Elements of critical action research are present in this research. Kemmis and McTaggart note that critical action research “expresses a commitment to bring together broad social analysis – the self-reflective, collective self-study of practice, the way in which language is used, organization and power in a local situation, and action to improve things.”30 The concepts of
action research relate well to the field of practical theology and some authors espouse the term “theological action research.” Elaine Graham describes how action research provides a tool for practical theology through its emphasis on values.
Action research is founded on the indivisibility of value and action: a conviction that knowledge and research cannot be dispassionate and that values are themselves iterated in the process of their implementation in practice. It insists on the inductive and contextual nature of knowledge and assumes that knowledge comes from human experiences (albeit interpreted and codified through rational enquiry and analysis), rather than proceeding deductively from revealed truth.31
Firstly, in response, I see such a process and method reflected throughout this research. Intertwined values and actions are addressed from the beginning in order to help reveal the experiential and contextual quality of local knowledges as expressed by each interviewee. Graham notes that action research “starts not from theory … but with a problem” and inductively proceeds “from experience to reflection and thence to action” thus embodying
29 Crotty, The Foundations, 78.
30 Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart, “Participatory Action Research: Communicative Action and the Public
Sphere,” in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 3rd ed.
(Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2005), 559-603. Quote, 560.
31 Elaine Graham, “Is Practical Theology a Form of ‘Action Research’,” International Journal of Practical
Theology, no. 17(1), (August, 2013): 148-178. For deeper discussion: Helen Cameron, Deborah Bhatti, Catherine
Duce, James Sweeney and Claire Watkins, Talking About God in Practice: Action Research and Practical
Theology, (London: SCM, 2010). Helen Cameron and Catherine Duce, Researching Practice in Ministry and Mission: A Companion, (London: SCM, 2013).
action research’s principle of “learning through doing.”32 Although grounded theory is the
main framework for this research, participatory action research embraces its essential elements. The researcher’s separation from his country of origin and his professional work place means that although the results will be applied on return, significant elements of action research undergird this research, as described earlier in the personal story. Graham develops this embrace of practice and practitioner, claiming that the “process of action research is described in very concrete terms as a simple problem-solving investigation conducted by someone who asks themselves, ‘how do I improve my practice?’”33 There lies the affinity of
action research with grounded theory within this project.
Secondly, action research is “essentially a collaborative undertaking” with an “insider approach” that aims to foster and build dialogue between participants in “any given context.”34 This complements narrative topics and practice in that ‘insider approach’ is a key
Narrative therapy concept. Foreshadowing outcomes, interviewees suggested that the application of narrative therapy or practices is not so much found in its methods or techniques, it is actually a way of life, a philosophy. For me, and through the process of this research, this way of life became inevitably permeated with research methodology, personal contact with interviewees and colleagues and even embraced my own spiritual journey.
Thirdly, action research for Graham “celebrates a diversity of ways of knowing,” drawing from fields like economics, politics, psychology and spirituality and aims to contribute from aspects of practical knowledge towards the improvement of personal and communal well-being.35
This “diversity of ways of knowing” provides another term for “multistoried” experience in people’s lives in a narrative therapy view. Those people become co-creating partners.
Action research is fundamentally rooted in a social constructivist epistemology that sees people as builders and interpreters of meaning. Human actors are co- creators of meaning, and we act in the world on the basis of our meaning- making, which is what undergirds collective and individual action.36
32 Graham, Is Practical Theology, 151. 33 Graham, Is Practical Theology, 151. 34 Graham, Is Practical Theology, 151. 35 Graham, Is Practical Theology, 153. 36 Graham, Is Practical Theology, 156.
Finally, what is the link between action research and practical theology? Graham writes that “one of the tasks of practical theological research is to investigate and interpret the lived experience of people of faith.”37 This investigation however, “might generate very novel forms
of spirituality, or conclude that traditional ways of imagining God are in need of fundamental revision.”38 This was to be confirmed more than once in the data analysis yet its theological
aspects will not feature too strongly in the discussion because of other pressing factors. However, Graham notes that “action research presents itself as highly value-driven” and when applied in a practical theological context also presents as “spiritual practice which seeks to contemplate and connect to, the very well-springs of existence.”39 Theological action research
objectives, according to Graham, are therefore to understand a situation by “studying faith in practice using qualitative methods,” to develop praxis-driven change, and to form a character and agency nurtured by its core values, or with Graham’s words “to put such data to work in the cultivation of theologically-grounded practical wisdom.”40