Becoming an Action Researcher: Transformational Experiences and Epiphanies

Abstract

This paper provides an account of the history of my experience as an action researcher. I describe epiphanic experiences that increasingly drew me into an understanding of the philosophical and practical processes of the community-based and collaborative nature of this approach to social inquiry. The transformative experience of teaching in a remote Aboriginal community school drew me to extend my study of educational processes, eventually engaging in PhD studies at a large U.S. university. Following experiences across diverse contexts in Australia, during which I engaged in a wide variety of community development processes, included the development of highly successful university programs for Aboriginal people, and a nation building project in East Timor. Practices developed and applied in these contexts were eventually encapsulated in a text, Action Research, that now in its fifth edition, has provided guidance to academic and organizational practitioners for over thirty years, the energy emerging from my engagement with the wonderful people with whom I worked a testament to the strength of the principled practices of action research that work for the benefit of all people who participate.