The relationship of action research to human-computer interaction
Abstract
Alongside the growing interest within HCI, and arguably computing more generally, in conducting research that has substantial societal benefits, there is a need for new ways to think about and to articulate the challenges of these engaged research projects as well as their results. Action Research (AR) is a class of methods and approaches for conducting democratic and collaborative research with community partners. AR has evolved over the last several decades and offers HCI researchers theoretical lenses, methodological approaches, and pragmatic guidance for conducting socially relevant, collaborative, and engaged research. In this article, I describe the historical context and origins of AR, the scientifically rigorous practice of conducting and evaluating AR projects, and the ways in which AR might meaningfully be applied to HCI research.
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Researchers have sought to empower data workers and center their agency in driving transformative political changes, in line with HCI/CSCW tradition.
“In line with the longstanding tradition in HCI and CSCW to advocate for methodologies that center communities’ perspectives [31, 76], needs and capabilities [59, 60, 144], researchers have also sought to empower data workers and center their agency in driving transformative political changes.”
From 'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment (2026) · cites this paper as [59]
Cites
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Lewin, K. (1946) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1946.tb02295.x · Cited by 6,554 · see citing works
New theoretical approaches for human‐computer interaction
Rogers, Y. (2004) · Annual Review of Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/aris.1440380103 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
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Veale, M., Van Kleek, M., & Binns, R. (2018) · Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3173574.3174014 · Cited by 490 · see citing works
“This assumption sits particularly uncomfortably with the value attributed to participatory design and action research in HCI and information systems [33, 6].”
BackgroundDo Datasets Have Politics? Disciplinary Values in Computer Vision Dataset Development
Scheuerman, M. K., Hanna, A., & Denton, R. (2021) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3476058 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Toward situated interventions for algorithmic equity: lessons from the field
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The Who in XAI: How AI Background Shapes Perceptions of AI Explanations
Ehsan, U., Passi, S., Liao, Q. V., Chan, L., Lee, I.-H., Muller, M., & Riedl, M. O. (2024) · Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642474 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
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“Action research, like as related to human computer interaction by Hayes (2011), provides another lens for community interaction in terms of accountability and shared credit for results.”
BackgroundEagle, T., Baltaxe-Admony, L. B., & Ringland, K. E. (2024) · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing · doi:10.1145/3689648 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Methods such as action research [44, 73], co-design and participatory design [20, 27, 42, 43, 101], and community-collaborative approaches [50] have gained popularity in recent years as the HCI assistive tech community focuses on the amplification of community-driven knowledge.”
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The Making of Performative Accuracy in AI Training: Precision Labor and Its Consequences
Zhang, B. Z., Yang, T., Miceli, M., Haimson, O. L., & Thomas, M. (2025) · Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3706598.3713112 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment
Kapania, S., Yang, T., Abdelkadir, N. A., Scheuerman, M. K., Miceli, M., Taylor, A. S., & Fox, S. E. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791097 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“In line with the longstanding tradition in HCI and CSCW to advocate for methodologies that center communities’ perspectives [31, 76], needs and capabilities [59, 60, 144], researchers have also sought to empower data workers and center their agency in driving transformative political changes.”
- Authors
- Hayes, G. R.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hayes, Gillian R.
- ORCID
- Hayes, Gillian R.
- Venue
- ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
- Published
- 2011-07
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1-20
- ISSN
- 1073-0516 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-7325
- OpenAlex
- W2170857744
- Cited by
- 452
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 40.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (121661, 846063)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
- Keywords
- action research, human-computer interaction, engaged research, community partnerships, research collaboration, research evaluation, democratic research, history of action research
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