'But how can you prove it?': issues of rigour in action research

Abstract

Many of the people who are involved with the Stronger Families Fund projects, as well as those in government departments and the wider research community, may be coming into contact with action research for the first time through the Australian Government's Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. The question of whether action research is rigorous is often raised when people encounter action research for the first time. Although action research has a different kind of methodology from some of the more scientific or experimental forms of research with which people may be more familiar, it is still a rigorous method of research. This article explains how action research achieves rigour in its careful application of multiple methods techniques