[00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome to the Action Research Podcast, season three. My name is Joe Levitan and I'm here with my co-host […] introducing. Dr. Adam Stieglitz. . Yep. We did it guys. We finally did that. , Is it always weird to be called Dr. Stieglitz? Like is that, Am I, It would be weird for me if somebody called me Dr.
[00:00:26] Adam Stieglitz. Yes. Uh, I don't, I think you get used to it after like a year or two, and then you're like, Oh, you're calling me Mister, Wait a second. Uhuh . It's like, but at least personally for me, I'd rather be called Joe. Or Projo or Dr. Levitan, But Mr. Levitan off the table now. I'm just saying. I don't know how you feel about that.
[00:00:46] I don't know. I think so far for family and friends in particular, it's like a hard. Dr. St. Letz has to be Dr. Sts, but for anything in like the professional realm, I don't know. I'm just working with students. It just seems a little, [00:01:00] little weird, but definitely family and friends st at least for a while. I mean, I, I, when I teach, I go by Joe, so like.
[00:01:07] That's usually how I prefer to go by. I like the first name basis. Overall. It feels good. I'm glad it's behind me. You know, was a really cool experience. It, it evokes all of the emotions and feels and, uh, I think the plan is to kind of dive into that. Yeah, that's what we're gonna do this because of this momentous occasion.
[00:01:26] Our first episode of season three is going to discuss the odyssey of Dr. Stitts dissertation. And the process of doing an action research dissertation, this conversation may be useful to those of you who are thinking about action research as your dissertation methodology or paradigm, or if you're thinking about using different methods related to action research, this may be a good podcast for you all to listen to.
[00:01:53] Yeah, for sure. And, uh, I'm excited to talk about it. Um, I'm gonna do my best and hopefully we can do our best to [00:02:00] like, You know, kind of keep that, uh, bringing the discussion back to action research methodology as a methodology within a dissertation. Um, rather than like, you know, I, I feel like it, it could be easy to get into the, the, the nuances of my actual research and research question, which had to do with community resident perspectives on international service learning.
[00:02:22] You know, I might reference and we can talk about it. I think our listeners are somewhat familiar with that. Um, but I'm gonna try not to get too much in the weeds as far as like my actual findings and that sort of thing, and really talk more about the methodology and, um, just my overall experience as an action researcher, uh, throughout the dissertation journey.
[00:02:42] Yeah. So why don't we start from the beginning as a young Adam coming into the PhD program at the University of Louisville. And, um, you know, what, what motivated you to, to do this PhD? What motivated you to take action research on as your methodology? Yeah, [00:03:00] there were, I think there's a few answers to that question.
[00:03:03] Um, I'd say first and foremost, what rises to the surface first is that I had identified a clear challenge in the field as it related to the work that I was doing as a professional. Um, so I was facilitating international service learning programs and through my own eyes and experience as a facilitator, I started realizing that like community residents really oftentimes weren't benefiting as much as.
[00:03:32] The students who were participating and they had very little voice in the process. And, you know, to summarize, I was like, Okay. You know, I looked into other avenues for kinda getting to the bottom of that issue. And there wasn't that much literature out there, There wasn't, there was more people calling for research on, on that sort of challenge, but it wasn't really out there.
[00:03:52] So, I thought that was a pretty good opportunity to pursue doc doctoral studies. I already kind of [00:04:00] had an issue to go back to school. I work with students here, I work with universities. Um, so you know, that would've helped. And then in addition, you know, I had some really good support. And relationships, um, with people in my personal and professional network action researchers, um, that have been encouraging me along the way, uh, to take that next step.
[00:04:25] Um, you know, a couple names I'll throughout that have been on our podcast, Dr. Mary Braden Miller, um, who ended up being the chair of my committee and also a doctor Alfredo Ortiz . Um, both served as sort of mentors for me and my professional. Uh, endeavors and. When I eventually reached out to Mary about, uh, the idea of press, pursuing this challenge through doc studies, it was just all downhill from there.
[00:04:52] I, I, I opened the door and, and then it was, that was it. Before he knew it, I was in the process. I was in Louisville. [00:05:00] Um, Mary helped me get funding to support my study. She was a big supporter of what I was doing and. And that was it. That was it. So, um, let me break it down for a second. For, for those of you who are grad students, your main motivation was you found something that was a problem and it was a problem that was important enough for you to be like, I really wanna study this problem.
[00:05:22] Basically, that's, that's what motivated you to do a PhD. For sure. Yeah. But what I'm hearing at least is like the original impetus was that you noticed a problem in the field that wasn't reflected or just a problem in your experience in your work that you, when you did a little bit of research, there was like nobody had any real answers for you.
[00:05:41] And so you're like, Wait a second, what's going on here? I wanna figure this out. And you had relationships, personal relationships with other action researchers that were like, Hey, Maybe, uh, you know, maybe you should do this. And when you're like, Oh, maybe I should, they're like, All right, you're doing it, and here you go.
[00:05:56] Yeah, that's what I heard. I'd say it's pretty spot on. Just to [00:06:00] build off a little bit more of like the former point that you were making while Yes. It had to do with. A challenge that I was personally experiencing and, um, that, you know, through research, getting to the bottom of that would help improve the situation that I was embedded in.
[00:06:16] I also knew that it was a challenge, uh, that was somewhat existential and it existed outside of my own reality, right? So other, I, presumably other people. We're running into the same challenge or the situation exists in other contexts. I know that it does cuz I see it in, in my reality. So while yes, it was about, um, you know, me and addressing this challenge that I'm experiencing, I knew that through doctoral research it was also an opportunity to help others perhaps start to, uh, chip away at this sort of, uh, wicked problem.
[00:06:50] Cool. All right. So you, you come in. And you know, already that you wanna do action research. Like this is something that you kind of, you had these connections with these action [00:07:00] researchers. You talked to Mary, Dr. Brien Miller, um, and, and you come into your PhD and you're like, All right, I wanna do an action research project.
[00:07:07] What happens when you enter the space of the, kind of the doctoral studies and you're taking these classes and you're learning about research methodologies and research? Did you take classes on action research? Did you take classes on qualitative methodologies or quantitative like. How did you navigate some of those methodological challenges?
[00:07:26] Because I know that at least in uh, you know, in from other testimonies from other PhD students, it can be a little bit daunting and confusing to figure out what kind of methodology you want to get into when you are thinking about your PhD dissertation. Yeah, I knew coming into it that action research was gonna be my methodology, cuz that kind of connects with this idea.
[00:07:50] You and I have spoken about and many others have referenced to on the podcast how, like, people in our world, you know, oftentimes we're doing action research without realizing that we're [00:08:00] doing action research. Or at least without having like the formality behind what could be a, you know, a, a relatively formal process if you want it to be such.
[00:08:11] You know, using, uh, uh, method, such a methodology for your dissertation. Um, but you know, to answer your question, when I kind of first landed in Louisville, cause I had been living in Peru up until then for like seven or eight consecutive years, and all of a sudden I was in Louisville and. In the Department of Education and Human Development, and I pretty quickly felt like I was on an island.
[00:08:32] I, I I I, I knew that within, like the first week of being there, um, I was taking some data, um, methods and data collection methods courses, both quantitative and qualitative. But you know, in the DOC program and you're with your cohort, the, the program that I was in did a pretty good job of, um, you. Giving our cohort the platform to start incorporating [00:09:00] and discussing our research interest in the, the courses that we were taking.
[00:09:05] Um, which is really cool. Um, and yeah, I mean, I just, you know, I, as I could tell that from the research that I was doing, just in the nature of it being international and socially driven and kind of aligned with what. Uh, you know, a theory, a theoretical framework that outlined with pretty quickly, uh, like lawyers engaged scholarship.
[00:09:28] Um, it was a little bit daunting to see that everybody was going down pretty much a more traditional path, like most people had. Were not familiar with action research methodology at all. And I did my best really to like, bring that into the classroom. And it was really kind of interesting to see people's eyes light up when they realized that, you know, there, there was this.
[00:09:50] Form of methodology that was engaged and driven by change and iterative and so on and so forth. Um, but yeah, all this was kind of coming at me within like the first days [00:10:00] and weeks of being in this program. And, uh, I would say what what kept me grounded more than anything was Mary, uh, my advisor, um, a renowned action researcher.
[00:10:10] And you know, whenever I started to worry that, oh man, is this gonna work for my dissertation? Am I in the right path? Am I in the right place? Um, she did a pretty good job of, of reel me in. Awesome. So considering where you started off and, um, knowing kind of where you were, let's jump straight to like, how does it feel to be done?
[00:10:33] Oh man. It feels so great to be done. Um, I, you know, it was a grind. Any, anybody who's in or has been through a PhD. Program can attest to the fact that, you know, it's this anomaly of an experience that, you know, there's so much expected of you, and yet it's this thing that you only do once and there's no, [00:11:00] there's no, uh, you know, guiding principles of like, first you do this and then you do that, and then you do this.
[00:11:06] I think everybody's experience is unique and, you know, my, my experience, I don't think it was like exceptionally um, On, on the side of, of, of being like a bad experience or anything like that. But, you know, it was, it was a, it was a challenge. It was a really hard challenge and, um, what I appreciate, uh, looking back on it in hindsight are like just really kind of honing in on the little wins along the way.
[00:11:34] You know, whether it was finally getting my first lit reviewed, done. Um, finding that right article or even something as monumental as like passing comps. Shout out to Vanessa Gold, who I know just past your comps. Congratulations. Um, or, you know, when you finally start collecting dead, there's these little wins along the way, but.
[00:11:56] Um, Yeah, Besides, besides that, you know, I [00:12:00] had a nice little pandemic thrown in the middle of my data collection plan. So you have to, you know, looking back, it's crazy how, uh, adaptable, um, I had to be. And, uh, you know, Perseverance. You have to like show all these strong characteristic. It's more than just, um, data and writing, right?
[00:12:21] It's this whole life experience and now that it's behind you, the last thing I'll say is, you know, I think what probably a lot of people can relate to is there's kind of this like gray cloud. That's constantly over you through the entire experience, whether it's day one and year one or like all the way up till the end.
[00:12:39] And you know, I, it took me five years in total, and even on the days or weekends or perhaps there was some vacation time in there, you know, where I wasn't technically working on my dissertation or my research. The cloud was always there. You know, you kind of fall asleep thinking about it. You wake up thinking about it.
[00:12:59] [00:13:00] And you know, once, once it's done, that cloud just goes away and you remember who you were before, um, taking on this endeavor and, um, I've, I'm really grateful for doing it. I would do it all over again. Certainly. Um, but it does feel good to, to have it behind me, that's for sure. Awesome. Well, I'm so glad you had it behind you and just as like an outside observer, you're uh, you know, you're excited At the beginning there was a stretch there where you seemed a little, uh, a little stressed out, but now you seem like a whole new person.
[00:13:31] So it's, it's nice to see you on the other end of that. But it was fun when you first were starting and you're super excited about it. I mean, the whole reason for this podcast was cuz you're so excited about your dissertation and getting into action, re research methodology, and we like, were hiking these beautiful, picturesque.
[00:13:46] Mountains and we just end up talking for like four hours about action research. So, you know, that's just this, that's part of the ups and downs of doing a dissertation. Um, and, and it's really awesome to see that. And the, you know, the journey is as important as the. [00:14:00] Uh, maybe that's not true. I was gonna say the journey is important as a destination, but that's not really true cuz the destination opens doors to new journeys.
[00:14:07] Um, and and that's really cool when hearing you say that, it reminds me of like, um, a little bit of like a conflict that I was constantly grappling with in my, uh, while I was. In the beginning of my program and like those first few years that I was on campus and in coursework and coursework, and I don't know, it's a debatable topic, right?
[00:14:27] But like it often came up in our classes and our doc seminars, etc. This idea of like a good dissertation being a done dissertation. And I certainly think that you can argue both sides of that. I land on this side of, I don't know, like I think this is an experience that you only do once. And granted, you don't wanna take a lifetime to do it, but you're gonna do something like this, take the time to do it right and put in the extra effort, right?
[00:14:57] Like don't just do it to get it done. [00:15:00] Um, for me, I think it's a chance to really. Focus in on something that's clearly important, not just to you, but to other people. And if you're gonna dedicate years of your life to something like that and stress over it and have a great cloud and lose sleep, you might as well produce the best work that you can.
[00:15:20] So, um, well, yeah, I definitely think that the, you know, the journey and the destination are important. When you said that, it just like brought me back to like year two of my doc seminars when, you know, people were just kind of like glossing over the journey a little bit. And, um, in hindsight I would, I would recommend not doing that.
[00:15:41] Yeah. But teaches them, No, I think that's great advice. I mean, you're just on the other side of it, so it's really great to to hear your perspective. What are some other reflections that you have about, you know, for example, action research as a methodology for a dissertation that you wish you would've known from the outset?
[00:15:57] In, in chapter five of my [00:16:00] dissertation, when I was kind of talking about, um, you know, hindsights and recommendations, I, I spoke a little bit about. Not doing action research for a dissertation. And I got a lot of pushback from my committee on that. And I, I don't think that I, it's fair to make such a blanket statement, but I, I think I wanna raise that point more than anything in hindsight would where I was coming from when I said that.
[00:16:30] And it largely had to do with the fact that. And to be clear, I do think that action research is a wonderful methodology to use for dissertation research, but you have to consider certain con the context in which you are bringing that research, that methodology into your research. And for me, I think one of the reasons why action research was a great fit, and I thought about this a lot throughout my whole program and studies, was that [00:17:00] because of.
[00:17:02] Action research, iterative and context specific nature. And it's, it's, uh, the way that, uh, it enforces the importance of relationship building. I was coming into this. Uh, dissertation with an already preexisting action research project, right? So I had already been through various iterations, I had already had the time to, uh, taking the time to build strong relationships and stakeholders that were brought into my study, and I had a strong understanding of the challenge.
[00:17:36] And when I think about how I would have created this study, without those relationships, without that context, Kind of going into the first iteration of a study, it's a little bit daunting to me. So it's just something to consider. Right. Um, and I would really, uh, con and I would really. Encourage, [00:18:00] um, doc students who are thinking about action research to really think about those things, right?
[00:18:04] Like, what is, what is my relationship with the challenge that I've defined and I'm addressing through this study? You know, who are the people that are gonna be part of it? To what extent can I communicate what I'm doing in action research, et cetera. Um, so that was pretty. That was a pretty big, I guess, a foundation for being able to, to justify action research methodology for me.
[00:18:25] Can you rephrase like your final conclusion? Yeah. So, um, I'm, well not really sure what my final conclusion is. I guess, I guess it has to do with the fact that, um, you know, action research is iterative, right? And dissertation research is. It was specific to dissertation. That happens once, right? So, um, if you're gonna consider action research methodology in a dissertation, I think it's important to consider where in that iterative cycle you are [00:19:00] and, um, how your research fits.
[00:19:02] Your dissertation research fits into that methodology. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think that makes sense. So it's like to, to rephrase, And if I understood you correctly, action research could be a wonderful methodology or paradigm for dissertation research, but certain conditions need to be met. Or you need to be really thoughtful about what kind of relationships you're gonna build, where you are in the editor's cycle of a project, what kind of problem you've defined, if it's contextualized or if it's generalized.
[00:19:30] So there are a bunch of considerations. It sounds like to me what you're saying is there are a bunch of considerations that you need to make before you decide to use action research as a dissertation paradigm. Because action research. Is a continuing process. It's not necessarily defined to or constricted or confined to the academic spaces.
[00:19:52] Right. It's, it's embodied, it's an inpractice kind of, uh, methodology. And, and correct me if I'm wrong, but your dissertation [00:20:00] was kind of one iteration of an ongoing action research. Project. Correct? Yeah. It was a very specific, like I, I did a participatory evaluation. That was the method that I used, right?
[00:20:11] So I had been facilitating serve international service learning programs for about almost 10 years leading up to my dissertation and my PhD studies. And if you consider the action research cycle, It was like a small slice of an evaluation of one particular program that built off of all of those years of experience and relationship building and knowledge creation.
[00:20:36] Um, and that, and that really allowed me to focus, focus my dissertation, right? Because a dissertation has to be focused. It can't just be this like all over the place sort of. The messiness that oftentimes we talk about in action research, you have to kind of find a solution for that, at least in the case of your dissertation, right?
[00:20:56] Because there are just traditions that come with dissertation. You've got a [00:21:00] dissertation committee. You know, I had people that were action researches and people understood action research on my committee, but not everybody, you know, and there, and I purposely did that, right, because I wanted my research to be as far reaching as possible, but.
[00:21:13] That creates a little bit of a conflict or a clash when on one hand you've got the messiness of action research and I'm figuring it out and blah, blah, blah. And then on the other hand, you know, you might have, um, an audience that really wants to see some concrete. Data and a concrete research question and like, you know, I had to grapple with that a little bit.
[00:21:34] I had to make an argument for why emergence is okay in an action research dissertation. But that's hard to do when you have to propose exactly how things are supposed to go, quote unquote before you go out there and collect data. Well, that, that contradicts action research methodology because of its inherent emergent nature.
[00:21:54] Right? So there are conflicts that can be created specifically. When you talk about the relationship [00:22:00] of action research and dissertation, you can, if you think about it in the forefront and you talk openly about it with your advisor, I don't think it's a problem, but you kind of have to know what you're getting into, um, with respect to that.
[00:22:11] You know, And, and I want to just add, and, and, you know, not necessarily push back, but add some nuance to that. Uh, as a supervisor who does supervise, uh, a bunch of PhD students who are doing action research because. I think that it's really like your, your experience is really important to share because these, these are things people can run into in different kinds of programs and with different advisors, right?
[00:22:34] Like you had a super supportive advisor and you still ran into some of these challenges. And people who may not have advisors who are supportive could run into challenges similar or, you know, maybe deeper. For, you know, the students that I'm supervising, I just don't want them cuz I'm sure they will listen to this at some point.
[00:22:53] I don't want them to be discouraged by you saying like, Look, I've been working in this field for 10 years. I had all this stuff and that's why I could choose an action research [00:23:00] project. Because as we've discussed on the podcast, if you are, if you have some, uh, activities, relationships, they don't have to be, you know, they, they can be a variety of different kind.
[00:23:14] But if you do have a project that you're trying to see, um, take place to see if it fosters change and then evaluate that change, that can be the grounds for dissertation. Um, so I just wanted to highlight that for, uh, you know, those of, um, my grad students in particular, but maybe other grad students who may be like, Oh, wait, so that means I need to be working for 10 years before I can do an action research project.
[00:23:38] And I don't think you would say that the answer is yes, but I think that your point is a good one. Which is you need to think about like if you're starting from scratch and you need to create entree and you might need to like go into a space to just figure out what's going on. That's probably. The right grounds for an action research project.
[00:23:55] But if you are engaging in a process and a project, you know, maybe because you [00:24:00] have, um, you know, some colleagues who are doing a project or maybe because you have been working on some kind of project for a while or maybe because you have some relationships with people who are who. Working on a project that could be a good grounds for an action research project because you're not doing like an explore exploratory study, which would lend itself more towards qualitative research or ethnography.
[00:24:20] But instead, you are looking at doing action research because you wanna see change happen. You wanna understand how, what's going on with that change. Um, and that change is gonna be, you know, and whatever project is happening is gonna happen with or without the research component. That might be some of the things that.
[00:24:38] Would be helpful for considerations. What do you feel about that as like, uh, generalizing it beyond, you know, cuz your experience is a little bit unique? It's actually not that, I mean it's similar to my experience, but like, you know, I'm now working with a bunch of grad students, um, at the PhD and master's level, uh, who are interested in this paradigm.
[00:24:57] And I don't want them to be discouraged because I think this [00:25:00] is. You know, a powerful paradigm for doing research and engaging in social change. So what do you think about that? I totally agree with you, and I was hoping that was gonna be the angle that you could, that you took. I, I mean, to be clear, the only experience that I really have as it relates to action research in the dissertation is my own.
[00:25:21] Um, so I can only speak in my own experience. And, and for me that was a huge advantage, right? Was ha was like be being able to. Insert my dissertation research in an already preexisting action research cycle. And I think it's important that more PhD students are considering and understanding that action research is a, is a methodology, um, that they can consider.
[00:25:47] And not only is it important, For the sake that, um, you know, it, it, it, it gives doc students a new way of looking at their research. Um, [00:26:00] but it's a shift and a paradigm shift that I think needs to happen in academia as a whole. Um, one of the reasons why, um, I was a little put off and my critical, my critical lens came out really quickly and my doc program is because, There was just so much research going on out there that like was interesting, but I couldn't understand why there wasn't research that was being connected to addressing a social challenge.
[00:26:32] I mean, some argue that was like the whole purpose of, of higher education. So with all this innovative research being done, especially doctoral research, um, if you could. If there were more people, you know, figuring out how to incorporate this methodology into their research, I think that it gives higher education in itself way more credence.
[00:26:55] Um, and it, and it starts to push back on the argument of like, why are we doing [00:27:00] research and the whole academic currency thing and churn churning out research just for the sake of publishing. Um, I think that's, that's something that we need to push back on. And action research is an amazing avenue to do that, right?
[00:27:14] Because one of the things that's cool with action research, even if you're doing, if, if you are just starting and that is your methodology for a dissertation, you are just kicking things off. You can finish your dissertation, you can publish an article along the way, but in practice, given its iterative nature, you're continuing to go back to this complex challenge that is central to your research.
[00:27:35] And then in time you could actually be creating social change. That's a really powerful model. It's an awesome argument for higher education, and it's an awesome argument for doctoral research. Um, so I think it's critical that, um, more doc students are being exposed to this methodology. Um, and just kind of with, uh, the disclaimer that, yeah, like [00:28:00] there, there are important considerations when making that decision.
[00:28:03] Yeah, absolutely. So can you, um, talk a little bit more about your experiences doing action research in a relatively traditional program? Uh, yeah, I mean, I, I, I kind of touched on the fact that like, I felt a little bit like a fish out of water. I was constantly kind of defending myself, right? Like, because a lot of people in this traditional program, there's very conventional, um, attitudes towards, um, what constitutes.
[00:28:31] Research what constitutes data empiricism? The, the extent to which you can push the boundaries for, um, uh, integrating, being, integrating oneself as a researcher with those that you're working with, um, to collect data. You know, I, I'd say that traditionally there's, whether it's quantitative or qualitative, you know, there's more positive is the approach of.
[00:28:59] [00:29:00] Um, research where you've got, uh, there's a defined line right, between being a researcher and a subject of study, and that's a fine line that you can't cross. And, you know, for me, purposely creating part, using participatory methodology to offer voice to those that are most affected by the challenge that I had identified through my research.
[00:29:24] That was a foreign concept and a lot of people, I got pushback, um, oftentimes when I was often left having to defend myself, which I was fine with, um, because I believed in what I was doing. Um, but you know, it did create some doubt at times, right? Where I was like, Man, am I in the right path? Am I doing this right?
[00:29:42] And, um, again, kind of being able to like, thank God I had, um, a team. Supporters, you know, that constantly can take that. Believed in my research and, and pushed it forward and. Just to say too, I also kind of had a realization at some point where, you know, [00:30:00] there's traditional research shouldn't be necessarily to like swept in the rug or push in a corner, right?
[00:30:06] I think there's a ton of value in what, what you and I right now are calling traditional research and there's certainly a place for it in action research, right? Like I did interviews in my dissertation study that was. I think that there's value in incorporating quantitative methodology and a mixed method approach to, um, action research.
[00:30:24] So I, I, I ate a little bit of humble pie as well, um, in that program. Um, so, um, those were kind of like the day to day things that were think that I would think about, whether I was in the classroom or talking to other students in my cohort or, or faculty as well. Awesome. So thinking about all this stuff and all, you know, kind of where you've been, where you ended and, and the journey, is there anything that you would've done differently?
[00:30:54] Um, yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, we talk a lot about, [00:31:00] um, one, one thing that rise to the service is we talk a lot about reflection and action research and, um, it's important and. It's also one of these things that's like kind of hard to grasp, you know, like what it is and what it looks like and how to do it.
[00:31:17] And for me it's always kind of happened organically and because of that somewhat informally, but since again, this is about action research and dissert and dissertations, I kind of wish I had done a better job of capturing. My thoughts and my reflective process and sharing that with my dissertation. But honestly, it's hard to do.
[00:31:39] And I just, it was one of the things that kind of fell through the cracks. I did the best that I could to bring that out, my writing. Um, but that's one thing, you know, I would, I would say to consider, keep in mind as a, as a doc student looking at action research. Um, yeah. Another thing had to do. [00:32:00] Choosing the right program and, um, committee.
[00:32:06] Um, I think as far in my, in my particular, um, journey. Um, I was following the lead of my advisor and I would do it all over again that way because she was so critical to my success and such a big supporter. But, you know, I was also in a program where there wasn't very much, very many, um, peers or people in my cohort studying anything even similar to what I was doing.
[00:32:33] Nothing in the international realm or service learning realm or community partnerships realm. So, It would've been nice to have a little bit of support there. Um, I don't know if I would've necessarily done it different. Um, I would say those are kind of like the two things, but, you know, just throw some, I would, That's one of those things just throwing the category of yeah, like there's challenges and, and you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to overcome the one way or the other.
[00:32:58] But those are kind of the, the initial things that I [00:33:00] would've done differently, I suppose, off the top of my head. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I think that, you know, there's always things, there's always things that, uh, You know, if you knew, but you didn't know at the time. So, you know, um, I don't know if there's anything that you think of, like, Hey, is this for advice for somebody doing this?
[00:33:18] Like, is there something that you now know that you wish you had known when you started? No, not really. I, I, I think that's part of the experience, right? Is having to figure it out as you go. Um, I would say, you know, Do it more than anything. Right. For students who are considering action research for your, uh, dissertation, I'd say go ahead and do it.
[00:33:41] Um, one of the things that was cool for me that kind of emerged through the process was again, like having, um, Experience in the field and then being able to work all the literature and conceptual frameworks and theoretical [00:34:00] frameworks and make sense of them through my experience. So, you know, even if like, you know, like in my case I talked about the years of experience and um, the field of study that I was involved with, but certainly for anybody that maybe perhaps doesn't have that, um, you have experience, I guarantee you that is relevant to your interest.
[00:34:22] And that's why you're in the position that you are. So when you are reading through those frameworks and the literature on the methodology, you know, really try and connect that with your lived experience. Whether it's directly related to the professional work that you, that you have or not. Maybe it's just a passion that led you to what you're exploring right now.
[00:34:45] It's really, it was really cool for me to apply those frameworks, uh, to my live reality. Intentionally awesome. All right. So here's one more question that I think I have for [00:35:00] you. Um, were there any resources that were particularly useful for you when you were doing this action research dissertation? Yep.
[00:35:08] Um, for sure. There were a few that I would love to share with our audience. Um, one, there's a great book by her and Anderson, um, called The Action Research Dissertation, A Guide for Students and Faculty. That was a really awesome resource. It has some really cool chapters on, um, framing your positionality.
[00:35:27] Um, and it was, it was a resource that I kind of, uh, went back to quite a bit throughout the, um, framing of my study. Um, there was also a book, um, by kauflin 2019 called Doing Action Research in your Own Organization. There's, uh, the Sage Encyclopedia of Action Research. Um, Published by Coffin and Brad Miller in 2014, and that's, that was like such a great, uh, resource is encyclopedia with a chapter for every letter in the alphabet where it just goes [00:36:00] over all sorts of action, research terminology and methods.
[00:36:03] And it's pretty, it's like pretty quick read to like search for those and, and gets, you know, basic understanding of certain ideas, um, relate to action research. And then finally, I, I did a, uh, my method was participatory evaluation, um, which was a really cool methodology for evaluating a program that involves the stakeholders in various ways.
[00:36:27] Um, so there was a book called Participatory Evaluation Up Close. An integration of research based knowledge by cousins in Shard, um, that I would also recommend if someone was going down the participatory evaluation realm. And of course, the action research type worked by, uh, Ernie Stringer and, uh, Alfredo Ortiz Agon.
[00:36:47] They just released that new version. Um, and it's a really, really innovative way of framing, uh, action research and would definitely recommend that, um, for any doc student who is, um, considering [00:37:00] action research. You know, I will also say I, it's been really, uh, helpful for me in this podcast to use that to, to ground our discussion oftentimes in these real life examples that I was going through, um, while doing my dissertation research, which is now, uh, at least technically, um, gonna be gonna be behind me.
[00:37:23] Um, but. We've had discussions with our team about this upcoming season, and so I just wanna mention that, um, we're gonna continue to do our best to keep offering those sorts of insights. So at least as well for me personally, I think I'm, you're gonna start hearing me shift a little bit more to talking about Cafe is and the, the real experiences that I'm having here doing action research, um, which would be separate from my dissertation, but I'm also really excited to continue bringing in the members of our.
[00:37:54] Of our team, uh, Vanessa Sheika and Corey, who are all at different phases of their dissertation, and [00:38:00] hopefully keeping this discussion rolling and bringing in like real life, um, lived experiences, um, to share with, uh, our audience. So I just wanted to end this conversation then give a special shout out to Mindy M Gold, who wrote a review of our podcast in the journal Educational Action Research.
[00:38:23] Yeah. Thank you very much. Everybody at the, uh, Educational Action Research Journal team that helped make that happen. She gave us some really great feedback that we're gonna incorporate into our podcast. And one of the things that, uh, Adam mentioned, uh, I don't know if you wanna elaborate on that, was like, she was like, Yeah, it's really helpful to get Adam.
[00:38:40] Journey on his dissertation, but it could also be a little repetitive. So for Mindy, we're not reflecting on Adam's dissertation anymore because he's done . So feedback incorporated, thank you for that. But I really appreciate it and I know Adam and the production team, Vanessa and Chica and Corey did as [00:39:00] well.
[00:39:00] So, uh, we really appreciate the feedback, the positive and the constructive. So, um, just a little shout out. All right. Well thanks everybody for listening. Hope it was, Hope it was insightful.