ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on the role and impact of emotions in action research. The authors present a case of an action research project, based on relational and reflexive principles, and discuss how tensions and participant emotions arising in the field can present a source for critical understanding, reflexivity and organizational change. The impact of participant emotions on researcher emotions is highlighted. The chapter is organized as follows: the first part positions the concept of emotion theoretically from a social constructionist/hermeneutic phenomenological understanding. As such, emotions are subjectively experienced and the basis for meaning construction within a social context. The second part outlines the organizational context in which the action research project takes place, describes the situations in which emotions emerged, and offers excerpts from participant comments and researcher notes around the issue. Finally, the key learning points around dealing with emotion for both for researchers and participants are presented, emphasizing the reasons why emotions are resources and not limits in promoting reflexivity and proposing strategies for researchers in dealing with emotions in action research.
