Appraising Quality in Action Research in Healthcare Settings

Abstract

Criteria for establishing the quality of action research is of increasing interest to researchers and practitioners however, it is not known how well these criteria are used. This review addresses this issue by appraising extant measures that assess quality in action research. Taking Coghlan and Shani’s (2014, 2018) four quality factors: context, quality of relationships, quality of the action process and outcomes, this scoping review examines if and how these factors have featured as quality criteria. While all studies included in this review reported on the four quality factors, no study reported in any detail on how any of the factors were integrated with one another. Findings therefore highlight a significant gap in the monitoring and reporting on the quality of action research studies. Addressing these gaps will support the development of future action research aimed at mitigating the lack of quality associated with action research approaches.