Teaching Action Research

TL;DR

This paper discusses how to teach action research methodology in software engineering, emphasizing its role in addressing empirical gaps and facilitating research-practice transfer through educational strategies at various academic levels.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of teaching action research, including theoretical foundations and practical examples across bachelor, master, and PhD programs.

Findings

Action research enhances empirical results in software engineering.

Teaching methods vary across educational levels.

Practical examples aid understanding of action research principles.

Abstract

Action research entered into software engineering as one of the responses to the software engineering research crisis at the end of the last millennium. As one of the challenges in the crisis was the lack of empirical results and the transfer of research results into practices, action research could address these challenges. It is a methodology where collaboration and host organizations are the focus of knowledge discovery, development, and documentation. Although the method is often well received in industrial contexts, it isn't easy to learn as it requires experience and varies from organization to organization. This chapter describes the pillars of action research as a methodology and how to teach them. The chapter includes examples of teaching action research at the bachelor, master, and PhD levels. In addition to theory, the chapter contains examples from practice.