Action Research Projects: one step ahead in the researcher-practitioner relationships

Mejía-Villa, Andrés; Alfaro, José A.

doi:10.4995/wpom.v8i0.7660

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Action research (Avella & Alfaro, 2014;Erro-Garcés & Alfaro-Tanco, 2020;Marin-Garcia et al, 2018;Mejia-Villa & Alfaro-Tanco, 2017) in a framework of recursive optimization-simulation for mathematical modeling based on discrete events (integer linear programming based on scenarios), with a focus on queuing theory and Markov chains (Belanger et al, 2020;Saez-Mas et al, 2018, 2020 will be proposed. We will develop the basis for the models with tools that are accessible to the heads of cooperating health centers or health systems.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operations Management at the service of health care management: Example of a proposal for action research to plan and schedule health resources in scenarios derived from the COVID-19 outbreak

Marín-García

García-Sabater

Ruiz³

et al. 2020

JIEM

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Purpose: With this work, we intend to promote research on the application of Operations Management tools in order to assist with decision-making in health crisis situations. During the first six weeks of the COVID-19 crisis in Spain, we have contacted a large number of hospital and health department managers in the Valencian Community and other regions of Spain. The result is that very few, at least when contact was made and at the time of writing this article, had consulted staff members in the Operations Management area for advice on this situation, and they are quite reluctant to do so. This is in spite of the fact that some medical sources also consider this crisis to be one of resources, not merely a medical crisis. Our opinion is that Operations Management can make a useful and valuable contribution to anticipate and improve the management of scarce resources, even in times of crisis. If those responsible for public health or heads of hospitals do not see this usefulness, then there is a huge gap between research and practice in Operations Management and what is transmitted to the healthcare sector. Our aim is to help reduce this gap.Design/methodology/approach: In the first part of the article, we will justify that this crisis, besides being a medical crisis, is also a crisis in terms of resources. We will briefly review some of the Operations Management tools that we believe are appropriate for managing this crisis. We will focus on those that we will illustrate in the second part of the article as a practical example of the action research protocol (only the action planning phase), in which we are currently involved.Findings: Due to the peculiarities of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is reasonable to think that the evolution and duration of each outbreak, and the way it is dealt with, will be different in each hospital and/or each health department. Anticipating the number of patients who will require care and forecasting the consumption of resources over time is complex, due to the long and variable incubation times and the uncontrolled evolution of the treatments needed by each patient. Furthermore, since the evolution of new patient admissions is not homogeneous, the forecasting of requirements is difficult. Providing real-time support and detecting with a certain degree of anticipation the potential levels of demand for health care will enable hospitals to define what stages of the contingency plan to apply and how to (re)assign the available resources in the most efficient way possible.Research limitations/implications: Hardly any current data are available, not only publicly, but also through public health ministries and managers; those that are available are not very reliable and come from studies with non-representative samples. For this reason, all forecasts must be taken with a note of caution, and in particular, designing review mechanisms every time a new set of updated reliable data becomes available (something that occurs on a weekly basis).Originality/value: In this work, we will show an example of a proposal for the practical application of Operations Management tools. Our proposal may be useful to hospital managers and public administrators in the healthcare sector (regional ministries or their equivalents). Each health department, hospital or hospital group will generate the aggregate data that facilitate the calculation of needs as input parameters for the model (available and occupied beds, daily admissions, mean lengths of stay in each healing phase and the percent of patients who evolve from one stage to another in the progression of the disease/healing process) and will be able to analyze how the system responds and evaluate different strategies or mitigating actions. These tools have been shown to be useful and reliable in manufacturing and service contexts that show a strong seasonal demand (both occasional and recurring) requiring a great deal of resources. We believe these situations are analogous to those faced by hospitals and the healthcare system in an epidemic like COVID-19. With them, we could facilitate the aggregate planning of resources for hospital administrators in order to provide them operational support during the COVID-19 contingency plan. However, the array of useful tools for this crisis is not limited to those that we will illustrate. Our intent is to encourage the Operations Management academic community to demonstrate how they contribute to the service of society in this COVID-19 epidemic, providing knowledge that can be extrapolated to other similar situations in the future that we may be unfortunate enough to experience.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operations Management at the service of health care management: Example of a proposal for action research to plan and schedule health resources in scenarios derived from the COVID-19 outbreak

Marín-García

García-Sabater

Ruiz³

et al. 2020

JIEM

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show abstract

“…Salah satu hal berat dalam proses pendidikan adalah semakin berkurangnya waktu bagi pendidik untuk merefleksikan secara kritis tentang praktik pendidikan mereka (Hine & Lavery, 2014). Hal ini menjadi tembok penghambat dalam mengembangkan pengetahuan baru dan terapan yang dapat memberi wawasan baru terhadap konten pembelajaran yang diajarkan (Mejía-Villa & Alfaro, 2017). Oleh karena itu, kualitas penelitian dan refleksi bagi guru perlu ditingkatkan agar pengembangan metode pembelajaran dapat dilakukan secara simultan sejalan dengan perkembangan zaman (Vezzosi, 2006).…”

Section: Gambar 1 Analisis Diagram Tulang Ikan Tantangan Pjj Mata Pel...unclassified

Studi Tantangan dan Harapan Guru Geografi untuk Meningkatkan Kualitas Pembelajaran Daring di SMA

Kusmulyono,

Karimah

2022

PSSA

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The pandemic made important difference in the society of education in Indonesia. To protect the safety and health of participants and educators, a significant shift from face-to-face to distant learning is required. This alteration has an impact on participant-educator relationship, making distant learning less effective. One of the main reasons for the long distance learning problem was that the learning model was less inventive and resulted in lower motivation. This study used a qualitative approach to collect data from 34 geography teachers using an open questionnaire to investigate the challenges of remote learning and teachers' expectations for support from the government, school administrators, and geography MGMPs. To incorporate the findings, a thematic analysis was performed. The study's findings show that, aside from information technology, the most significant problem is the difficulty in establishing learning models due to the restricted capacity of human resources in schools.

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Creating New Knowledge while Solving a Relevant Practical Problem: Success Factors for an Action Research-Based PhD Thesis in Business and Management

Alfaro

Mediavilla

Erro‐Garcés

2023

Syst Pract Action Res

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This paper focuses on university–firm relationships in terms of individual interactions between researchers and practitioners. More specifically, we focus on an analysis of the main factors that influence the use of the action research (AR) to achieve a successful doctoral thesis. In order to achieve this, we developed a Delphi study with 15 panelists whose common characteristic is that they defended or supervised an AR-based thesis in the field of business and management. The primary contribution of the research is the development of a reference framework that should be considered in the design of a doctoral thesis for which an AR methodology is put into practice. Four dimensions were defined: profiles of both the PhD candidate and supervisor, PhD program/university, and firm/organization. Three main conclusions were reached. First, it is crucial to have a cooperative “eye-to-eye” relationship between the university and the company. Second, the AR process must respond unequivocally to its own dichotomous nature. Third, there must be a straightforward academic process for the PhD thesis. We believe that this study may impel the development of doctoral theses based on AR as a tool to potentiate collaborative university–firm relationships.

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Action Research Projects: one step ahead in the researcher-practitioner relationships

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Operations Management at the service of health care management: Example of a proposal for action research to plan and schedule health resources in scenarios derived from the COVID-19 outbreak

Operations Management at the service of health care management: Example of a proposal for action research to plan and schedule health resources in scenarios derived from the COVID-19 outbreak

Studi Tantangan dan Harapan Guru Geografi untuk Meningkatkan Kualitas Pembelajaran Daring di SMA

Creating New Knowledge while Solving a Relevant Practical Problem: Success Factors for an Action Research-Based PhD Thesis in Business and Management

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