Action research and evaluation
ANROWS supports a range of organisations to undertake action research and evaluation to find out what works in preventing and responding to family violence and violence against women.
Evaluation and action research resources
Action research is a method that helps to better understand specific social issues, and to find out what works and what can be improved in community projects and practice.
Action research is a collaborative process, encouraging participants, practitioners and community members to contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of a project. The active participation of diverse communities promotes innovative, empowering and context-specific solutions to issues in the community.
Action research works in a cycle of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. This cycle can be repeated as many times as you choose, with the reflections from the previous cycle informing the planning of the next project cycle. This gives practitioners the opportunity to test and refine their approach to find what works best (Wicks, Reason, & Bradbury, 2008).
ANROWS has compiled a selection of resources for researchers, community workers and others working on evaluation and action research projects, including webinars, evaluation tools, guides to ethical research and other related links.