Introduction: Action research, diversity, and democracy -- A history of action research -- Action research cases from practice : the stories of Stongfjorden, Mondragen, and programs for employment and workplace systems at Cornell University -- An epistemological foundation for action research -- Scientific method and action research -- Social science research techniques, work forms, and research strategies in action research -- Knowledge generation in action research : the dialectics of local knowledge and research-based knowledge -- The friendly outsider : from AR as a research strategy to the skills needed to become an action researcher

Pragmatic action research -- Power, liberation, adult education, feminism, and social reform -- Educational action research -- Participatory evaluation -- Rapid rural appraisal, participatory rural appraisal, and participatory learning and analysis -- Human inquiry, collaborative inquiry, cooperative inquiry, action inquiry, self-reflective inquiry, and mapping the varieties of action research -- Action science and organizational learning -- Educating action researchers -- Action research, participation, and democratization.