Week 5 Discussion: Feasibility

Introduction

Greenwood and Levin (2007) stated:

Action research (AR) is a cogenerative process through which professional researchers and interested members of a local organization, community, or specially created organization collaborate to research, understand, and resolve problems of mutual interest. Action research is a social process in which professional knowledge, local knowledge, process skills, research skills, and democratic values are the basis for cogenerated knowledge and social change. (p.115)

The authors go on to describe the skills and abilities needed by the action researcher in order to successfully plan and carry out an action research process. The role of the researcher can be summed up through four major tasks:

• Facilitator.
• Educator.
• Activist.
• Advocate.

Peter Park (1993) states, “The researcher participates in the struggle of the people . . . The researcher works with the community to help turn its felt but unarticulated problem into an identifiable topic of collective investigation” (Park, Brydon-Miller, Hall, & Jackson, p. 9).

Stringer and Aragon (2021) discuss resistance to change as another issue that the researcher must deal with. This reality factors into the matter of viability/feasibility. Is the community open to change? If not, can the researcher navigate and demonstrate the rationale behind the change plan? Such is the nature of feasibility in action research studiesdoes the researcher have the skill to facilitate, educate, and advocate for the group? Can the researcher turn the communitys unarticulated problem into a research study?

To determine the feasibility of an action research study, the following steps are followed:

• A problem is identified by a researcher or the people experiencing the problem.
• The problem is social in nature and calls for collective action to reach a solution.
• The researcher may initiate a collective approach to problem, or the group experiencing the problem may seek out a researcher to assist them.

Applying this litmus test to an identified problemit is social in nature and calls for collective action to reach a solutionhelps the researcher to determine if pursuing the study of this issue is feasible. In addition, it is important to envision the future desired state sought by the group or community through the study of this problem. Is that future state possible? Can this group collectively achieve the goals it seeks? Greenwood and Levin (2007) imply that all social problems have the potential for study and improvement through action research and encourage action researchers to create possibilities rather than enforce limits. Feasibility, then, rests with the skill of the researcher. Therefore, it becomes critical for action researchers to do a self-assessment of their skills to determine how well they are likely to do with the tasks of supporting an action research process. In this week, we explore the concept of feasibility by exploring and assessing our own skills. How ready to you feel to take on an action research process?

References

Greenwood, D. J., & Levin, M. (2007). Introduction to action research (2nd ed.). Sage.

ASSIGNMENT

In Week 2, you submitted the central focus for a possible action research study along with a rationale for that study. Remind us about your topic by describing the study in a sentence or two and then talk about how you see the feasibility for such a study by applying the questions posed in this week’s overview:

• A problem is identified by a researcher or the people experiencing the problem.
• The problem is social in nature and calls for collective action to reach a solution.
• The researcher may initiate a collective approach to problem, or the group experiencing the problem seeks out a researcher to assist them.

What would it take to make this study happen?

WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT ATTACHED

RESEARCH TOPIC: What strategies do social workers use to support African American men living in urban areas with access to mental health services?

OCCUPATION: Social Work Mental Health Therapist

THEORETICAL PRACTICE: Critical Race Theory

METHODOLOGY: Qualitative