Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Methods and Designs

Historical Perspective

After World War II there were strong and well-deserved feelings against notions of totalitarianism of any kind, and there was profound interest in creating democratic social environments in many parts of the world. In this context the social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1946,1948) considered ways to improve programs intended to assist the most troubled or deprived populations in the United States (Beattie, 1989). Although influenced by the work of others, Lewin is most often credited for creating the idea of practitioner action research, or what he called action research, to be used collectively by community workers as a strategy for solving problems. As Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) explain, “It was tried in contexts as diverse ...