SECTION FOUR CHALLENGES AND TROUBLESHOOTING
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1. 24 Removing barriers to responsiveness Why do some people find it hard to respond to Action Research s more flexible approach You might find it valuable to use an Action Research process to explore some questions about this Do the key players have the knowledge and skills required to work in this particular cultural way Are they committed to this approach What is their degree of choice about you using this approach Is this approach compatible with their preferences Habits Values Have they had an opportunity to think through the impact of using this approach How much is this approach going to affect their work To what extent can they have power over the manner in which the approach is implemented Treating people s fears seriously and addressing their discomfort with doing things differently can help remove barriers to Action Research If you are really stuck with a lot of resistance to change as a first step try a dramatic change of physical environment Even changing desks so you see the world from a different angle might help Close the service for a day or two so you can actively reflect on the Reconnect service rather than slipping into a downward spiral Quixley 1997 p 46 _ 4 4 a _ gt e Po RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT A similar problem can occur if an organisation does not have a pre existing culture of learning Quixley 1997 p2. 43 Action Research fits far better into an organisation that is comfortable with workers communicating easily with other people than in an organisation that likes to insist it has the answers Improving practice is in part an empowering process It allows staff clients and others involved with the service to talk openly about what is done how it is done and what is necessary to do it better Making Action Research a core part of practice creates opportunities to develop an organisational culture of learning endorsed and accepted by workers and management To achieve this it will probably be necessary to keep management well informed of program requirements As well you will need to demonstrate positive outcomes and involve management in Action Research as partners A medium to long term view is often needed if significant issues of organisational culture are involved It can be especially important to make sure management understands Action Research is a required part of the service agreement that it involves a significant amount of workers time and attention particularly when the necessary skills and systems are being established It is important to recognise that if these approaches are completely new to your organisation time will be needed to educate key organisational players about an Action Research approach to service development examine the relationship between organisational and Action Resear
3. feel this should dictate the style for Action Research Certainly traditional research strategies can be very useful in answering certain kinds of questions But as Action Research aims to improve practice traditional research can only feed into and should not dictate Action Research processes If you use consultants or advisers to help you with your Action Research be aware that they may not see Action Research as a stakeholder driven process The Youth Homelessness Pilot Programme evaluation found that some external consultants tended to develop Action Research questions which were analytical rather than action oriented Quixley 1998 p 24 RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT Managing information and data NOW WHAT DO WE D07 Action Research generates a lot of information and keeping track of it can become a major preoccupation that distracts you from the main purpose of your research The key is to have a simple and effective system that is accessible to all the people involved Creating systems that work Before you start have a clear view about what you need to do to properly document your information and data This includes working out how it will be presented in what form and how long it will be for example a typical case study is 100 to 200 words Create a workable system that several people can use This could involve a simple filing cabinet that becomes a central place for all the data from whatev
4. A KIT m RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH i Po SECTION FOUR CHALLENGES AND TROUBLESHOOTING In implementing Action Research it is quite possible that you will come up against some significant barriers This section draws on some existing resources Many of the barriers were encountered by the Youth Homelessness Pilot services Also Quixley 1997 pp 41 47 1998 pp 23 31 provides some insights into the barriers and suggests some strategies to overcome them In particular her Learnings and Future Applications 1998 more often referred to as The Action Research Commentary identifies a number of them Making assumptions about Commonwealth expectations Service concerns that their Commonwealth funding would be at risk if they significantly changed their service delivery approach Being concerned about this is understandable given services are bound by service funding agreements These agreements involve considerable detail about the way a service will operate to reach program outcomes However this does not mean that the service delivery approach cannot be changed In fact for Reconnect the funding agreements include Action Research as a way of bringing about better understandings and improved practices While the Reconnect Program operates within a framework underpinned by good practice principles there is flexibility for Reconnect services and their co researchers to feel free to explore what good practice means in their context
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6. Action Research is a core part of the Reconnect Program and well founded change is not only okay but also central to the program s implementation Building Action Research Finding Action Research daunting because there seems to be so much extra work involved The full implications of using participatory Action Research can be daunting because developing an Action Research approach may require substantial shifts in how we think and operate individually and as organisations Importantly you will need to allow a reasonable time for a coherent local approach to develop Strategies to help deal with the larger implications of Action Research include combining different methods to gain information For instance the Reconnect Program provides written resources as well as training and mentoring and an interactive web site where people can ask other service providers for information ideas or strategies RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT You could also start with a small number of fairly specific questions and gather data by making minimal changes to existing processes And you can start with just a small group of stakeholders and build on from there Setting priorities and timing Insufficient time or pressures to prioritise service delivery over Action Research YOU WOULDN T BE DISTRACTED IF WE COUNTED DOWN TO THE DEADLINE TOGETHER NOW WOULD YOU Time is a precious and limited resource Inevitably you will face tensions over the
7. ESEARCH KIT co CTIO s c B this is not just based on a hunch but on good evidence This may also require involving and educating key people about your Action Research project The idea is to get them to use their influence in areas where there is strong resistance to change Concern about practicality lack of resources to comprehensively develop newly discovered strategic options Sometimes exploring a particular Action Research question will point to answers or strategies that will potentially call on time and resources that you simply don t have This could be because you have uncovered some significant service issues that go beyond the scope of your Reconnect strategy like drastically changing your systems However there are ways to achieve change that can be less resource intensive or make innovative use of existing resources Being creative with what you have and arguing for new systems are not mutually exclusive They often go hand in hand Concern about who is responsible for what is found some groups players not liking what Action Research finds and what this means for them personally their organisation and the community This is also linked to the issues of practicality and resources When big issues emerge it can be difficult to find someone who wants to take responsibility And it can be a bit confronting when Action Research reveals a significant amount of change is needed especially when not everyone accepts th
8. cause it gives you a better chance to understand them and find out what is behind the resistance Resistance to change can come from a number of sources Suspicion fear other groups who have had less involvement may not fully understand the issues and the need for change t is not always possible to identify all stakeholders especially in the first stages of inquiry This is an issue of involvement and ownership people groups who feel left out may try to prevent strategic change until they have a better idea of what is going on The key here is to underpin Reconnect strategies with a culture that values openness and inclusion Reassuring people that you genuinely want their input and involvement is an important feature of reducing people s suspicions and the fear that you are going behind their backs We know better or it s the way things have always been done within various communities there are cultural and or psychological constraints on change This is where having a good evidence base really makes a difference To use a clich it can be hard for some people to think outside the square They may have a history or tradition of operating in a certain way and they don t want to let it go The systematic nature of Action Research inquiry may help you to demonstrate that strategic change would in fact be better than leaving things the way they are and that ll ms 4 6 _ _ _ _ CN RE NNECT ACTI N R
9. ch values and decide how to deal with any tensions identify existing evaluation service development tools that work well and build on these in the way you approach Action Research and develop an Action Research system It is critical that whilst you actively pursue this type of development process you don t move so fast that key organisational players have insufficient ownership of the outcomes In a situation like this it might be useful to employ an external facilitator consultant to work through these processes with you Quixley 1997 p 43 It can also be useful to make Action Research an extension of other processes you already use such as quality assurance processes and client feedback systems to work out how they can be adjusted to contribute to Action Research In this way Action Research may be seen as a tool for improving the service s development rather than as a completely new set of demands RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT Dealing with resistance to change BIG DEAL WHY DON T YOU BURN IT BURY IT OR SHRED IT EUREKA LOOK I VE DISCOVERED A NEW WAY Carrying out Action Research may help to break down some obvious long standing areas of resistance or blocks particularly in the reflection stages Blocks may come from individuals or they can be based in service models in whole communities in institutions or in policies That these blocks are recognised is a good thing be
10. er sites are involved And to encourage spontaneous and new ideas perhaps you could set up a special suggestion box or a notice board Whatever you decide to do make sure your approach makes it easy to access the information you need to keep people up to date on what is happening for instance at a fortnightly Action Research meeting or at your staff meetings Sometimes projects end up with huge quantities of irrelevant data because they are exploring too many questions at once It is usually best to focus on about two macro questions and two micro questions at a time AS n a CTA RUE NNECT ACTI N RESEARCH KIT co E E o S E i _ Po Another way of keeping data management simple is to make acommitment not to change research questions for a full cycle to only review how useful questions are at each planning phase when they can be made either more general or more specific Quixley 1998 Remember to keep your data in an appropriate place and to be aware that if it includes any sensitive material that it should be stored securely To keep the paperwork down it is worth destroying data from time to time And after any interpretations are concluded presented and confirmed only keep the summaries and the outcome reports For more information see Section Five which has tools and proformas that may help you to develop effective information management systems A RECONNECT ACTION RESE
11. ice it may feel like a lot of extra effort rather than a core part of normal service delivery It took around 18 months for Action Research ideas and processes to really become part of the Youth Homelessness Pilot Programme s organisational and individual practices In the meantime many people found the approach separate from normal practice and often tedious RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT Part of the solution to this was to make that situation itself a subject of Action Research What would it take for our Action Research to become as integrated as possible into everyday practice What processes do we need to use to get there Another part of the solution is to give yourself time to get used to Action Research for example by identifying the resources you need interacting with others in the same position and practising with small local questions Committing to Action Research We like it but others find it less responsive Some workers found that while they became enthusiastic about Action Research others did not Action Research requires the involvement and commitment of a range of people On occasions some Youth Homelessness Pilot services found that stakeholders with the power to direct or significantly influence the development of the service actively resisted attempts to function in a flexible creative manner which valued the expertise of all stakeholders including parents and or young people Quixley 1998 p 23
12. is Often it is easier to put the emphasis elsewhere even if this is not the whole picture It is essential not to see systemic change as the only answer to complexity In any case this can be beyond your capacity or outside the scope of your Reconnect strategy Using multiple cycles can help to make things clearer because you can break up complex issues into a number of more focused questions You may also not be ready to tackle difficult issues head on especially if the other key players are not happy about the role they have to play in promoting change Again this is about taking the time to build relationships and to keep emphasising to other stakeholders what key values and goals you share that is promoting the well being of young people and their families and building an early intervention capacity in your community Working together with other people at a variety of levels to achieve your Action Research goals means responsibility for change is shared across groups and not dumped on one sector or system Lack of confidence in the research a mistrust of research itself or a lack of credibility given to Action Research qualitative methods Action Research is still a mystery for many people They may not readily accept your Action Research findings because they are not based on traditional research There are no easy answers here RECONNECT ACTION RESEARCH KIT But Action Research is rigorous and it does provide wel
13. l founded evidence It forms a very legitimate base for inquiring into and exploring a range of issues in your practice and in your community The key is communicating this to others who are sceptical Paying attention to and demonstrating rigour will give you a strong basis for arguing that your findings are credible and valid There is a range of resources which help explain Action Research to people especially people who have misgivings about anything with research in the title For more information about the resources see Section Six As well involving people in Action Research processes can help them to understand more about it This can often increase their confidence in the capacity of this kind of research to explore and respond to issues that confront them their organisations communities and other systems Dealing with resistance to change is about taking things slowly It takes time to develop trust and build relationships It also takes time to find and demonstrate evidence that says change is needed In Quixley 1998 there is a useful discussion about change and the nature of resistance Because of the culture of the Reconnect Program it is likely that services and their communities will be more willing to share insights and strategies as part of their Action Research processes especially in relation to resistance to change I think Action Research has the potential to reduce resistance to change substantially by
14. rate critical way within existing meeting structures An early emphasis on putting systems in place is likely to pay off in the long term Two types of systems would be useful 1 Processes that reduce the pressures that distract attention from Action Research Examples Systems to ensure that you have negotiated realistic workloads based on sound time analysis can reduce the pressures on developmental work enormously in the short and long term Systems which establish opportunities to educate and involve people in service development can pre empt possible barriers down the track 2 Processes that establish the central role of Action Research in the service Examples Allocating key facilitation and documentation roles particularly amongst staff makes this a clear part of their duties These can be included in job descriptions Even if these tasks are shared it is important to articulate clearly who is doing what When Establishment of explicit time and space to pursue service development including Action Research activities is an important way of acknowledging the place of these activities as core functions of your Pilot Formal organisational recognition of processes established can also be a useful means of engaging Management Committees with the culture of learning and change Quixley 1997 p 41 42 Developing Action Research skills and processes Action Research is new to some or all of the people in our serv
15. suggest seeing someone in their own territory they might be more prepared to be part of a meeting Or they may be happy to talk over the phone for half an hour rather than meet in person As well people need to know that their contribution is valued There is more chance they will participate in future if you keep them up to date on issues and progress And if you adopt another idea rather than theirs you need to explain why Some suggestions for encouraging participation in your Action Research include Always do what you say and when you say you ll do it Follow up every key interaction formally or informally Actively acknowledge all contributions You can even do things like send out updates with your work Christmas cards As well understand that stakeholders can be highly committed people but they don t always share your priorities and concerns So focus on people s specific interests Don t expect them to sit around for a three hour meeting that spends five minutes on their pet topic In fact several short and focused meetings with small groups are usually more efficient than long meetings with large groups Quixley 1997 p 46 Separating conventional research from Action Research Although Action Research practices are not entirely different to the more traditional research methods there is a danger that some staff and managers and other people involved in Reconnect services may have skills in traditional research and
16. time spent on both direct service delivery and on Action Research In the Youth Homelessness Pilot services single worker projects found this a particular problem They often felt they risked credibility if they had to make a choice between being open or closed Quality Action Research takes time Within the context of Reconnect taking time to implement Action Research is quite legitimate At first you will have to spend time working out how Action Research will become a part of your service You will also need to take the time to educate and engage the stakeholders develop systems and just get used to how Action Research feels You will gradually be able to incorporate elements of the Action Research cycles into service delivery so that there is less tension between these two parts of your practice So it is worth setting aside enough time to develop your Action Research processes d _ 4 2 _ _ _ ee RE NNECT ACTI N RESEAR H KIT co C o S E i Po It is important that clearly negotiated and legitimised organisational space is allowed for service development including Action Research to occur This has been identified as part of good practice This should be actively supported by both staff and management You will probably need to establish new ways for people to come together you ll invariably find you keep not quite having the time to discuss service development issues in a delibe
17. using small perhaps incremental steps as trial actions Often the results speak for themselves and the resistance collapses A Youth Homelessness Pilot service Dealing with resistance to participation In developing a local approach to Action Research participation is crucial and if possible it should increase as the research processes develop However it is one thing to want participation but quite another to achieve it There are powerful practical and ethical constraints on clients participating in Action Research Not surprisingly they are usually focused on their own problems and difficulties When working with other services there can also be constraints to do with what they do the people they deal with and how they operate In some cases for instance it just may not be appropriate or possible for all the stakeholders to be involved in every Action Research process However it is important for you to keep giving people opportunities to participate This helps to shift some of the constraints over time o 4 8 x ek H KIT RECONNECT ACTION RESEARC nn Actions rather than words the key to participation People s willingness to participate is more likely to be changed by demonstrations of success rather than theoretical arguments that is by action rather than words Participation can often be built into everyday practice as well as highlighted in events and processes For instance if you
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