Action Research: A Handbook for Practitioners, by Ernest T. Stringer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996,160 pp.

Reviewed by: SUSAN M. BROOKHART

The author explains in his Preface that the purpose of this book is to provide a set of research tools to professionals and nonprofessionals in communities, organizations, or institutions. No prior knowledge of research is assumed, and the book is short (160 pages) and quite readable. The author presents a view of action research as a problem-solving strategy that is particularly useful in situations where the “problem” is a need for participatory evaluation. The book is divided into chapters that reflect the author’s model or conceptualization of action research, which is look, think, and act. Chapters include “Research in Professional and Public Life”; “Principles of Community-Based Action Research”; “Setting the Stage”; “Look: Building the Picture”; “Think: Interpreting and Explaining”; “Act: Resolving the Problem”; “Act: Resolv- ing Complex Problems”; and “This is Not the End.”

The book is partially successful in fulfilling the author’s purpose. It is aimed most directly at a researcher-facilitator, perhaps a university professor or someone else external to an enterprise, who has been called upon to help evaluate it. A practitioner-researcher conduct- ing inquiry into the operation of his or her own organization or institution could skip the sec- tions in which the author talks about developing trust among the insiders involved in the investigation. For a novice reader, say a practitioner with no evaluation experience, who found him- or herself in charge of an evaluation (it happens!), this book would be a clear, non- technical introduction to the basic principles that guide inquiry, and to the equalitarian, action- oriented type of inquiry that results in a participatory, action-research-style evaluation. I think this is a fine purpose, and one for which there is a need.

However, the book does not provide enough detail or examples to move readers beyond a novice status. In my view, this is the book’s major shortcoming, and I shall dispense with this deficit in one paragraph. If a novice evaluator were to use this book as the major source of directions for a first attempt at evaluation (as the title “handbook” implies), the evaluator would soon have questions for which the book provides no answers. For example, field notes and interviews are recommended as data collection methods. But what do field notes look

Susan M. Brookhart l Associate Professor, Duquesne University, Canevin Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15282-0502.

American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1999, pp. 157-158. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

ISSN: 1098-2140 Copyright 6 1999 by American Evaluation Association.

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like? What is important to note? If interviews are not taped, how does one take notes? As another example, the author claims (p. 87) that it is usually possible to create a context for par- ents and school authorities to engage in dialogue on an equal footing. How does one do that?

Although the book is not totally successful as a stand-alone handbook, it nevertheless does some very nice things. The author inserts “Biographical Bulletins” throughout, and the effect of these is that by the end of the book, the reader knows one researcher as well as he or she knows the action research method. The result is a “testimony’‘-style motivation. The reader sees how action research has been a powerful force in Stringer’s work and in his devel- opment as a thinker, educator, and evaluator. The implication is that the same can happen to the reader.

The “look, think, act” model itself is nice. Many action research models are given as some version of five steps (e.g., problem formulation, data collection, data analysis, reporting results, action planning [Sagor 19921) or four steps (e.g., plan, act, observe, reflect [Kemmis & McTaggart, 19881). The simpler three-part formulation may be easier for some evaluators to apply as a theory-in-use, although a fourth part is implied, since the “look, think, act” cycle must start with a problem or question (so that one knows where to look!).

The Description-Interpretation sequence is nice, too. The author characterizes organiz- ing information about the research problem and its context as “description” and constructing explanations for it as “interpretation.” The acts of gathering information and interpreting it so as to bring the insights gained to bear on the research question or object of inquiry is a basic research concept, and one often lost on readers of other research texts who choke while read- ing about “data collection and analysis.” In fact, it is in the sections about interpreting data (the “Think” sections) that the author does give some richer detail and directions than in his “Look” and “Act” sections.

My favorite concept from the book is described in the wonderful phrase, “experience- near concepts.” The author uses this phrase to caution researchers that participants in an action-research evaluation project need to hear about the project’s purposes and procedures in language that is familiar to them, with reference to situations and ideas that are familiar to them. New concepts-like an inquiry approach to their community, organization, or institu- tion-are best learned with reference to prior knowledge. This, of course, is simply good learning theory, but the concept is one I have not seen explicitly stated in other action research texts. Thus for me as a reader, Stringer’s idea of using experience-near concepts in interac- tions with participants was an original contribution, one not found even in action research texts that do a better job of introducing the nuts and bolts of action research.

To summarize, read this book for an introduction to action research with a focus on par- ticipatory evaluation. Read this book for motivation and for warming to the topic. But be ready to supplement it with other texts, particularly in regard to the details of data collection and recording of observations.

REFERENCES

Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (1988). The action research planner (3rd ed.). Victoria: Australia: Deakin University Press.

Sagor, R. (1992). How to conduct collaborative action research. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.