ORIGINAL PAPER Creating Action Research Quality in Organization Development: Rigorous, Reflective and Relevant David Coghlan • A. B. Shani Published online: 14 November 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract The purpose of the paper is to present a framework that enables action researchers to create quality action research projects within the organization development (OD) domain using the broad criteria of being rigorous, reflective and relevant and so contribute to the realm of practical knowing. What constitutes good quality action research within OD is a difficult question, given the broad range of approaches that operates in a wide variety of settings and with great diversity. It advances specific dimensions by which action researchers can create, review and assess quality in action research work. This integrative framework and criteria are practical tools to enable action researchers to create quality action research in OD. Keywords Action research Á Organization development Á Quality creation Á Practical knowing Introduction What constitutes good quality action research within organization development (OD)? What criteria might action researchers use to create and deliver a project? These are not easy questions to answer as there is no consensus on any one answer. Indeed there may be disagreement. This is because there is no single version of action research where one set of criteria might be considered definitive. Action research is considered to be a family of D. Coghlan (&) School of Business, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland e-mail: David.Coghlan@tcd.ie; dcoghlan@tcd.ie A. B. Shani Orfalea College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA e-mail: ashani@calpoly.edu A. B. Shani Department of Management, Economic & Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy 123 Syst Pract Action Res (2014) 27:523–536 DOI 10.1007/s11213-013-9311-y