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Generalising results of an action research project in one work place to other situations: Principles and practice

Frank Thompson (Graduate College of Management, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia)
Chad Perry (Graduate College of Management, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 1 March 2004

2818

Abstract

An action research project is usually restricted to improving one workgroup's practices within one organisation. However, after that project is done, some academics or consultants may want to try to generalise the findings from that one particular project to several other situations. The aim of this paper is to identify the two scientific paradigms appropriate for each of these two purposes, and to identify the criteria that could be used to judge how well each purpose is achieved. Essentially, it argues that the critical theory paradigm underlies the action research project of a workgroup within one organisation, and the realism paradigm underlies the generalisation from those findings to other situations. Criteria from the two paradigms can be used to evaluate the validity and reliability of these two processes. An example of how this has been done in practice, is provided.

Keywords

Citation

Thompson, F. and Perry, C. (2004), "Generalising results of an action research project in one work place to other situations: Principles and practice", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 38 No. 3/4, pp. 401-417. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560410518611

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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