Ewa Gunnarsson - Action Research for Democracy

Contemporary society has encountered profound economic, socio-ecological and political crises that challenge the democratic foundation of our societies. This book addresses the potentials and challenges for Action Research in supporting democratic alternatives. It offers a broad spectrum of examples from Scandinavian Action Research that show different openings towards democratic development. The books first part contributes with a wide range of examples, such as Action Research in relation to the Triple Helix/ Mode II contexts, design as a democratic process, the renewal of welfare work and public institutions, and innovation policies combining Action Research with gender science. In the second part of the book, epistemological and ontological dimensions of Action Research are discussed, addressing questions of validity criteria related to Action Research, the transformation of knowledge institutions and the specific character of creativity in Action Research. The book offers a basis for theoretical as well as practice-oriented discussions and critical reflections within the field of Action Research and related research orientations involving a wide range of actors.

Ewa Gunnarsson is Professor Emeritus at Lule University of Technology.

Hans Peter Hansen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and is a member of the Division of Environmental Communication.

Birger Steen Nielsen is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Educational Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark.

Nadarajah Sriskandarajah is a Professor of Environmental Communication within the Department of Urban and Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.

Routledge Advances in Research Methods

1 E-Research
Transformation in Scholarly Practice
Edited by Nicholas W. Jankowski

2 The Mutual Construction of Statistics and Society
Edited by Ann Rudinow Stnan, Heidi Mork Lomell, and Svein Hammer

3 Multi-Sited Ethnography
Problems and Possibilities in the Translocation of Research Methods
Edited by Simon Coleman and Pauline von Hellermann

4 Research and Social Change
A Relational Constructionist Approach
Sheila McNamee and Dian Marie Hosking

5 Meta-Regression Analysis in Economics and Business
T.D. Stanley and Hristos Doucouliagos

6 Knowledge and Power in Collaborative Research
A Reflexive Approach
Edited by Louise Phillips, Marianne Kristiansen, Marja Vehvilinen and Ewa Gunnarsson

7 The Emotional Politics of Research Collaboration
Edited by Gabriele Griffin, Annelie Brnstrm-hman and Hildur Kalman

8 The Social Politics of Research Collaboration
Edited by Gabriele Griffin, Katarina Hamberg and Britta Lundgren

9 Place in Research
Theory, Methodology, and Methods
Eve Tuck and Marcia McKenzie

10 Video Methods
Social Science Research in Motion
Edited by Charlotte Bates

11 Qualitative Analysis in the Making
Edited by Daniella Kuzmanovic and Andreas Bandak

12 Non-Representational Methodologies
Re-Envisioning Research
Edited by Phillip Vannini

13 Cultural Mapping as Cultural Inquiry
Edited by Nancy Duxbury, W.F. Garrett-Petts and David MacLennan

14 Researching Marginalized Groups
Edited by Kalwant Bhopal and Ross Deuchar

15 Methodologies of Embodiment
Inscribing Bodies in Qualitative Research
Edited by Mia Perry and Carmen Liliana Medina

16 Social Science Research Ethics for a Globalizing World
Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Edited by Keerty Nakray, Margaret Alston and Kerri Whittenbury

17 Action Research for Democracy
New Ideas and Perspectives from Scandinavia
Edited by Ewa Gunnarsson, Hans Peter Hansen, Birger Steen Nielsen and Nadarajah Sriskandarajah

New Ideas and Perspectives from Scandinavia

Edited by Ewa Gunnarsson , Hans Peter Hansen , Birger Steen Nielsen and Nadarajah Sriskandarajah

First published 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Action research for democracy: new ideas and perspectives from Scandinavia / edited by Ewa Gunnarsson, Hans Peter Hansen, Birger Steen Nielsen and Nadarajah Sriskandarajah.
pages cm. (Routledge advances in research methods; 17)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. DemocracyScandinavia. 2. Action researchScandinavia. 3. Political participationScandinavia. I. Gunnarsson, Ewa, 1944
JN7011.A38 2016
320.6072dc23
2015022424

ISBN: 978-1-138-96122-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-65990-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

In 2010, two of us, Ewa Gunnarsson and Birger Steen Nielsen, together with our late colleague and friend Kurt Aagaard Nielsen, took the initiative to produce a book that would present Scandinavian Action Research to an international, English-speaking readership. We felt that the scope of the book should be Action Research for Democracy. Kurt took an eager part in the initial planning and discussions about the book. For Kurt, the question of Action Research, its obligation to and possible role in the democratisation of our societies was of great importance, and for him, as well as for us, the increased authoritarian and destructive tendencies we are witnessing in the present historical situation had been a major concern for years. Simultaneously with this concern, Kurt shared with us a strong confidence in the human and social potential existing all over the world, a potential capable of strengthening democracy and offering our societies a more hopeful democratic and sustainable future. Our shared concern as well as our shared confidence made up the scope of the book.