Assessing action-research quality
This tool is a template for the evaluation of the quality of participative processes in the framework of Action-Research projects.
The caENTI letter of quality of action-research favouring territorial governance of sustainable development by the caENTI Workpackage 5 and presented during the second annual international conference of territorial intelligence held in Huelva (24-27 October 2007), suggested that the key factor for the quality evaluation of an action-research process of is the quality of the participative process between researchers and actors.
Four pillars have been identified supporting the quality of these participatory processes and for each of them at least two objectives that should be completed for their accomplishment have been defined:
| PILLAR 1. Mobilisation of territorial resources | |
| 1.a | Investigation of the resources of the concerned territory |
| 1.b | Organisation of the partners (actors/researchers) |
| PILLAR 2. Mutualisation of knowledge and abilities | |
| 2.a | Multidimensionality of the Action-Research |
| 2.b | Co-Learning |
| PILLAR 3. Shared responsibility of the involved participants and institutions | |
| 3.a | Organisation of a collaborative management of the project |
| 3.b | Participants deontology and autonomy |
| PILLAR 4. Common mastery of results: | |
| 4.a | Continuous assessment of Action-Research impacts on territory |
| 4.b | Durability of the led actions |
For each of these objectives diverse possible situations have been defined and each situation has been given a value between 1 and 5. Each participant is requested to mark in each case, the situation that appears to be closer to the research project that he/she intends to evaluate one. Finally, you will get five polar diagrams which show the results of the evaluated project, in general and by pillars. These diagrams allow you to compare the actual situation of the evaluated project regarding the ideal high quality situation.
The caENTI WP5 will go on working on this tool, improving the definition of the situations and fining tune the measuring procedure. However, we believe that the present version is quite easy to use and very graphic when it comes to presenting the results.
In any case, we would be grateful if after your participation in this assessment you could send us any suggestions you may have to help us improve this instrument.
More information
- caENTI Quality Letter of Action-Research favouring Territorial Governance of Sustainable Development (caENTI Deliverable 47 - December 2007)
- Proposal of an european letter of quality on research-action favoring territorial governance of sustainable development presented during the second annual international conference of territorial intelligence held in Huelva (24-27 October 2007)
- More information about caENTI Workpackage 5
