Applying theory to practice: an action research resource pack for professionals

“Action research is an activity that involves studying social systems by changing them.” [J Adv Nurs 33 (2001) 652].

Practitioners in the field have considerable experience and insight into the problems confronting their profession. This depth of experience, grounded as it is in the day-to-day challenges faced in clinical practice, is a valuable, yet largely untapped, resource.If research is to address the problems encountered by chiropractors in the ‘real world’ of clinical practice, practitioners will need to become much more involved in the research process.Action research is a methodology ideally suited to the practice setting, concerned as it is with critically evaluating and documenting change in practice, processes and procedures, offering chiropractors the opportunity to undertake research in the ‘practice laboratory’ and, through publication, add to the knowledge base of the profession.With the advent of mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) in the UK, chiropractors are now required to document their learning systematically in the form of reflective learning cycles. This type of experiential learning also underpins action research, enabling chiropractors, through a series of learning cycles, to develop their experiential learning into an action research project that, on publication, allows dissemination of their findings to a wider audience.The action research resource pack introduced practitioners to the subject; detail the principles underpinning the methodology and outlines, systematically, how to undertake an action research project.