Abstract
The key example of action research in this chapter was undertaken by the authors from 2001 to 2003 in a large New South Wales non-profit organisation, UnitingCare Burnside, a child welfare agency auspiced by The Uniting Church in Australia. This chapter is a reflection on the action research project with Burnside and addresses the “lessons learned” from small-scale action research projects that aim to initiate organisational change. We have chosen to write a reflection on this study as a way to illustrate to others the viability and limitations of working in a collaborative way with human service organisations with small-scale qualitative studies of their practice and programmes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Burnside. (2000). Annual report 1998/99. North Parramatta, Australia: Uniting Church in Australia.
Coghlan, D., & Brannick, T. (2005). Doing action research in your own organization (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Dolan, P., Canavan, J., & Pinkerton, J. (Eds.). (2006). Family support as reflective practice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishing.
Ferguson, H. (2001). Promoting child protection, welfare and healing: The case of developing best practice. Child & Family Social Work, 6, 1–12.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Glassman, M., Erdem, G., & Bartholomew, M. (2013). Action research and its history as an adult education movement for social change. Adult Education Quarterly, 26, 1–17.
Gray, D. (2013). Doing research in the real world. London: Sage.
Hughes, M., & Wearing, M. (2013). Organisations and management in social work (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Kanter, R. M., Stein, B. A., & Jick, T. D. (1992). The challenge of organizational change. New York: Free Press.
Mann, K., Gordon, K., & MacLeod, A. (2009). Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: A systematic review. Advances in Health Science Education, 14, 595–621.
Mason, J., & Urquhart, R. (2001). Developing a model for participation by children in research on decision making. Children Australia, 26(4), 16–21.
Mason, J., Urquhart, R., & Bolzan, N. (2003). Defining children’s needs in out-of home care: Methods and challenges of a collaborative research project. Children Australia, 28(2), 32–37.
Moxley, D. P., & Manela, R. W. (2000). Agency-based evaluation and organizational change in the human services. Families in Society, 81(3), 316–327.
Munford, R., & Sanders, J. (1999). Supporting families. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
Newman, J. M. (1991). Interwoven conversations: Learning and teaching through critical reflection. Toronto: OISE Press.
Newman, J. M. (1992). Practice-as-inquiry: Teachers reflecting critically. English Quarterly, 24(1), 1.
Penn, H., & Gough, D. (2002). The price of a loaf of bread: Some conceptions of family support. Children and Society, 16, 17–32.
Pounder, D. G. (1998). Restructuring schools for collaboration: Promises and pitfalls. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Reason, P. (1988). Human inquiry in action: Developments in new paradigm research. London: Sage.
Ruch, G. (2005). Relationship-based practice and reflective practice: Holistic approaches to contemporary child care social work. Child & Family Social Work, 10(2), 111–123.
Ruch, G. (2007). Reflective practice in contemporary child-care social work: The role of containment. British Journal of Social Work, 37(4), 659–680.
Schmid, H. (2004). Organization-environment relationships: Theory for management practice in human service organizations. Administration in Social Work, 28(1), 97–113.
Schwartz, R. C. (1995). Internal family systems therapy. New York: The Guilford Press.
Smith, P. R. (1998). How do we understand practice? A qualitative approach. Families in Society, 79(5), 543–552.
Spall, P., & Zetlin, D. (2004). Third sector in transition – A question of sustainability for community sector organizations and the sector? Australian Journal of Social Issues, 39(3), 283–298.
Suarez, F. F., & Oliva, R. (2005). Environmental change and organizational transformation. Industrial and Corporate Change, 14(6), 1017–1041.
Titterton, M. (1999). Training professionals in risk assessment and risk management: What does research tell us? In P. Parsloe (Ed.), Risk assessment in social care and social work (pp. 217–247). London: Jessica Kingsley.
Tomison, A., & Poole, L. (2000). Preventing child abuse and neglect: Australian audit on prevention. Melbourne: The Institute of Family Studies.
Urquhart, R. (2013). Intellectually gifted children’s friendships: A qualitative and interpretive approach to their life-worlds. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
Urquhart, R., & Wearing, M. (2001). Is child abuse prevention in the front-line possible? Paper presented at the Social Policy Research Centre Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. New York: SUNY Books.
Van Manen, M. (1995). The epistemology of reflective practice. Teachers and Teaching, 1(1), 33–55.
Wadsworth, Y. (1998). What is participatory action research? Action Research International. Accessed August 14, 2000 at http://www.scu.edu.au/scholls/sawd/ari/ari-wadsworth.html
Wearing, M. (1998). Working in community services. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Wearing, M. (2010). Strengthening youth citizenship and social inclusion practice? The Australian case: Towards rights based and inclusive practice in services for marginalized young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(4), 534–540.
Wearing, M. (2015). The ‘experiential bond’- The impact of research on at risk youth: The relational and ethical challenges of qualitative research. In S. Bastien & H. Holmarsdottir (Eds.), Youth at the margins: Experiences from engaging youth worldwide. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Wearing, M., & Edwards, M. (2003, July). The voice of front-line workers in family support work: A qualitative study of early intervention in child abuse and neglect. Research Report No 2. North Parramatta, Australia: UnitingCare Burnside.
Wearing, M., & Gibson, C. (2004). Better versus good intensive family work? Presentation at Intensive Family Services 5th National Practice Symposium.
Webb, S. A. (2001). Some considerations on the validity of evidence-based practice in social work. British Journal of Social Work, 31, 57–79.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Winter, R., & Munn-Giddings, C. (2013). A handbook for action research in health and social care. London: Routledge.
Zeller-Berkman, S. (2007). Peering in: A look into reflective practices in youth participatory research. Children, Youth and Environments, 17(2), 315–328.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Urquhart, R., Wearing, M. (2017). Organisational Change in Non-Profit Human Services: Reflections on a Collaborative Action Research Approach to Working with Child, Youth, and Family Organisations. In: Rowell, L., Bruce, C., Shosh, J., Riel, M. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40523-4_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40523-4_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-44108-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40523-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)