Why do Reconnect and NAYSS use Action Research?

The value of Action Research in early intervention programs, such as Reconnect and NAYSS, is its capacity to ask questions about how to achieve positive outcomes for participants, seek answers through work practices and then improve those practices on the basis of the insights generated. Action Research aims to be responsive to participants and stakeholders by finding appropriate ways to include them so that the questions, strategies and interpretations of the process are not solely influenced by the service provider.  

Action Research also enables experimentation and flexibility, which is important to the development of services that are responsive to the needs of participants and the community. It can provide management with well‑founded evidence that points to the need for changes and improvement.  In addition, Action Research encourages and enhances relationships with local services responding to the target group, providing opportunities for collaborative strategies in the community. 

In the context of Reconnect and NAYSS, Action Research is concerned with innovation and improvement in service delivery outcomes for clients. 

• Action Research values ‘hunches’ and helps you to explore them in a relevant and useful way - how often have you thought ‘if only we could do …, young people/ schools/ parents would respond so differently’?
• Action Research helps to answer the big questions that are often missed by busy service providers – it encourages you to ask and answer the questions that most help to make your work relevant to you, your clients and other stakeholders.
• Action Research gives a focus to the things people would be doing anyway – it gives a framework for you to understand your agency’s operations.
• Action Research helps to improve practice – Action Research strongly encourages you to take time and think about what you actually do and explore new ways of doing things.
• Action Research makes evaluation easier and more enjoyable - information from Action Research can add colour, character and a new culture to the evaluation process.  It can provide data and case studies to back-up evaluation findings and it encourages groups of people to offer ideas.
• Action Research encourages the sharing of insights and feedback - both among service providers and with the funding body. This assists in identifying and generating the sharing of good practice for Reconnect and NAYSS.