Teaching action research: The role of demographics

This article summarizes a longitudinal study of employed MBA students with particular emphasis on findings involving their choice of action research model to implement personal and organizational change in their environment. A multi-method approach merging both quantitative and qualitative techniques was utilized. A questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions was administered over a three-year period to 261 respondents, of which 243 responses were usable. Comparing the demographic variables of gender, age, country of origin, English proficiency and learning experience with classifications of learning style and choice of AR model, four significant results demonstrating a relationship between the variables were uncovered. Chi-squared analysis confirmed significance for AR model and age (2 (12) = 26.223, p< .05), country of origin (2 (4) = 17.871, p< .05) and English proficiency (2 (4) = 18.335, p< .05), while only English proficiency showed any relationship to learning style (2 (1) = 6.382, 0p< .05). Implications for the teaching of action research and management education are discussed