A researcher's self-reflection of the facilitation and evaluation of an action research project within the Swedish social and care context

The AR’s (Lewin, 1946) assumption was that human beings exist in life spaces through interaction, and communication, and that knowledge development is the result of changes in cognitive structures through communication and involvement in research processes. And further, from the construction of new knowledge gained by learning from each other, comes the presumption to change. The participation is described as "citizen power" (Arnstein, 1969), which means being included in the development process. The degree of citizen power is based on partnership, delegated power and citizen control. All these steps are positioned at the highest level when ranking participation. Partnership means engaging and negotiating with the high level decision makers. The result of delegated power is apparent when the negotiations result in achieving leading decisions that influence a particular plan or programme.