Page 118 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling
P. 118

 The spiralling research circle is fundamental for, and essential in the action learning (AR) approach. The involvement of all participants in the research programme (e.g. researchers and practitioners), is on an equal basis, contributing to the planning, acting, observation and reflection stages of the research spiral, improving the quality of the obtained solutions and being able to include additional achievements to the general “body of knowledge”. In the study at hand the “spiral of the AR cycle” is instrumental in the comparison and analysing between data-sets of qualitative and quantitative nature.
The philosophical background of the research system implemented is discussed in the following section.
3.2.2 Underlying traditions of Action Research
Ontology and epistemology of Action Research
The method of research is inevitably linked to the ontological and epistemological position. Understanding of the reality, the ontology is meaningful for the research. The ontology reveals what is held to be true, the understanding of the subject and object of the research, in what reality the subject exists, what it looks like, what components make it up and how the components interact with each other (Hitchcock & Hughes, 1989).
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