ABSTRACT
Working to counter objective and distant social science approaches, Lewin (1946) introduced a more rigorous approach to designing social action that he named action research. He sought not only to study action in complex social situations but also to develop “experimental comparative studies of the effectiveness of various techniques of change” (Lewin, 1946, p. 37). In today’s context of global complexity and the prevalence of contestable and invalid information that often devalues indigenous and practical or tacit knowledge, action research offers a way to generate valid information that can advance both scholarship and community engagement.
