Today's societies require research approaches that are creative, sensitive to cultural and contextual diversity, rooted in engagement and critical dispositions, and situated within local contexts. Action research and evaluation are inquiries into and about human lives. Both modes generate actionable data in specific contexts to facilitate positive social change and to further social justice.
This book explores the potential of integrating action research and evaluation frameworks to encourage knowledge democracy, data literacy, and ethical practices. The authors draw a clear connection between program enactment and program goals, investigating the processes of design, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and analysis, and mixed methods considerations. Key questions include: why is new research paradigm needed? How do we define data literacy? How do we understand equitable societies? Working from the belief that knowledge is created constantly in our world by those in real-world settings and practical contexts, Evaluation and Action Research provides practitioners with an accessible guide to better inform practice and decision making.