Practitioner Driven Action Research…Created by a Practitioner, for Practitioners!

Practitioner Driven Action Research (PDAR) focuses on immediate problem-solving and driving practitioners towards adopting action-driven outcomes grounded in Action Research.

Practitioners across the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) enterprise routinely engage in tackling complex organizational problems and operational deficiencies daily. Although not part of any formal creed or special operations ethos, the old saying of “if you want it done right, may as well do it yourself” resonates across the cultural mindset of the special operations enterprise. Being prepared to engage, observe, anticipate, and respond to operational challenges swiftly can put into motion successful interventions to address both short- and long-term problems. Action Research is a practitioner-driven research approach that is problem-centric and action-oriented. It simultaneously engages scientific research, problem-solving, and active learning to foster innovation and change into organizations. The task of designing and executing any research project can be quite daunting to practitioners with little or no academic research acumen. These concerns led to researching and creating a practitioner-driven framework grounded in Action Research to assist practitioners in approaching immediate problem-solving more as “practitioner-researchers.” This framework is called the Practitioner Driven Action Research (PDAR) and was designed, field-tested, and then validated during a yearlong USSOCOM Action Research project to improve an operational deficiency related to military cyberspace operations. The creation of PDAR focused on addressing two questions; RQ1: What practitioner developed artifact can be constructed to help USSOCOM approach immediate problem solving more as practitioner-researchers? RQ2: How can the artifact help bridge academia and practice within USSOCOM?

Authors: Michael Donahue

Link: https://doi.org/10.28945/4587

Cite as: Donahue, M. (2020). Practitioner driven action research…Created by a practitioner, for practitioners! Muma Business Review 4(11). 119-121. https://doi.org/10.28945/4587