Role of action research in workplace PhDs

How do you make a mature student into a competent research candidate in their own workplace? And how do you turn that competent research candidate into a PhD graduate who eventually adds new knowledge to research communities via a completed dissertation? This paper offers a useful model for conducting doctoral workplace research that is problem-focused, context-specific and future-oriented. Apart from improving practice, it can also strengthen a candidate’s timeless qualities such as confidence, capacity to think systemically and ability to realise their natural potential to learn. Further, the concepts used in this paper can also be applied to any learning experience.