The reflexive practitioner: knowledge discovery through action research

This chapter aims to set out relevant discourse and approaches to consider when planning strategies for acquiring and building knowledge for formal ontology construction. Action Research (AR) is offered as a key means to help structure the necessary reflexivity required to enrich the researcher’s understanding of how they know what they know, particularly within a collaborative research setting. This is especially necessary when revealing tacit domain knowledge through participation with actors and stakeholders: “In this kind of research it is permissible to be openly normative and to strive for change, but not to neglect critical reflection” (Elfors & Svane 2008, 1).