Proposition phase
Action research starts with the simple notion — ‘let's do such and such, and see what happens’ — a proposition.
In a first person inquiry such as this one, the proposition may be mundane and obvious, how do I lose weight? How do I get on better with the people at work? How do I get fit? Or more general, how do I live better from love?
For second person, cooperative inquiry, agreeing the proposition is the first order of business, what do we as small group of people want to improve, resolve, discover? This is a face to face matter of brainstorming options and negatiation, of finding a question that focuses energy and commitment.
For third person inquiries those involving communities entail a similar process of developing propositions but are likely to require one or more facilitators to hold the intentions of the community process.
The Proposition phase of an action research inquiry leads to an Action phase.