Sociology of action research in public administration: a methodological critique
- 40(2), Apr-Jun 1994, p.117-33
The author critically examines methodological and epistemological leasis of action research against the background of its potential policy relevance to problem solving in public administration and other sociological fields. He argues that while action research has significant promise in sociological research, its attempt to synthesise interpretative methodologies with positivism is misdirected and ultimately an impossible objective.As an alternative, he proposes application of Weberian methodology of construction of ideal types as the most relevant epistemological basis of action research through Weberian ideal type construction has its own problems,which the author notes, yet to him the methodology has the cap