STEPHEN A. SMALL AND LYNET UTTAL University of Wisconsin—Madison Action-Oriented Research: Strategies for Engaged Scholarship Action-oriented research is a methodological approach for doing collaborative research with practitioners and community partners that can inform practice, programs, community devel- opment, and policy while contributing to the scientific knowledge base. This article discusses how family scholars can use action-oriented research to work together with community part- ners to address their need for useful informa- tion about their practices and programs. We present some practical strategies that can help guide the action-oriented research process including how to develop collaborative rela- tionships with community partners; suggestions for determining sound, action-oriented research questions; guidelines for selecting and imple- menting appropriate research designs; and considerations regarding data collection and the dissemination of findings. Over the past decade, interest has increased on the part of social science scholars, including those in the family sciences, to conduct research that can be directly applied to social problems and issues faced by individuals, local communi- ties, organizations, practitioners, and policymakers (Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, 2000). This inter- est grows not only from a desire by scholars to conduct research that has greater applicability and responsiveness to contemporary social is- sues but also results from external pressures from funders, university administrators, and taxpayers for institutions of higher education to become more accountable to the needs of the local communities in which they are located (Lerner & Simon, 1998). Because of differences between the research that academic faculty usu- ally conduct and train their graduate students to do, and the research and information needs of communities and practitioners, developing collaborative, productive research relationships between academic and community partners can often be challenging. In response to the conven- tional view of basic research in the social and behavioral sciences that has dominated acade- mia over the past half century (Boyer, 1990), a growing group of scholars is asking how they can engage in research that both has value to local communities and legitimacy within the academic arena (Cancian, 1993). In this article, we provide a brief overview of the common principles of action-oriented research and discuss strategies for developing and maintaining productive, action-oriented research projects between academic and com- munity partners. Academic partners typically come from an institution of higher education and might include faculty, extension specialists, academic staff, and graduate students. Commu- nity partners may be representatives from a com- munity agency, program, or center who are advocating for or providing programs or ser- vices to (or both) a particular group or clientele, as well as members of a community who might be directly affected by the collaborative project. Department of Human Development & Family Studies, 1430 Linden Drive, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI 53706 (sasmall@wisc.edu). Key Words: action-oriented research, action research, applied research, community-based research, engaged uni- versity, university-community partnerships. 936 Journal of Marriage and Family 67 (November 2005): 936–948