Collaborative Action Research within Developmental Evaluation

This article investigates the use of collaborative action research in both the development and evaluation of a project designed to develop inclusive practice in Early Years and childcare settings.The purpose of the evaluation was to ascertain how practitioners understand the term ‘inclusion’, how those understandings were translated into practice and how changes in that practice might be conceptualized and carried out.The article explores the use of facilitated collaborative action research as a core element in developmental evaluation. Reflecting on other approaches such as theory of change, it considers whether the use of action research supported the critical examination and development of a project, or whether, by being so similar in design, it constricted the evaluation in terms of reliability of data, accountability and providing a framework for planning and development.