Action research in health-care practice: Nature, present concerns and future possibilities

This paper begins by defining what is meant by action research and locates it as a form of a new paradigm of research. Next it describes some present-day concerns about its use in health-care practice and then goes on to describe a vision of research policy and practice which suggests that action research may have a greater role to play in the next millennium. In conclusion, a cautious and pragmatic approach to the use of action research is advocated which is based on rigorous, systematic and visible methods of data collection, analysis and verification of findings.