Systems Language for e-Democracy: Personal Resource Systems Management (PRSM), a Model and Action Research

In ancient Athens, the Agora was a place for collective decision making about personal and community issues. New Agoras, most recently Internet-enabled ones, now propose to enliven participatory democracy and establish systems by which our institutions can serve us and we can govern ourselves (B. H. Banathy, Guided Evolution of Society: A Systems View, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York, 2000). Effective participation in such activity will require a language and consciousness not currently in evidence, and learning beyond current parameters. In this article, high school students from Stephanie Williams' Child Development classes at McDowell High School, Millcreek Township School District, demonstrate use of a new paradigm. This model of Personal Resource Systems Management provides systems language for Agora discourse enabling effective participatory democracy.     

水资源系统工程的理论框架探讨

作为一门新兴交叉综合性工程技术学科,水资源系统工程在人口、资源、环境、经济与社会区域可持续发展战略研究中具有重要意义.根据水资源系统工程的基本概念,指出水资源系统工程的实质就是处理各种水资源系统问题的方法论,据此提出了水资源系统工程新的理论框架,它由水资源系统优化方法、建模方法、预测方法、模拟方法、评价方法和决策分析方法组成.该理论框架在各种应用系统工程研究中具有参考应用价值.     

Professional Development through Action Research: Case Examples in South African Higher Education

This paper identifies the quality characteristics of a professional development (PD) program on action research (AR) and presents the results of a second-order evaluation of such a program. Three case examples in South African higher education demonstrate how AR methodology has been applied to design, conduct and evaluate the PD program and to identify new ways of learning and improving professional practice in higher education. From data analysis, we distinguish six factors significant in contributing to the quality of the PD program in all three universities: facilitator expertise, adaptive planning, responsive evaluation, critical events, application, and self-efficacy. On the basis of the evaluation results, we present five models: (1) the AR workshop cycles; (2) characteristics of a quality PD program; (3) a PD program on and through AR; (4) three levels of reflection on AR; and (5) meta-action research.

An Action Research Study for Elaborating and Implementing an Electronic Waste Collection Program in Brazil

The objective of this study was to conduct Action Research (AR) to create and implement a WEEE management program that was in line with the BNPSW regulations. The city chosen for this study was São João del Rei (SJDR) located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Using AR it was possible to structure a WEEE management program that involved stakeholders from the city administration, the Federal University of São João del Rei, and representatives from the private sector. The program ultimately collected 1710 kg of WEEE that received an environmentally appropriate destination. Although no major difficulties were observed with respect to the AR process itself, some challenges were encountered. Lack of infrastructure and hesitance on behalf of the public with respect to implementing WEEE Reverse Logistics were complicating factors. The action research as methodology proved to be highly efficient in dealing with e-waste reverse logistics. It resulted in faster decision making, in turn generating better results. Good decisions were repeated and errors were corrected. The Action Research project highlighted the need for raising public awareness about WEEE disposal. It also showed that the public was ultimately interested in participating and contributing to the proposed WEEE management program. The awareness of the population has led to a significant increase in the amount of collected waste. The model resulting from this research serve as a reference for decision makers in implementing similar programs around the world and to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on the subject.

     

Practicality, Positionality, and Emancipation: Reflections on Participatory Action Research with a Watershed Partnership

In the last few decades, there has been a trend towards increased stakeholder and public participation in natural resource management in North America. To a certain extent, the rationale for this trend is found in the complexity and uncertainty of environmental issues, which confront us with the coexistance of multiple legitimate values and perspectives in society. Recognizing this “epistemological plurality” has important implications for both policy and science. In this paper, I critically reflect on my experiences as a doctoral student engaged in participatory action research (PAR) with a watershed partnership in Ontario, Canada. In providing this biographical account, I seek to make a contribution to ongoing discussions regarding the nature, challenges and benefits of this methodological approach for academic research, as well as to emerging debates on PAR in the context of environmental governance and “post-normal” approaches to natural resource management.

When Social Workers Meet Special Education Teachers: Action Research to Implement Curricular Changes in Taiwanese Special Education Systems

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) offering supported employment services in Taiwan recently have identified a missing link between their programs and the vocational programs students with disabilities received in secondary special education system. Sponsored by a national initiative aimed to enhance public education through crossover trials and social inclusion under the umbrella of ??HighScope Taiwan??, academics and mainly senior social workers devoted to supported employment for persons with intellectual disabilities started a two-way outreach program through action engagement in 2007. Action research became the common focus of the joint task forces across social work, public education systems, and academia. The article provides field-based reflections of the action research project and suggests ways in which practice of action research may increase social impact in the professional development of individuals.     

Reflection on the Purposes of Research,Action, and Scholarship: A Case of Cross-Cultural Participatory Action Research

Beginning with some basic principles of participatory action research, the author draws upon personal experience to identify the ways in which the experience of the practice of participatory action research creates forms of publication somewhat different in intent and nature from conventional forms of research. The experience selected involves cross-cultural research, and the particular problems of representation of the other in such settings are engaged. The overall experience is then drawn upon to identify some of the key qualities of action research which differ both from other forms of research and from some of the advocacies for action research.     

Critical Systemic Praxis for Social and Environmental Justice: A Case Study of Management,Governance, and Policy

Internationally, globalization has been paradoxically translated into colonization, economic rationalist development, nationalism, and closure born of a fear of the implications of globalization and global markets for the least powerful countries, regions, and interest groups. Social problems in terms of the economic rationalist approach are increasingly individualized and citizenship models emphasize the responsibility of individuals and families. Many current human service and social policy models in Australia (as elsewhere) are nonsystemic (psychological, medical, education, crime prevention, and economic). The paper reflects on an experience of undertaking a study of the life chances of citizens in a remote region of Australia. This is a paper about doing systemic thinking and practice in Alice Springs (Mpwartwe, or caterpillar dreaming) as a social policy researcher attempting to use and advocating a participatory action research approach to social policy development based on a multisite, multimethod research design of perceived, expressed, and normative needs.     

Distance Education: A Reflective Action Research Project and Its Systemic Implications for Higher Education

This reflective action research study examines faculty experience with distance education. Distance education has become increasingly of interest in higher education and is seen by many as the opportunity for systemic change in higher education. This study is a reflective action research project which examined the author's experiences teaching a distance version of a basic instructional design course at the same time as teaching a residential version of that same course. The examination finds significant faculty issues that emerged during the experience and specifically found concerns with the distance education learner. In the end, the study finds that as a tool for systemic change of higher education, distance delivery will have to engage faculty with their concerns in more substantive ways than they have to date. In essence, this study asserts that the current demands on distance educators are not motivating for traditional faculty members because of increased time demands, lack of traditional rhythm, lack of personal contact with students, and less evident interest among distant students in the areas that faculty value.     

Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Brazilian Public Education Institutions: Implementation Through Action Research on a University Campus

One of the problems facing public education institutions in Brazil is the question of the correct handling and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Being that these institutions are part of the public sector, they should adhere to Decree no. 99,658/1990 for the disposal of their goods. However, this decree is not completely in accordance with the Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS), especially when considering the regulations for disposal of public goods. Thus, these institutions have no WEEE management model which encompasses not only the Decree but also the PNRS. An example of this situation can be found at the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Due to the lack of such a management model, the university warehouse is at full capacity and unable to receive additional electronic equipment. Therefore, the objective of this study is to create a management model for WEEE to be used at public education institutions using the guidelines set forth in both the Decree and the PNRS. An action research investigation was performed at UNIFEI which relied upon two improvement and learning cycles to deal with all the WEEE found at the university. The first was undertaken at the university warehouse and the second at other sectors within the institution. In addition to the practical results obtained by properly disposing of 474 WEEE products, this study showed that action research is an adequate management tool for public institutions looking to deal with problems of this nature, being that these institutions are almost always subject to bureaucratic controls with respect to their public property, and expected to follow rigorous legislation that is often times controversial.     

Effect of Supervision on Stress and Burnout in School Counsellors: A Case of Action Research

School counsellors are permanently in action, the success of which depends on their systemic approach to their action. Due to the difficulty, complexity and scope of their work, school counsellors are often under a lot of stress, which may eventually develop into occupational burnout. Thus, it is very important that school counsellors can use appropriate i.e. systemic, i.e. requisitely holistic ways of coping with stress and occupational burnout. Recently, after many years, supervision has been gaining importance as an action in the form of professional help to school counsellors to enable them to cope effectively with stress and to prevent occupational burnout. The primary purpose of the reported-about study is to determine how supervision, in accordance with the relational family model, affects the perception of stress and occupational burnout. The sample included 30 school counsellors in Slovenia. They were divided into an experimental group (with the presence of supervision) and a control group (without supervision). Results show a positive effect of supervision, in accordance with the relational family model, on the school counsellors’ perception of stress, since stress decreased after supervisory meetings, while the school counsellors’ perception of their professional burnout after supervisory meetings did not change significantly.     

Integrating Participatory Learning and Action Research and Systems Ecology: A Potential for Sustainable Agriculture Transitions

This article explores the potential of integrating Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR) and Systems Ecology (SE) for improving research capability in facilitating sustainable development transitions in agriculture. Goal conflicts that arose in a PLAR group working on sustainability issues in small-scale organic tomato production are analysed from the perspective of SE. The possibility to improve agency for sustainable development by the merger of PLAR and SE are discussed. It is concluded that the approaches together could provide a sounder base for systemic research and transitions in agriculture.     

Multi-Disciplinary North-South Collaboration in Participatory Action Research on Food Value Chains: a German-Tanzanian Case Study on Perceptions,Experiences and Challenges

Systemic Practice and Action Research - Upgrading local food value chains is a promising approach to invigorating African food systems. This endeavour warrants multi-disciplinary North-South...     

Oral and Written Reflection in Practice Management: An Action Research Approach

Reflection in Practice Management (PM) favoured the integrated approach where learners had to critically reflect on the study material, assessments and tasks throughout the year and to integrate their experiences in a meaningful manner that would demonstrate their development and learning over the year. Reflection in the form of portfolios focused on personal development and individual learning rather than on achieving a general set of course outcomes. But assessment of these portfolios revealed no real evidence of reflection or critical thinking. This study suggested that learners be assessed orally so that their reflections could come alive and so that the educator could learn from the assessment to restructure or re-curriculate where necessary. This study found that although the orals were not a preferred form of assessment, they contributed successfully to informing the written critical and reflective thinking in the portfolios. Using an action research approach, enabled us to not only address a fundamental problem that the educators and learners were battling with—how to encourage and indeed teach learners to think critically and to reflect, but it also showed the educators how to solve problems or seek solutions to didactic problems in their own classrooms. The recommendations in this paper may therefore inform courses other than PM that use reflective practice, critical thinking or portfolio assessments.     

Application of Focus Group Interviews for Quality Management: An Action Research Project

Focus groups have the potential to provide rapid and timely collation, integration and assembly of the views of a variety of different types of stakeholders into a plausible theory. This article reflects on a tertiary education institution's utilisation of focus group interviews (FGIs) as a qualitative evaluation instrument, using action research as the methodology. Our results suggest that employing focus groups is a valuable method of gaining more insight into and adding more depth to quantitative findings during quality management. Results from focus groups enable quality assurance practitioners to provide better remedial action plans. A set of guidelines is provided for the effective conducting of focus group interviews as part of an institutional quality assurance system.     

Action Research: Its Foundations in Open Systems Thinking and Relationship to the Scientific Method

This paper considers those interpretations of action research that can be traced to Kurt Lewin at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan, and the work in social ecology by Emery and Trist at the Tavistock Institute. It locates the logical basis of these interpretations in the philosophy of pragmatism, particularly as it relates to Peirce’s inferential logic and inquiry system. Drawing on this argument, and on the significant developments in approaches to systemic thinking over the past 40–50 years, a normative set of criteria is established for action research. The paper concludes that both positivist science (which relates to closed systems thinking) and action research (which relates to open systems thinking) are essential to any complete scientific approach.     

Construction of Social Development Index as a Theoretical Research Practice in Action Research by Using Soft Systems Methodology

This paper provides an illustration of the application of Soft Systems Methodology to construct social development index, based on a sociological concept of development proposed by Wirutomo et al. (Pengembangan Indeks Pembangunan Sosial (IPS) Bagi Sektor Informal di Perkotaan: Menuju Kebijakan Inklusif bagi Usaha Kecil, 2011). An action research (AR) is conducted in the field of street vendor promotion program perceived to be representing the social development practice. While the improvement of fundamental elements of societal life, i.e., social structure, culture, and social process can be identified in the field of street vendor promotion program, it is believed that the same development aspects can be explored at many other development sectors. A preliminary social development index is conctructed by using a single sector development program. It is expected that through a further research agenda, a comprehensive social development profile equipped with its related index can be presented. The findings of this SSM-based AR can be considered ??as primary ??thesis?? derived from ??messes?? or ??surprising facts?? of a real world problematic situation?? as described by Stephens et al. (Syst Pract Action Res 22:463?C474, 2009). As an AR practice, this research is a research interest, instead of a problem solving interest in AR (McKay and Marshall, Inf Technol People 14:46?C59, 2001); it is also a theoretical research practice, instead of a business change practice/empirical research practice and regular business practice (Cronholm and Goldkuhl, The 2nd European Conference on Research Methods in Business and Management (ECRM 2003), 2003), and it is an interpretative actions and theory development actions as mentioned by Cronholm and Goldkuhl (The 2nd European Conference on Research Methods in Business and Management (ECRM 2003), 2003). This paper also provides an illustration of a variant relationship between P and A as introduced by McKay and Marshall (Inf Technol People 14:46?C59, 2001), which is ??there are some elements of P that overlap with some elements of A??.     

Ethical Issues and Role Duality in Insider Action Research: Challenges for Action Research Degree Programmes

Insider action research describes the process when a member of an organisation undertakes an explicit action research role in addition to the normal functional roles they hold in an organisation. Real-world work-based research is relevant and important to many full-time managers, consultants and members of organisations including those who choose to undertake higher degrees in business as part-time postgraduate students. Within these programmes a proposal for an insider action research project is often associated with important and interesting research projects that have already arisen in an organisation where the researcher works full-time, and are part of their existing role and established working relationships with key stakeholders. Ethical issues in organisationally located insider action research can differ from other forms of action research because of role duality, i.e. that the researcher holds an ongoing work role and power relationships associated with this as well as the action research role. Ethical issues can be associated with choices about alternative options, expected impacts and outcomes on the researcher, participants, organisation and stakeholders, and these are important considerations for academic supervisors, institutional review boards and human research ethics committees.     

Systemic Thinking and Practice Toward Facilitating Inclusive Education: Reflections on a Case of Co-Generated Knowledge and Action in South Africa

This article offers our reflections around a case of facilitating systemic thinking and practice in which the first author of the article (Tlale) interacted with research participants/participant researchers with the intention of strengthening systemic thought and action toward fostering inclusive education in the setting (a rural school in the Eastern Cape in South Africa). We reflect upon the process and also how our engagement was perceived by participants, as expressed in feedback received from them. We point to how Tlale introduced the idea of systemic thinking (to teachers, school management team, school governing body, and a district officer for the district) as tied to the possibility of acting to generate transformation toward a more inclusive educational context for the benefit of the learners at the school in question, thus acting as a systemic mediator on their behalf.     

Using Action Research to Improve Communication and Facilitate Group Work in a Multicultural Classroom: A South African Case Study

This study started with problems that my colleagues (and I) were experiencing with interaction and intercultural communication among students in our diverse classrooms. Educators were also experiencing difficulties in motivating students to work effectively in groups. The purpose of this paper was to seek solutions to these problems by exploring variations of the group oral assessment structure in a multilingual and multicultural context. Four phases of assessments were conducted at two tertiary institutions in South Africa using a combination of action research and a participatory approach. Not only did this study succeed in addressing the problems but it also revealed the added benefits of using an action research methodology.