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While any of the action methods overviewed so far can be considered appropriate for conducting advocacy research, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Action research as social justice research becomes advocacy when the project extends beyond data collection and analysis to answer research questions that also change the current status of conditions impacting teaching, learning, and working. Here, ethics are of the utmost importance, and reciprocity between researcher and participants is emphasized through dialogically based research methods to avoid exploitation. This chapter addresses strategies and avenues for using action research as a path for change and advocacy, drawing upon Augusto Boal's participatory theater strategies for difficult dialogues, in that a focus on ethics involves mutually educative dialogue, reciprocal reflexivity, and intersubjectivity (Alexander & Mohanty, 2010; Boal, 1985, 1992; Brouwer, Mulder, Nigten, & Martz, 2005; Butler, 2005; Dill & Zambrana, 2009; Fischer, 2010; Lykes & Coquillon, 2006).

DOI: 10.1057/9781137046635_10

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