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Reason and Bradbury(2e)-Prelims.qxd9/24/20075:51 PMPage xiiPrefaceWelcome to the second edition of the Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry andPractice!This volume, published five years after the original Handbook, builds on the original workand extends it. Because most of the material in the first edition will continue to be available inthe ‘concise paperback edition’ (Reason and Bradbury, 2006), we have put together a collection of all new material. Some chapters are revisions and developments of key chapters in thefirst edition (Gaventa and Cornwall, Chapter 11; Schein, Chapter 18) or completely new articulations (Kemmis, Chapter 8). In other chapters we address similar themes and issues to thefirst edition, but have invited different authors to address them in order to provide a differentperspective (e.g. Swantz, Chapter 2; Rahman, Chapter 3; Ison, Chapter 9; Gergen and Gergen,Chapter 10). We have added some important practices that were omitted from the first edition(e.g. Chambers on Participatory Rural Appraisal and related approaches, Chapter 20; Pedlerand Burgoyne on Action Learning, Chapter 21; Wakeford et al. on Citizen’s Jury, Chapter 22).Finally, we have chosen both a completely new set of exemplars which demonstrate significant developments in quality since the first edition and extended the section of skills.In editing we have actively tried to develop four important themes which we thought underdeveloped in the first edition. First, we have attempted to show more fully the interrelationshipof a wide range of ideas and practices in which action research is grounded. Chapter 1, organized primarily by Patricia Gayá Wicks, introduces what we think is a strong Groundingssection by drawing on accounts provided by the Handbook Editorial Board of the range of theoretical and practical influences on their practice.Second, we have attempted to contribute to the active debate about the scope and scale ofaction research, which we began in the first edition (particularly with the chapters byGustavsen and Martin) and which has been carried forward in particular in the pages of thejournal Concepts and Transformations (now the International Journal of Action Research; seeVolume 8(1) and 8(3)). In this volume Swantz, Rahman, Gustavsen, Brown and Tandon,Martin, Wakeford, Stringer, and Mead in their different ways address issues that arise whenaction research is taken beyond the face-to-face group in an attempt to have an impact at aregional, national or international level. While in important contrast, Heron and Lahood,Mullett, Chowns, Chiu, Johns, McArdle and others demonstrate that if we wish to do work ofsignificance and to influence changes in society toward justice and democracy, we not onlyneed to build large-scale networks of inquiry but also to engage in transformations of consciousness and behaviour at personal and interpersonal levels. While it is true that we cannotmake large-scale change on the basis of small cases, neither can we build truly effective andliberating political networks of inquiry without developing significant capacities for criticalinquiry in the individuals and small communities that constitute them.Third, we have recognized the importance of non-propositional, presentational forms ofknowing in action research. The theme of voice and audience is foregrounded by Fine andTorre (Chapter 27), with particular emphasis on how we may speak out from a participativeinquiry process to a wider audience and influence a range of stakeholders; the nature of

Reason and Bradbury(2e)-Prelims.qxd9/24/20075:51 PMPREFACEPage xiiiXIIIpresentational knowing in an extended epistemology is explored by Heron and Reason(Chapter 24); Chambers points to how visual and tangible ways of expressing knowing can beempowering (Chapter 20); the use of presentational forms is exemplified by Mullett (Chapter30), Guhathakurta (Chapter 35), Kowlaski (Chapter 34); and the need to find appropriate formin writing explored by Marshall (Chapter 48).Fourth and finally we have addressed the question of skills and education of actionresearchers. As Morten Levin argues in this volume, ‘No other role in social science demandsa broader spectrum of capacities bridging practical problem solving, reflective, and analyticalthinking than that of an action researcher’. The final section of this volume addresses some ofthe personal, interpersonal, and political abilities that are demanded of an action researcher.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSOur thanks must go to all those who have contributed to putting this volume together: To theEditorial Board for helping us think through what was needed for this revised volume and supporting our editorial work. To the contributors for their willingness to work closely with usthrough the process of draft and re-draft, for reviewing each others’ chapters thoroughly andcreatively, for taking the comments and criticisms of their own writing seriously and responding thoughtfully. To the participants and co-researchers in action research endeavours aroundthe planet who have been part of the learning reflected here; a few of them are recognized inthis volume as co-authors, but of course many remain unnamed. We are grateful for the helpwe have received from Kiren Shoman, Anne Summers, Katherine Haw and the editorial andproduction teams at Sage London, who have been responsive and efficient at all times. And wewish to appreciate each other and our efficient, supportive and where necessary challengingtrans-Atlantic and pretty much ‘virtual’ relationship.As with the first edition, we hope that the production of this work has been congruent withthe action research philosophies and practices we espouse.Peter writes:I am enormously grateful for my friends, colleagues and students (and these roles are oftenindistinguishable!) who are associated with the Centre for Action Research in ProfessionalPractice at the University of Bath. We do seem to have developed a genuine community oflearning and practice which has some quite extensive influences both in the theory of actionresearch and its practice and of which I am extremely proud. I am also grateful to the collaborative relationships with action researchers and others all round the world with whom I feelclose through the curious phenomenon of the internet, and with whom I feel close connectionsas we develop this work of action research together.Thank you to my extended family, who continue to bring with their love and nurture a quality of intellectual and emotional conversation. In particular I greet my grandchildren withdelight, gratitude and enormous love: Otto, Liberty, Nathaniel and Aiden. Thank you also tomy network of friendships, some new, some forged over 60 years.My primary concern these days is for the state of the ecology of Planet Earth and for thechallenges to her integrity coming from anthropogenic climate change, species extinction, anddegradation of eco-systems everywhere. I am shocked by the speed with which these issues ofsustainability have grown in significance over recent years and even months, as more evidencefrom the scientific communities becomes available and as the human community continues toevidence its inability to respond. Ten years ago I was concerned; now I am seriously alarmed.

Reason and Bradbury(2e)-Prelims.qxdxiv9/24/20075:51 PMPage xivPREFACEThere are many practical things we can do to lessen our impact on ecosystems, but I do notbelieve we will be able to move into a sound relationship with planetary ecosystems until werecognize that we humans are participants in the life of the planet, members of the communityof beings. I hope that the participatory ethos expressed throughout this volume plays some partin influencing this essential shift in worldview.Hilary writes:Though written last, a preface is read first. It’s therefore an ideal punctuation point at which tomarvel over the Handbook and express the gratitude that arises.My gratitude goes first to Peter. It astounds me how much we accomplish, how easily andwith how much grace and humor. When we first started out as collaborators, on the firstHandbook of Action Research, I did not understand just how unusual productive partnershipactually is. And in all these years of working with such a maestro I have also learned, in theway one just does when learning in a context of practice, how to be a better partner and hopefully a better editor and a better action researcher. We have learned to create space for eachother’s contributions while also aiding each other in articulating what was sometimes inchoate.Our commitment and conscientiousness has led to real insight and better practice for me. I hopewe still have some more innovations left to complete as a duo. Thank you Peter for being agifted teacher, colleague and Bodhisattva.Thank you to George Roth, Phil Mirvis, Bill Pasmore and Eric Neilsen who were my buddies in chapter writing. In holding you all as knowing so much more than I, I could ask questions I have been noodling for years. In writing I therefore could share some of the things Ihave also learned with and from you. I hope our readers will find it as useful for their own practice and understanding.Through the editorial work for the Handbooks and the Journal, the community of actionresearch has become a real community for me. I am simply stating a happy fact when I say thatall my friends are action researchers! Happily many of those I have met through the virtualwork of editing have also become real people for me. I especially love it when visitors fromdistant communities of action research – say from Australia – arrive in Los Angeles and we getto have lunch and discuss upcoming chapters and papers! I have truly appreciated the alacrityof all writers in the ‘exemplars’ chapters to which I devoted most of my energies. I thank youall for being flexible and responsive. To my task as editor, I brought my genuine interest inlearning from you. I hope I communicated that in asking those questions of your work that Ineeded to have answered for my own practice, all readers would also, hopefully, benefit. I lookforward to testing that assumption in the next few years with the graduate students to whom Iassign the book in class (and who happily never seem that reluctant to share their opinions!).Editing means getting to read what I might not otherwise have read. My own practice is thatmuch richer as a result. I bring improvements to my work at the University of SouthernCalifornia where we seek to engage business leaders in creating innovations in the world of sustainable development so that their own comp

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