Writing and Doing Action Research

The leading expert in practitioner research, Jean McNiff ensures that the practice of writing, as well as the practice of research, is beautifully revealed.

In this accessible and inspiring book Jean McNiff draws on a lifetime's experience of working on collaborative action research projects around the world in many different institutional settings and professional contexts. Writing and Doing Action Research provides a clear and staged introduction to action research methodology and offers sound advice on writing for publication and dissemination. While grounded in the relevant methodological literature it speaks directly and with passion to its readership. Students and practitioners alike will find this an invaluable resource. 

The book is a useful addition for those completing masters or doctoral degrees, and early career researchers. It is also a useful text for those who

are encountering research, and specifically action research, for the first time to support the emergent researcher to develop academic and writing skills congruent with authenticity and beliefs. However, it is also an important social research text as it reminds us of the power for transformation and change through academic writing.

By the end of the introduction, I had been won over by the author’s assertion that I should “be confident to contribute to human and planetary well-being through dialogue”, somewhat comforted by the romantic view of myself as an “activist writer”. By the final page, I am convinced that it is time to take the first steps down the “tough road” of sufficient self-education to re-engage and start writing about my practice. This book is both a valuable resource for the action researcher and a call to action for the practitioner: whatever your practice, start writing and doing action research.

This is an excellent reminder of how we relationally learn. We cannot assume theory before practice and as insiders we still have to be careful of how we portray our results. This book helps keep the balance within the empirical research methods between theory and practice.
Examples and exercises proliferate and I just hope students - and lecturers- can make time to work at them!

A useful step-by-step guide to doing action research and to disseminating findings.

This is more about writing than about doing action research. It is therefore less useful to my students, who need more guidance on how to engage in research than how to write.

Suitable for those students who aspire for a deeper understanding of research methodology.

Interesting book. More for the students and staff members who are going to do action research

This book is an essential reading for students in Master's programmes. McNiff does not only answer the question on what a reader needs to know about the practice of writing but also on the practice of doing action research. The book informs the reader about the research writing process and how to write a proposal, theses and dissertation. It also gives valuable insights into the writing for publications (academic books and journals). All in all, I recommend this book to students in the Master's course 'Academic and Professional Writing' as essential reading.