IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Jun 2003

Action research: Lessons learned from a multi-iteration study of computer-mediated communication in groups

N. Kock

Abstract

Action research has been presented as a promising approach for academic inquiry because of its focus on real world problems and its ability to provide researchers with a rich body of field data for knowledge building. Published examples of action research, however, are hard to find in business communication literature. What are the reasons for this? I try to provide a basis for answering this question as well as helping other business communication researchers-particularly those interested in computer-mediated communication issues-to decide whether and when to employ action research. I offer a first-person, confessional tale-like account of an action research study of computer-mediated communication in groups. In order to focus on the lessons learned, my focus is on the process of conducting action research and not on empirical results. Some of the situations and related lessons discussed are somewhat surprising and illustrate the complex nature of action research. The doctoral research, conducted over four years in Brazil and New Zealand, highlights the challenges associated with action research's dual goal of serving practitioners and the research community.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2003-06-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2003.813164
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
professional writing digital rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Bragge et al. (2005)
    Gathering Innovative End-User Feedback for ContinuousDevelopment of Information…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Gallivan et al. (2005)
    A framework for analyzing levels of analysis issues in studies of e-collaboration
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Kock (2001)
    Compensatory adaptation to a lean medium: an action research investigation of e…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Forman et al. (1999)
    The Genre System of the Harvard Case Method
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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