Guidelines for assessing small business skill needs include paying attention to internal resistance, limiting analysis to a small area, considering all stakeholders' perspectives and interests, using action-research methods, and understanding needs assessment as a continual learning process. (SK)

Documents contributions of a teacher action-research project to a community-building process engendered by Chicago Schools' Alliance for Achievement Network. Sustaining an action-research culture requires supportive leadership, adequate time, collaboration and sharing, teacher ownership, teacher initiative, and access to information. (11…

Describes a teacher's experiences with piloting a data-driven process called "precision teaching" which calls for students to be active participants in their learning. (ASK)

A researcher's participatory research collaboration with indigenous teachers to develop culturally appropriate practices is used to reflect on the researcher's role as an "inside-outsider." Ways to develop appropriate practices in participatory research are addressed. (SK)

A randomized controlled trial (N=188 patients) of the effectiveness of counseling as part of primary care compared to routine advice from general practitioners was conducted with three practices. Measures were compared at four and eight months follow-up. General practitioners participated in action learning sessions with counselors. Results are…

Describes the action research model used by the Pennsylvania Action Research Network, summarizes impact evaluation results since 1995, and concludes that the network has had a major impact on the professional development of adult educators in the state. (SK)

Parent-teacher action research (PTAR) empowers both groups to define their own problems and collaborate on solutions. Schools with PTAR teams have developed mutually respectful working relationships that can positively influence children's learning. (SK)

Ecologically sound tourism planning and policy require an empowering community participation. The participatory action research model helps a community gain understanding of its social reality, learn how to learn, initiate dialog, and discover new possibilities for addressing its situation. (SK)

Compares Carr and Kemmis' view of action research, linked to the emancipatory political ideology of critical theory, with Dewey's pragmatic epistemology, focused on moving from a problem identified in experience through a means-end continuum that guides inquiry. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)

Graduate business administration students (n=55) were asked which model they used for action research projects: conceptual or a physical model visually depicting action research. The physical model was favored by 69%; most agreed that it helped them understand the process of action research, was easy to use, and flexibly applied to various…

Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies have advantages and disadvantages. Choice of methodology should be determined by the nature of the research objectives. Cooperative education researchers should consider qualitative or combined-methodology inquiries including interviews and action research. (SK)

Academically trained professionals who develop survey materials, collect data, and interview subjects in communities, acting as external experts, have traditionally conducted social research. The researchers then head back to their offices and institutes to interpret the results, which are seen and heard by academics in journals and at…

This article looks at participatory action research (PAR) as a means for a religious educator to unite scholarship and teaching with the purpose of building up community and moving toward social justice. A definition of this term is offered as well as short examples of how different religious educators have engaged in doing PAR in their respective…

The rapid development of the Internet as a means of both information distribution and social communication seems to be carrying with it a growing imperative for tertiary institutions to put teacher education, like many other things, "online". Often this is done in the name of offering teacher training to distant students who would otherwise not be…

The process of a school becoming more inclusive involves teacher learning. The Economic and Social Research Council Teaching and Learning Research Programme (ESRC TLRP) research and development Network "Understanding and Developing Inclusive Practices in Schools" presented an opportunity both to understand the nature of this learning and…