Cooperative action research

Cooperative action research is a research approach characterized by a double movement of enterprise and thought, associating research with action, leading to the production of knowledge of a dual nature: practical and scientific. As participatory action, it involves collaboration between cooperative members and researchers in carrying out the research. For cooperatives, action research is a practice that can contribute to their social and economic development.

For Jean-François Draperi, heir to Henri Desroche, a proponent of action research, this tradition is fundamental in the social economy, because “dissociated, the enterprise movement and the thought movement no longer make sense: deprived of its theoretical critique, of its confrontation with values, the enterprise becomes trivialized; deprived of experimentation, of confrontation with reality, thought sclerotizes or is reduced to an artifact” (2007, p. 68).

From this perspective, this research component aims to better understand the practices (implementation methods) and contributions of this approach in a cooperative context. What action research practices are being used in cooperatives? What challenges faced by cooperatives do action research approaches address? How? What relationships are built between cooperative members and researchers? How do these approaches contribute to social and economic development? Which cooperatives use this approach to develop? What practices exist around the world?