DIALOGICAL ACTION RESEARCH AT OMEGA CORPORATION.

Author List: Mërtensson, Par; Lee, Allen S.;
MIS Quarterly, 2004, Volume 28, Issue 3, Page 507-536.
In dialogical action research, the scientific researcher does not "speak science" or otherwise attempt to teach scientific theory to the real-world practitioner, but instead attempts to speak the language of the practitioner and accepts him as the expert on his organization and its problems. Recognizing the difficulty that a practitioner and a scientific researcher can have in communicating across the world of science and the world of practice, dialogical action research offers, as its centerpiece, reflective one-on-one dialogues between the practitioner and the scientific researcher, taking place periodically in a setting removed from the practitioner's organization. The dialogue itself serves as the interface between the world of science, marked by theoria and the scientific attitude, and the world of the practitioner, marked by praxis and the natural attitude of everyday life. The dialogue attempts to address knowledge heterogeneity, which refers to the different forms that knowledge takes in the world of science and the world of practice, and knowledge contextuality, which refers to the dependence of the meaning of knowledge, such as a scientific theory or professional expertise, on its context. In successive dialogues, the scientific researcher and the practitioner build a mutual understanding, including an understanding of the organization and its problems. The scientific researcher, based on one or more of the scientific theories in her discipline, formulates and suggests one or more actions for the practitioner to take in order to solve or remedy a problem in his organization. Dialogical action research recognizes that the practitioner's experience, expertise, and tacit knowledge, or praxis, largely shapes how he understands the suggested actions and appropriates them as his own. Upon returning to his organization, he takes one or more of the suggested actions, depending on his reading of the situation at hand. The reactions or responses of the problem...
Keywords: Action research; case studies; phenomenology; qualitative research; research methods
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#32 0.252 research studies issues researchers scientific methodological article conducting conduct advanced rigor researcher methodology practitioner issue relevance findings validation papers published
#104 0.120 action research engagement principles model literature actions focus provides developed process emerging establish field build guidance known project elements insights
#21 0.084 research information systems science field discipline researchers principles practice core methods area reference relevance conclude set focus propose perspective inquiry
#171 0.072 markets industry market ess middle integrated logistics increased demand components economics suggested emerging preference goods interesting form recent vertically chinese
#245 0.069 knowledge sharing contribution practice electronic expertise individuals repositories management technical repository knowledge-sharing shared contributors novelty features peripheral share benefit seekers
#120 0.065 virtual world worlds co-creation flow users cognitive life settings environment place environments augmented second intention spatial interactivity ownership objects immersive
#3 0.057 problems issues major involved legal future technological impact dealing efforts current lack challenges subsystem related highly present addressing likely recommendations
#180 0.055 multiple elements process environments complex integrated interdependencies design different developing integration order approach dialogue framework capabilities settings building focus distinct