Abductive Reasoning as the Integrating Mechanism between First- Second- and Third-Person Practice in Action Research

David Coghlan () and Abraham B. (Rami) Shani ()
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David Coghlan: University of Dublin, Trinity College
Abraham B. (Rami) Shani: California Polytechnic State University

Systemic Practice and Action Research, 2021, vol. 34, issue 4, No 6, 463-474

Abstract: Abstract Action research has long adopted an integrative approach to research as incorporating three inquiries and voices: the first-person voice of individuals inquiring into their own thinking and learning, the second- person inquiry into the collaborative engagements between the actors as co-researchers and the third-person contribution to knowledge for a wider audience. Third-person theory seeks to integrate among the first- and second-person practices, linking the subjective dynamics of action and inquiry (within the first-person), the intersubjective collaborative dynamics of action and inquiry (between second-persons engaged with one another) and the outcome of actionable knowledge (among a collection of third-persons-and-things at a distance from and often anonymous-to-one another). Drawing on Peirce’s articulation of abductive reasoning this article explores how abductive reasoning serves as the integrating mechanism between first-, second- and third-person practice and informs both the theory of how theory is generated through first- and second-person practices.

Keywords: Action research; Abductive reasoning; Theory generation in present tense (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s11213-020-09542-9

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