How and When Action Becomes Legitimised – : On Reliability and Validity in Interactive, Collaborative Research

• There is a range of fundamental question which has to be clarified when starting up an action research project. Such as:How to establish validity and reliability of action research, i.e. distinguish between incremental and/or bolt-on change?If the starting point is collaboration, who is then responsible for the intervention and does it have to be mutually beneficiary? Does action processes change both practices and research? Who has the final mandate to confirm the actual outcome, the researchers or the representatives for practices? How to make the action process mutually agreed, established and legitimized as both research and change of practices in collaborative interactive projects?The starting point for this contribution is to discuss the distinction between a pragmatic and a critical orientation within Action Research ( AR), which has been highlighted and problematized by in an article by Johansson & Lindhult (2008). Coupling this approach with Lucy Suchman’s (2000) early writings on discourses of innovation, makes it fruitful to focus upon how ethical and methodological issues of action quickly becomes synonymous with innovation in action-oriented project design. This will be discussed in relation to various action-oriented projects addressing local journalism innovation as well as projects within public sector.Regional press has a role in the functioning of democracy as well as being a core part of community life.  However, there are challenges in delivering that with limited resources. The Regpress Project 2 was aiming at gaining a deeper understanding of how local press must work to become more innovative while facing current challenges such as increased efficiency while at the same time satisfy traditional values such as trustworthiness. The AR-project combined action-oriented research including design workshops with the public in order to shed light on the overarching question;  How does the local papers handle the process of becoming leaner and more competitive whilst striving to maintaining its ‘trust anchor’ role in times when change becomes more or less mandatory?

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Action research

journalism

Journalistik

Journalism

Medievetenskap och journalistik

Media Studies and Journalism

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)