Arcadia University to talk about student voice research and how this paradigm may interweave (or not) with Action Research. Dr. Brasof was a founding faculty member and history/social studies teacher at Constitution High School—Pennsylvania's only history- and civic-themed public school. We also have a special guest co-host, our very own Vanessa Gold, whose dissertation research focuses specifically on Student Voice and Action Research! We cover a range of themes centering student voice and action research in this episode, such as reflexivity, power dynamics, intersubjectivity, and contextualizing methods to the environment. The conversation starts with Vanessa asking hard hitting questions in our lightening round (5:11). She asks about Student Voice Research, some misconceptions about student voice, the importance of adults collaborating with youth in research, what high quality research with students looks like/does, and how student voice and action research may be aligned. Later in the episode, our hosts and Marc discuss four pillars of student voice research-reflexivity, power dynamics, intersubjectivity, and context/method selection; what is Reflexivity and how it evolves in student voice research(10:32), how does power dynamics look like considering researchers' positionality (13:50), how researcher go about method selection with students? (37:16). Tune in to listen more! References Brasof, M. (2015). Student voice and school governance: Distributing leadership to youth and adults. Routledge.  Brasof, M. (2018).Using Linkage Theory to Address the Student Voice Organizational Improvement Paradox. Journal of Ethical Educational Leadership, 1(Special Issue), 44–64.  Brasof, M. (2011). Student Input Improves Behavior, Fosters Leadership. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(2), 20–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171109300205 (https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171109300205) Lareau, A. (2018). Journeys through ethnography: Realistic accounts of fieldwork. Routledge. To get in touch with Marc: Twitter handles:@brasof Twitter, @stereotytans IG and Twitter Link- http://stereotytans.com/the-band.html (http://stereotytans.com/the-band.html), https://www.facebook.com/brasof (https://www.facebook.com/brasof) **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this episode, our AR Pod team is thrilled to host Dr. Kayla Johnson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, and the Program Chair of International Education at the University of Kentucky. We invited Dr. Johnson to talk about one of the trickiest topics in the field of Action Research, collaboration!  What is Collaboration in Action Research? It is hard to define the term, but our trio tries to uncover some of the characteristics of collaboration in this episode. Adam and Joe start the discussion by thinking through collaboration using two lenses—top-down and bottom-up (3:46). Kayla and Joe further elaborate on what bottom-up collaboration looks like in the field (6:52), highlighting six traits: communication, humility, patience, socially just power dynamics, making sure people's voices are heard, and identifying people's strengths and ways to contribute in equitable ways, by bringing insights from their projects in Peru (find links to their work below!). Later in the episode, Adam and Joe ask some hard-hitting questions in our lightning round (19:02). Some of the topics discussed are communication in bottom-up collaboration, a sense of humility in the field, patience as an action researcher, and power dynamics in collaboration. Tune in to find out Kayla's responses!   References Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2021). Rural indigenous students in Peruvian Urban higher education: interweaving ecological systems of coloniality, community, barriers, and opportunities. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 1-22.  Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2021). Exploring the Identities and Experiences of Rural First-Generation Indigenous Students Using Photo-Cued Interviewing. SAGE Publications Ltd. Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Salir adelante: Collaboratively developing culturally grounded curriculum with marginalized communities. American Journal of Education, 126(2), 195-230. Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Collaboratively developing culturally-grounded curriculum to foster social justice American Journal of Education, Forum. http://www.ajeforum.com/aje-featurecollaboratively-developing-culturally-grounded-curriculum-to-foster-social-justice-by-joseph-levitan-and-kayla-m-johnson/ Johnson, K. M. (2020). Hotdog as metaphor: (Co)Developing stories of learning through photo-cued interviewing. Teachers College Record, 122(9), 1-38. Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2020). Identity, culture, and iterative curriculum development: Collaborating with girls from Indigenous communities to improve education. International Journal of Student Voice, 7, 1-30.  Levitan, J. (2019). Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research: Getting out of Western Norms to Foster Equitable Collaboration. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 20(1), 10-29. Johnson, K. M. (2018). “Deliberate (Mis) Representations: A Case Study of Teacher Influence on Student Authenticity and Voice in Study Abroad Assessment. International Journal of Student Voice, 3(4), 1-58. **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us a ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**      

In this episode, the Ar Pod team welcomes Dr. Rajesh Tandon, an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. In 1982 Dr. Tandon founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organisation providing support to grassroots initiatives in South Asia and continues to be its Chief Functionary. He also holds a UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education since 2012. He is a prolific writer and scholar and is highly decorated. The conversation opens with an introduction of Dr. Tandon and the story behind PRIA (2:02), followed by a lightening round of questions (8:29), where Joe and Adam ask about the mission and vision of PRIA, a recent project with domestic workers, definitions of community based participatory research and, how is participatory research different from community-based participatory action research. Later in the episode, Adam asks what have been some of the more effective mechanisms or processes that you have used to catalyze participation in the field as it relates to participatory research (19:16). Dr. Tandon responds by placing emphasis on building trust among the stakeholders, facilitating conversation with the community and finding a local trusted organisation. How might a budding scholar identify those local organisations? How can these local organisations be trusted? (26:28). To find out, tune in! References PRIA. (2019). Knowledge, Voice, Participation Participatory Settlement Enumeration for Sanitation Services in AJMER. Participatory Research in Asia. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://pria.org/knowledge_resources.php?id=24&pid=54&start=150&pageuurrll=&cid=&mkey=&field_name=&asc_desc=. PRIA. (2021, February). Participatory Research and Gender in PRIA's Projects: An Exploration. Retrieved from https://www.pria.org/knowledge_resource/1613564340_Participatory%20Research%20and%20Gender%20in%20PRIAs%20Projects%20An%20Exploration.pdf. Tandon, R., & Hall, B. L. (n.d.). The Power of Collaboration, Creativity and Art in Knowledge Mobilization: Reflections from International Work. Retrieved from https://www.unescochair-cbrsr.org/wp%20content/uploads/2020/08/Tandon_CCU_SSHRC_KMb.pdf (https://www.unescochair-cbrsr.org/wp content/uploads/2020/08/Tandon_CCU_SSHRC_KMb.pdf). **To know more about PRIA, visit https://www.pria.org/** **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter@The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

We are back with Season 2- The Action Research Podcast. The first podcast dedicated solely to action research. Last season, Joe and Adam dive deeper into the lives, experiences, philosophies, and investigations of the action researchers in the field. We discussed more pedagogical implications of action research- what, why and how of AR, researcher's reflexivity, rigour, feminism in AR, community-based participatory action research, participatory action research and many more. We will continue to have pedagogical contributions in season 2, but with a twist. Hear Joe and Adam to know what to expect from season 2. Tune in! The Action Research Team: Adam Stieglitz. Co-Host Joe Levitan, Co-host Shikha Diwakar, Production Manager Vanessa Gold, Sound technician and voice-over specialist

In this episode, the AR Pod Team welcomes Dr. Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the Graduate Program at the Dreeben School of Education, University of the Incarnate Word San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer.  What does rigor mean in Action Research? Is this term even appropriate for what action researchers do? To discuss these important questions the AR Pod team has a “critically casual” conversation with Alfredo about issues of rigor, quality and what makes good action research. The conversation starts with a quote by Alfredo about the problem with using the term rigor in action research (2:00), which raises a lot of hard-hitting questions, such as: “How might narrow understandings of rigor negatively affect Action Research practice?” and “Should action research be rigorous, or should it simply be responsible? (18:34) Our trio gets critical on the rigid nature of the term rigor to make the point that one needs to be mindful of the moments in action research processes where they should be rigorous and when they should not. Join us in this conversation!    SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: If you are interested in Action Research, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Annual Conference to be held (Virtually) on the 3, 10 and 17 of June. For more details you can go to their website: https://arnawebsite.org/ (https://arnawebsite.org/) Also, if you are interested in learning more about Community-Based Participatory Action Research, check out this mini-course at the University of Kentucky that will be co-facilitated by Joe! https://education.uky.edu/learning-series/ (https://education.uky.edu/learning-series/)   References CHECKLAND, P. & HOLWELL, S. 1998. Action Research: Its Nature and Validity Systemic Practice and Action Research, 11, 12. Ortiz Aragón, A., & Giles Macedo, J. C. (2015). Radical epistemology as caffeine for social change. In H. Bradbury (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of action research (3rd ed. pp. 681–690). SAGE. Melrose, M. J. (2001). Maximizing the Rigor of Action Research: Why Would You Want To? How Could You? Field Methods, 13(2), 160–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0101300203 (https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0101300203)   **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

In this episode, the AR Pod Team welcomes Dr. Patricia Maguire, Professor Emeritus of Education and Counselling at Western New Mexico University's Gallup Graduate Studies Center, and author of the seminal book Doing Participatory Research: A Feminist Approach. Hear about the role and influence of feminisms on action research, and hear about Pat's experiences engaging in feminist activism, teaching, and researching for social justice. The conversation starts with Patricia's intro (3:20) followed by our classic lightning round (6:30). Then, Adam and Joe get deeper into the conversation discussing tricky questions like the absence and marginalization of women and feminisms in AR and its implications for the social construction of knowledge (14:03), the role of reflexivity (16:23), the constructive critiques feminist theories offer in AR paradigms (18:48), how feminist themes can inform research for social change (30:03). Is reflexivity enough to ensure that Action Researchers are doing good work (32:11)? Find out the answers to these questions and more by tuning in! If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Patricia Maguire's work, her website is an excellent resource, you can find more resources at https://www.patriciamaguire.net/ (https://www.patriciamaguire.net/)! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: If you are interested in Action Research, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Annual Conference to be held (Virtually) on the 3, 10 and 17 of June. For more details you can go to their website: https://arnawebsite.org/ (https://arnawebsite.org/)   References Maguire, P. (2003). Kinsey Dialogue Series #5: Radicalizing the Everyday. 32. Maguire, P., & Berge, B.-M. (2009). Elbows Out, Arms Linked: Claiming Spaces for Feminisms and Gender Equity in Educational Action Research. In S. Noffke & B. Somekh, The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research (pp. 399–408). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857021021.n37 Maguire, P. (1996). Proposing a more Feminist Participatory Research: Knowing and Being Embraced Openly. (p 27-39). In Korrie de Koning & M. Martin (Eds). Participatory research in health: Issues and experiences. London: Zed Books. Also published in Southern Africa by National Progressive Primary Health Care Network (NPPHCN) Johannesburg, South Africa. Maguire, P. (2001) Uneven ground: Feminisms and action research. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (EDs). Handbook of Action Research (p 59-69) London: Sage Maguire, P. (1987). Doing Participatory Research: A Feminist Approach. UMass Center for Int'l Education/School of Education. **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

Sometimes, it's just important to define ideas. In this episode, Adam, and Joe talk about some of the key definitions, principles, and differences between Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) and other types of Action Research. The conversation opens with a “mini-lecture” from Joe where he talks about action research, participatory action research and CBPAR (1:55). Talking about these concepts theoretically shows some interesting and important differences between these different kinds of action research. However, when Adam and Joe start talking about the practicality of these paradigms they uncover the messiness that action researchers face. The conversation gets deeper as Adam and Joe discuss their experiences in the field and how to overcome the complexity of Action Research in action (and CBPAR in particular) (14:52). The conversation wraps up with some hard-hitting questions such as, what makes for quality action research or participatory action research or community-based participatory action research? (44:56). Who is that knowledge being disseminated to and why? (49:32). These are just the highlights, tune-in to know more! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: If you are interested in Action Research, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Annual Conference to be held (Virtually) on the 3, 10 and 17 of June. For more details you can go to their website: https://arnawebsite.org/   References Brydon‐Miller, M. (1997). Participatory action research: Psychology and social change. Journal of Social Issues, 53(4), 657-666. Collins, S. E., Clifasefi, S. L., Stanton, J., Straits, K. J., Gil-Kashiwabara, E., Rodriguez Espinosa, P., ... & Wallerstein, N. (2018). Community-based participatory research (CBPR): Towards equitable involvement of community in psychology research. American Psychologist, 73(7), 884. Gullion, J. S., & Tilton, A. (2020). Researching with: A decolonizing approach to community-based action research. Brill Sense. Israel, B. A., Schulz, A. J., Parker, E. A., & Becker, A. B. (1998). Review of community-based research: assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual review of public health, 19(1), 173-202. Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2020). Identity, culture, and iterative curriculum development: Collaborating with girls from Indigenous communities to Improve education. International Journal of Student Voice, 7. Kelly, P. J. (2005). Practical suggestions for community interventions using participatory action research. Public Health Nursing, 22(1), 65-73. Levitan, J., Carr-Chellman, D., & Carr-Chellman, A. (2020). Accidental ethnography: A method for practitioner-based education research. Action Research, 18(3), 336-352. Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Salir adelante: Collaboratively developing culturally grounded curriculum with marginalized communities. American Journal of Education, 126(2), 195-230. MacDonald, C. (2012). Understanding participatory action research: A qualitative research methodology option. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 13(2), 34-50. Maguire, P. (2006). Uneven ground: Feminisms and action research. Handbook of action research: Concise paperback edition, 60-70. McIntyre, J. (2002). Critical systemic praxis for social and environmental justice: a case study of management, governance, and policy. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 15(1), 3-35. McTaggart, R., Nixon, R., & Kemmis, S. (2017). Critical participatory action research. In The Palgrave international handbook of action research (pp. 21-35). Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Stanton, C. R. (2014). Crossing methodological borders: Decolonizing community-based participatory research. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(5), 573-583. Peltier, C. (2018). An application of two-eyed seeing: Indigenous research methods with participatory action research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17(1), 1609406918812346....

In this episode, we invited Dr. Mary Brydon-Miller, professor in the Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development program at the University of Louisville, to come on the podcast and talk with Joe and Adam about ethics in action research. Her current research focuses on research ethics in educational and community settings, and transforming higher education institutions through action research.  The conversation opens with introductions and getting to know who Mary Brydon-Miller is as an action researcher. (4:36) SPOILER ALERT: Hear how spending time with Paulo Freire influenced Mary's identity as an action researcher! Then, the conversation gets deeper as Adam, Joe, and Mary discuss the tricky issues of ethics and quality within action research. (10:48). Here, topics of discussion include navigating power differentials as an action researcher; conventional versus covenantal ethics; challenges within IRB and the human subject review system; ethical imperialism; and why we need a new system to evaluate ethics in action research. The conversation wraps up with a practical discussion about ways an action researcher can establish their own ethical approach in the field (39:18), such as using the structured ethical reflection process and aligning with one's own moral compass. This episode is a must listen for anybody interested in action research or participatory methodology! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: If you are interested in Action Research, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Annual Conference to be held (Virtually) on the 3, 10 and 17th of June. For more details, you can go to their website: https://arnawebsite.org/   References Brydon-Miller, M. (2007). Ethics and Action Research: Deepening our Commitment to Principles of Social Justice and Redefining Systems of Democratic Practice. 12. Brydon-Miller, M. (2009). Covenantal Ethics and Action Research: Exploring a Common Foundation for Social Research. In D. Mertens & P. Ginsberg, The Handbook of Social Research Ethics (pp. 243–258). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483348971.n16 Brydon-Miller, M., Greenwood, D., & Maguire, P. (2003). Why Action Research? Action Research, 1(1), 9–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503030011002 **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

In this episode, Adam and Joe have a conversation with Dr. Deborah L. Schussler about research methods, and how different methodological approaches relate to action research. Dr. Schussler is an Associate Professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department at The Pennsylvania State University. The conversation starts with two important questions: What are quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies? And, how does a researcher decide on or choose a methodology? To which Deb responds, “we have done ourselves a disservice as academics in creating these binaries of qualitative and quantitative…” (2:50) Deb explains that quantitative work can compliment qualitative work to offer certain statistical information, and qualitative work is needed to contextualize what those statistics mean and how that meaning can inform decision-making. Adam and Joe then explore how action research, as a paradigm that necessities action/reflection, collaboration, participation, inclusivity, and change processes, can use these different methodologies to engage in action research projects, They then ask: how do collaboration or participation work in a mixed methods study? (9:20)  Later in the episode, our trio reflect on what makes rigorous research? At some point, we all wonder what do our studies mean and how are people going to use them? Is our work going to be published and/or what kind of publication is best for our research? So, what does useful, justifiable, and rigorous research looks like? (16:16) To which Deborah responds, “definitely being very clear about the methods that were selected; the steps that went into that, how those decisions were made…” (19:27) being clear about the “why” of the decision, and reflexively discussing the researchers' positionality are all essential for communicating one's work in a way that allows the reader to think through the information and arguments researchers present. In action research, that's especially important because action research is all about using the information in a project to make decisions and to change things. So, what are the ways of bridging these paradigms and providing information and evidence for decision-making? (23:19) Tune in to dive deeper into this conversation with our trio.  SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: If you are interested in Action Research, be sure to sign up for the 2021 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Annual Conference to be held (Virtually) on the 3, 10 and 17th of June. For more details you can go to their website: https://arnawebsite.org/   References Schussler, D. L. (2020). ‘Mindful teaching': A construct for developing awareness and compassion. Reflective Practice, 21(5), 646–658. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2020.1798918 Schussler, D. L., DeWeese, A., Rasheed, D., DeMauro, A., Brown, J., Greenberg, M., & Jennings, P. A. (2018). Stress and Release: Case Studies of Teacher Resilience Following a Mindfulness-Based Intervention. American Journal of Education, 125(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1086/699808 Schussler, D. L., Oh, Y., Mahfouz, J., Levitan, J., Frank, J. L., Broderick, P. C., Mitra, J. L., Berrena, E., Kohler, K., & Greenberg, M. T. (2021). Stress and Well-Being: A Systematic Case Study of Adolescents' Experiences in a Mindfulness-Based Program. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30(2), 431–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01864-5 **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**  

In this episode, Adam and Joe have a conversation with Dr. Lonnie Rowell, who is one of the founding figures of the Action Research movement. He is a co-founder and president of the Social Publishers Foundation (socialpublishersfoundation.org), and a retired professor at the University of San Diego, School of Leadership and Education Sciences. He is also a co-founder and lead organizer in establishing the Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA). Starting with the lightning round, Joe and Adam ask Lonnie simple yet deep questions to explore the “what”, “who” and “how” of Action Research (2:23). To dig deeper into some of these concepts, Joe asks about the differences between the many of action research paradigms (7:34) to which Lonnie responds by discussing the tension between academic-based action research and community-based work, and how we situate knowledge democratization and knowledge production in these tensions. Later in the episode, Adam raises a significant question about how we acknowledge the tension between urban migration and communities disappearing- “…I have been seeing over the years that these communities are starting to disappear, and why is that? It's because of urban migration and it's because in the education system there's a message being shared that there is no value in being a farmer…they're not teaching Quechua; they're learning in Spanish and English…. And you're seeing these communities disappear.” (26:18) Adam's question brings us back to knowledge democratisation and the question of “who” is the holder of knowledge. The conversation does not end here. Tune in to know how our trio weaves their discussion to address this issue! Resources Check out the Social Publishers Foundation: socialpublishersfoundation.org And the Action Research Network of the Americas: arnawebsite.org References Rowell, L. & Call-Cummings, M. (2020). Knowledge Democracy, Action Research, the Internet and the Epistemic Crisis. Journal of Futures Studies, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202006_24(4).0007 Hong, E., & Rowell, L. (2019). Challenging knowledge monopoly in education in the U.S. through democratizing knowledge production and dissemination. Educational Action Research, 27(1), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2018.1534694 Rowell, L. (2018). A brief update from across the big pond's troubled waters: Beliefs, science, politics, and action research. Educational Action Research, 26(1), 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2017.1417773 Beck, C. (2017). Informal action research: The nature and contribution of everyday classroom inquiry. In the Palgrave international handbook of action research (pp. 37-48). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.  Boyer, E. L. (1996). The scholarship of engagement. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 49(7), 18-33.  Del Pino, M., & Ferrada, D. (2019). Construction of educational knowledge with the Mapuche community through dialogical-kishu kimkelay ta che research. Educational Action Research, 27(3), 414-434.  Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury publishing USA.  Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990). We make the road by walking: Conversations on education and social change. Temple University Press.  Neill, A. S. (1960). Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing.  Pine, G. J. (2008). Teacher action research: Building knowledge democracies. Sage.  Rappaport, J. (2020). Cowards Don't Make History: Orlando Fals Borda and the Origins of Participatory Action Research. Duke University Press.  **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**    

Part 2 of this special crossover event is hosted on Linnea's podcast: https://anchor.fm/linnea-rademaker (Action Research: Global Conversations). Hit the link to continue listening to this important conversation on action research. Here's the URL in case you want to copy and paste: https://anchor.fm/linnea-rademaker References Rademaker, L. L. (2019). Action Research and Popular Education: Implications for Twenty-First Century Leadership and Research Practices. In C. A. Mertler (Ed.), The Wiley Handbook of Action Research in Education (pp. 343–369). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399490.ch16 Baldwin, J. (n.d.). The blind men and the elephant. Retrieved February 08, 2021, from https://americanliterature.com/author/james-baldwin/short-story/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

What do Action Research Leadership and Population Education have in common? Tune in to find out! In this episode, Adam and Joe have a conversation with Dr. Linnea Rademaker, a professor at Abilene Christian University in the Department of Educational Leadership. She is the chair of the America Educational Research Association (AREA) Special Interest Group on action research, as well as the host of two podcasts- DOC 101 and Action Research: Global Conversations. Words of wisdom- knowledge creation is done collaboratively- is the essence of this episode. Our hosts, Adam and Joe, discuss Linnea's chapter- Action Research and Popular Education: Implication for Twenty-first Century Leadership and Research Practices and explore facets of Action Research. They discuss questions such as: Do you see popular education and action research as a foundation for leadership? (2:43) Do you think that popular education is a grassroots effort to solve a problem (10:20)? Do you agree that collaborative efforts are going to lead us to sustainable change? (13:12) Tune-in to listen! Our conversation does not end here. In a special “crossover event, part 2 of this podcast is hosted on Linnea's podcast: --Action Research: Global Conversations--https://anchor.fm/linnea-rademaker. Hit this link to continue listening to this important conversation on action research.   References Rademaker, L. L. (2019). Action Research and Popular Education: Implications for Twenty-First Century Leadership and Research Practices. In C. A. Mertler (Ed.), The Wiley Handbook of Action Research in Education (pp. 343–369). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399490.ch16 Baldwin, J. (n.d.). The blind men and the elephant. Retrieved February 08, 2021, from https://americanliterature.com/author/james-baldwin/short-story/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

It is always great to hear from listeners of the Action Research Podcast! In this “mailbag” episode, Adam, Joe and Dr. Lisa Starr answer questions from the audience about reflexivity in action research (tune-in to episode 6, with Lisa, to learn about reflexivity). Lisa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University, as well as the Director of Internships and Student Affairs for the faculty. Hear Adam, Joe and Lisa discuss deep questions from researchers about how to responsibly engage in the research process as well as in activism in action research. (1:45). Later in the episode, the trio discuss important questions about positionality such as, “Once you know your positionality, what is next?”, “Does our positionality limit our perceptions and thoughts?”, “is it ok to let our positionality guide our framework?” (23:50). To hear the responses, tune-in! **If you have your own questions about Action Research or want to share any feedback, contact us on Twitter @The_ARpod or write to us at ActionResearchPod@gmail.com.**

Do you think dialogue is crucial to research and a step towards social change? If yes, tune-in to this episode where Adam and Joe get into a deep dialogue with Dr. Meagan Call-Cummings (PhD, Indiana University), an Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. She specializes in critical, participatory, and feminist methodologies. She is also a mother of four, one of whom makes a special cameo during our podcast. She discusses her research and a current PAR project with high school students.  Meagan has done a lot of interesting work in her career and shared three of her great articles with us (Cited below), which adds to our discussion about “Who is Action Research?”. Adam and Joe dive into the article by asking- “what is photovoice and how do the epistemological stances of photovoice and participatory action research align?”. (1:26) Adam then goes deeper into the conversation to clarify his understanding of the challenges of traditional power structures mentioned in Meagan's article, and uncritical research that “runs the risk of unintended consequences that may reproduce traditional taken for granted power structures meant to be challenged and disrupted by participatory approaches like photovoice.” (6:57) Later in the episode, Adam, Joe, and Meagan discuss the tensions within Action Research between measurable, tangible outcomes or impacts, the intangible role of collaborative ethical process, and the role of scholarship, dialogue, and other ideas of change within P/AR. Adam stresses that “doing the things that we say that we want to do” is essential for true PAR. (14:34)  *Special thanks to Tabby for her guest appearance.    Here are the references: Call-Cummings, M. (2017). Establishing Communicative Validity: Discovering Theory Through Practice. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(3), 192–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800416657101 Call-Cummings, M., & Hauber-Özer, M. (2020). Participatory Action Research as/in Adult Education: Offering Three Methods Anchored in Vivencia, Praxis, and Conscientization. International Journal of Adult Education and Technology, 11(4), 21–33. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJAET.2020100103 Call-Cummings, M., Hauber-Özer, M., Byers, C., & Mancuso, G. P. (2019). The power of/in Photovoice. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42(4), 399–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2018.1492536

In this episode, Adam and Joe continue their conversation with Dr. C. Darius Stonebanks, co-founder and co-director of Transformative Praxis Malawi; Professor of Education at Bishop's University; and an Adjunct Professor at McGill University. In part 2, Adam continues to ask Christopher deep and rarely discussed questions related to relationships and commitment in Action Research- “relationship building and being physically present is a long-term endeavor, so how do you grapple with advancing a project? …how important is the relationship between committing time and physically being in that space where you're executing the program?” (8:02) Followed up with lightning round where Joe and Adam are asking some interesting questions to dive deeper into Christopher's Transformative Praxis Malawi project. - “What does TPM actually do? Why is this valuable? How is this project action research? How does Freire inform the project in Malawi? And how do you take consideration of contextual differences? What has been the biggest challenge for you as director of the TPM?” (12:48) Tune-in to listen to how Christopher responded to such interesting questions.  Here are the references: Bennett-Stonebanks, M., Stonebanks, C. D., & Mphande, T. (2019). Ethics and Action Research in Emancipation-Based Endeavours: Projects of Heart or Projects of Publication? 15. https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Christopher%20Darius%20Stonebanks (Stonebanks, C.D.), https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Fintan%20Sheerin (Sheerin, F.), https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Melanie%20Bennett-Stonebanks (Bennett-Stonebanks, M.) and https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Jenala%20Nyirenda-Paradise (Nyirenda-Paradise, J.) (2016), "Just Give the Money to the Women: Overly Simplified Advice that Works in International Education, Health, and Development Initiatives", Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women Leading Education: A Worldview (Advances in Educational Administration, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 255-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-366020160000025015 (https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-366020160000025015) To learn more about Transformative Praxis Malawi, you can find them at: http://www.transformativepraxis.com/ (http://www.transformativepraxis.com/) *Note: contains some explicit language

In this episode, Adam and Joe get into a deep conversation with Dr. C. Darius Stonebanks, co-founder and co-director of Transformative Praxis Malawi; Professor of Education at Bishop's University; and an Adjunct Professor at McGill University. In part 1, Christopher discusses his journey into action research and his work in Malawi. He shares how, when he first entered academia, an interview about Critical Pedagogy led to his decision to engage in action research- the “idea of being interviewed about critical pedagogy and then realizing I always envisioned myself being a professor in order to do good, but then realized, is that not what this is going to be about? That was a crisis for me, which led to transformative praxis Malawi.” Joe asks Christopher about Transformative Praxis Malawi (7:11) and Adam clarifies a couple of questions (20:18) he had after reading Christopher's articles (Cited below). To learn more about Christopher's work as an action researcher and the challenges facing those who decide to work in the academy and do action research, join us in part-2 of this series where Adam continues to ask about running an ethical non-profit and working in academia, while Joe asks some hard-hitting questions to dig deeper into the project in Malawi and being a professor. To learn more, tune-in to the episode! Here are the references: Bennett-Stonebanks, M., Stonebanks, C. D., & Mphande, T. (2019). Ethics and Action Research in Emancipation-Based Endeavours: Projects of Heart or Projects of Publication? The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 20(1), 71-85 https://journals.nipissingu.ca/index.php/cjar/article/download/447/210 (https://journals.nipissingu.ca/index.php/cjar/article/download/447/210) https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Christopher%20Darius%20Stonebanks (Stonebanks, C.D.), https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Fintan%20Sheerin (Sheerin, F.), https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Melanie%20Bennett-Stonebanks (Bennett-Stonebanks, M.) and https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=Jenala%20Nyirenda-Paradise (Nyirenda-Paradise, J.) (2016), "Just Give the Money to the Women: Overly Simplified Advice that Works in International Education, Health, and Development Initiatives", Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women Leading Education: A Worldview (Advances in Educational Administration, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 255-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-366020160000025015 (https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-366020160000025015) To learn more about Transformative Praxis Malawi, you can find them at: http://www.transformativepraxis.com/ (http://www.transformativepraxis.com/)  *Note: contains some explicit language

In this episode, Adam and Joe do a deep dive into Action Research processes with Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer.   Here, Alfredo shares his journey from a pure practitioner to action researcher (2:00). and talks about his epiphany as to what constitutes meaningful work- “I realized that my whole career had been focused on producing outputs, matrices, reports, plans, not realizing that those are just props in the drama, those are just tools that may or may not be an indicator of deep meaningful conversation (5:40).” He then discusses how he entered the world of action research, how he got connected with Ernie Stringer, and how his collaboration developed to co-write "the book" on Action Research (7:20).    In the last segment, Adam and Joe talk about Ernie Stringer and Alfredo's exciting new (5th) edition of the seminal book, Action Research. Adam pulls out some of the important concepts from the book to discuss with Alfredo: “it's difficult to understand the concepts without having some sort of context behind it. So, it would be great if we could somehow interweave, not only talking about some of these ideas but perhaps incorporate what this looks like for you in the field as an Action Researcher”. (11:46) Alfredo contextualizes these concepts by sharing a few glimpses from his Action Research projects, such as an initiative developed with a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) grant to test out action research methods. “How can we, by introducing AR approaches, philosophy, and methods… increase participation of key community actors in their own health and wellbeing efforts in leveraging their own knowledge in coming up with solutions?” (24:40) He also shares his team's experience developing a digital storytelling project with people on the Autism spectrum. “...Asking people to share stories of their experiences and accessing services that are critical to the health and wellbeing of their kids. And what's worked what hasn't and what can we learn by a simply hearing people's stories?" (26:08) To learn more about these concepts, tune-in to the episode!    If you are interested in the book we discuss in the podcast the citation is below:  Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2021). Action research (Fifth edition). Sage publications

In this episode, Adam and Joe speak with Adam's close friend, professor, and mentor, Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer.  During the discussion, Alfredo shares his journey into the Action Research field (4:05), and how he became an action researcher. He then discusses experiences in the then ‘Participation Power and Social Change team' at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex in the UK, where he learned about the critical side of Action Research (6:35): “These experiences exposed me to a broader world of power and… the critical side of the work that we were doing.” The discussion then switches gears to analyze Action Research as a field, with Joe playing “hard ball” with Alfredo in a "lightning round" to address pressing questions and dig deeper into current issues about Action Research (7:49).  To learn more about Alfredo's journey as action researcher, join us in part-2 of this series where Adam and Joe talk about Ernie Stringer and Alfredo's exciting new (5th) edition of the seminal book, Action Research.  If you are interested in the book we discuss in the podcast the citation is below:   Stringer, E. T., & Aragón, A. O. (2021). Action research (Fifth edition). Sage publications 

In this episode, Adam and Joe have a conversation with Dr. Lisa Starr about the role of reflexivity in action research. To understand this complex topic, they discuss two chapters Lisa wrote using reflexive and autoethnographic methods. It just so happens (or was it more than a coincidence?) that Adam is working on the chapter in his dissertation in which he reflexively discusses his positionality, so he asks Lisa to share her expertise (12:34) on how to approach reflexivity in Action Research (15:51). Later in the episode, Joe asks Lisa about the frameworks to reflexively understand one's identity in her chapters (25:11). If you are interested in the chapters mentioned in our podcast citations are below: Starr, L.J. & Mitchell C. (2020, accepted for Publication). Traveling in Circles Along Roads Less Traveled in Awe of Open Spaces. In Mitchell, C, Giritli Nygren, K, Moletsane, R. (eds.) Where am I in the Picture? Researcher Positionality in Rural Studies. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press Starr, L.J. (2019). Locating who (I am) in what (I) do: An autoethnography encounter with relational curriculum. In T. Strong-Wilson, C. Ehret, D. Lewkowich & S. Chang Kredl (Eds.), Making/Unmaking Curriculum through Provoking Curriculum Encounters (pp. 103-115). William Pinar/Routledge for the Studies in Curriculum Theory series. New York, NY: Routledge.

In this episode Adam and Joe share excerpts from a talk by Dr. Blane Harvey, Assistant Professor and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University, about his experience of systemic action research in Ghana. We break down each of the phases of his project to identify the facets of quality action research processes. For further reading about Blane's project you can find references below: Burns, D., Chambers, R., Harvey, B., Aragon, A. O., Oswald, K., Pettit, J., ... & Wheeler, J. (2012). Action research for development and social change. IDS Bulletin, 43(3) https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/issue/view/31 (https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/issue/view/31) Harvey, B., Burns, D., & Oswald, K. (2012). Linking community, radio, and action research on climate change: Reflections on a systemic approach. IDS Bulletin, 43(3), 101-117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00326.x (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00326.x)

In this episode, Adam and Joe discuss who action research is for. Tune in if you have ever wondered: "Is action research right for me?" We discuss the different positionalities of action researchers, from those who are primarily practitioners who want to engage in research to change their organizations, to those who are primarily researchers and engage in practices for change. We discuss a few key considerations to decide if action research is right for you. If you are interested in some of the texts mentioned in our podcast citations are below: Feldman, A (2007) Validity and quality in action research, Educational Action Research, 15:1, 21-32,DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09650790601150766 (10.1080/09650790601150766) Coghlan, D. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization. SAGE Publications Limited. McNiff, J. (2013) Action research: Principles and practice, New York, NY: Routledge. Mirra, N., Garcia, A., & Morrell, E. (2015). Doing youth participatory action research: Transforming inquiry with researchers, educators, and students. Routledge. Chitere, O. P., & Mutiso, R. (Eds.). (2015). Working with rural communities participatory action research in Kenya. University of Nairobi Press.

In the final segment discussing what action research is, Adam interviews Joe to learn about his research and experience as an action researcher. Tune in to hear about what led Joe down the path of action research, the role of ethics in action research, and what it is like being an action researcher on the tenure track. If you are interested in some of the articles mentioned in the podcast they are below: Levitan, J., & Johnson, K. M. (2020). Salir Adelante: Collaboratively developing culturally-grounded curriculum with marginalized communities. American Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.1086/706921 (https://doi.org/10.1086/706921) Levitan, J. (2018). The danger of a single theory: Understanding students' voices and social justice in the Peruvian Andes. http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=22017 (Teachers College Record, 120(2)). Levitan, J., Carr-Chellman, D., Carr-Chellman, A. (2017). Accidental Ethnography (AccE): A method for practitioner-based education research. Action Research. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1476750317709078 (doi/abs/10.1177/1476750317709078)

In this episode, Joe interviews Adam about his story as an action researcher. Listen and hear about how Adam got involved with Action Research, his driving philosophies as an action researcher, and how he is using Action Research as a methodology for his dissertation research

In Episode 1 of The Action Research Podcast, Adam and Joe discuss and break down a couple of the most widely accepted definitions of action research. Through that discussion, they determine action research is: 1) Driven by social change; 2) Participatory and action-oriented; 3) Collaborative, and 4) Self-reflexive. Give a listen to learn more about what these characteristics mean in the context of of action research, both in theory and in practice. If you are curious about the articles we discuss in this episode here are the citations: Lonnie, R.L., Polush, E.U., Riel M., & Bruewer, A. (2015). Action researchers' perspectives about the distinguishing characteristics of action research: a Delphi and learning circles mixed-methods study, Educational Action Research, 23(2), 243-270, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2014.990987 (10.1080/09650792.2014.990987) Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. Sage

In the podcast's prequel episode, Adam and Joe talk briefly about what The Action Research Podcast is, why they created it, and what you can expect to hear in the upcoming episodes.