I. What do I need to know? : What is action research? -- Who can do action research? -- The underpinning assumptions of action research -- Where did action research come from and where is it now? -- II. Why do I need to know? -- Why do action research? -- Learning to improve practice -- Contributing to new theory -- Evaluating your research -- III. How do I find out? : Action planning: planning and designing your action research -- Engaging with the literatures -- Doing action research: carrying out your action plan -- IV. How do I generate evidence to support my claim to knowledge? : Monitoring practice and looking for data -- Gathering, sorting and storing data -- Turning the data into evidence -- V. How do I test and critique my knowledge? : Testing the validity of your claims to knowledge -- Establishing the legitimacy of your claims to knowledge -- Engaging with the politics of knowledge -- VI. How do I represent and disseminate my knowledge? : Telling your research story -- Writing a workplace report -- Writing a report for higher degree accreditation -- Publishing and disseminating your research -- VII. How do I show the significance of my knowledge? : Explaining the significance of your research -- Developing new epistemologies for workplace cultures of enquiry

1. Action research