Through the Eye of a Fly: Action Research as a Support for the South African National Literacy Campaign

An Analysis of Newspaper Depictions of Schooling: a Participatory Study for the Development of a Teacher Education Curriculum

“…Although the process of content analysis is generally perceived as a technique belonging to the realms of the “scientific” positivist research, and from this perspective is often criticized for involving subjective judgements (Abercrombie et al 1984 :52), we, however, negate this and argue that the interpretation of data does not generate “invalid” data, but rather allows the data to develop through the researchers’ engagement with the text and personal interpretation in relation to the context. Hence we argue that our use of the method of content analysis is heavily steeped in a non-realist tradition in which validity is not measured in terms of the reflection of the “real” but in terms of the way in which (new) meanings can be extracted from the text (McKay 1990 , 2018a ).…”

“…In this sense, the Habermasian emancipatory interest, with knowledge being constituted as discursive and dialogical and guided by reflection, is action oriented (McKay 2018a ). As McKay and Romm ( 2008 :153) argue, “active action” research enables decision makers to become more attuned to public considerations to provide opportunities for systemic changes.…”

“…As McKay and Romm ( 2008 :153) argue, “active action” research enables decision makers to become more attuned to public considerations to provide opportunities for systemic changes. Following this argument, the reflection on the media gives rise to praxis which, as McKay ( 2018a ) explains, is derived from “reflection + action = praxis”, where praxis refers to informed, committed action accompanied by reflection and action.…”