Utopia Made Practical? Action Research Comes of Age Bob Dick Review Essay: Peter Reason & Hilary Bradbury (Eds.) (2001). Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. London: Sage, xiii + 468 pages, ISBN 0 7619 6645 (hardcover) £75.- Abstract: This large and important work gathers together an enormous variety of action research processes, applications and skills in its 45 chapters. Following a useful section of chapter outlines and an introduction by the editors, a section on "Groundings" offers a number of value and epistemological positions. This is followed in turn by three other sections and a conclusion. "Prac- tices" provides descriptions of many of the varieties of action research. "Exemplars" contains case studies. "Skills" offers readers a glimpse of some of the competencies action researchers draw on in their work. The quality of the individual chapters is high. In the introduction and conclusions the editors describe their purpose, identify some themes, and offer a commentary which points towards a way forward for action research. The result is a rich collation of current thinking about a family of action oriented research approaches which is growing in popularity. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Description 3. Major Themes 4. Themes for the Future 5. Minor Themes 6. Some Personal Reactions 7. Conclusions References Author Citation 1. Introduction As I write this, Western aircraft are raining destruction on Afghanistan in retaliation for the tragedy of the World Trade Center. Against this backdrop it is not difficult to understand the idealism and hints of utopianism which colour some of the chapters of this valuable collection. At the same time it might easily be thought that action research has promised much but has not yet delivered enough to forestall such tragedies. It is perhaps understandable that a defensive posture against modernist science can occasionally be discerned. [1] But this is too narrow a view. What follows is a broader appreciation of the handbook. I begin with a description of this large piece of work. Then, in turn, I © 2002 FQS http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/ Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research (ISSN 1438-5627) Volume 3, No. 1, Art. 22 January 2002 FORUM: QUALITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH SOZIALFORSCHUNG Key words: action research, collaborative re- search, emergent research, theory, practice, praxis, emancipation, participation, relationships, rigour, anti- reductionism, quality of research