a model of action research

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Action Research

Introduction.

• General Overviews
• Reference Works
• Traditional Action Research
• Participatory Action Research
• Feminist Participatory Action Research
• Practitioner Centered Action Research
• Community-Based Participatory Research
• Action Science
• Power and Control
• Reflexivity
• Relationship with Practitioners
• Academic Rigor
• Ethical Research
• Challenges Gaining Approval from an IRB
• Training and Professional Development
• Dissemination

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Action Research by Geoffrey Maruyama , Martin Van Boekel LAST REVIEWED: 30 January 2014 LAST MODIFIED: 30 January 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0149

Unlike many areas of psychology, “action research” does not possess a single definition or evoke a single meaning for all researchers. Most action research links back to work initiated by a group of researchers led by Kurt Lewin (see Lewin 1946 and Lewin 1951 , both cited under Definition ). Lewin is widely viewed as the “father” of action research. Lewin is certainly deserving of that recognition, for conceptually driven research done by Lewin and colleagues before and during World War II addressed a range of practical issues while also helping to develop theories of attitude change. The work was guided by Lewin’s field theory. Part of what makes Lewin’s work so compelling and what has led to different variations of action research is his focus on action research as a philosophy about research as a vehicle for creating social advancement and change. He viewed action research as collaborative and engaging practitioners and policymakers in sustainable partnerships that address critical societal issues. At about the time that Lewin and his group were developing their perspective on action research, similar work was being conducted by Bion and colleagues in the British Isles (see Rapoport 1970 , cited under Definition ), again tied to World War II and issues like personnel selection and emotional impacts of war and incarceration. That work led to creation of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, which has sustained a focus on action research throughout the postwar era of experimental (social) psychology. This article’s focus, however, will stay largely with Lewin and the action research traditions his writings and work created. Those include many variations of action research, most notably participatory action research and community-based participatory research. Cassell and Johnson 2006 (cited under Definition ) describe different types of action research and the epistemologies and assumptions that underlie them, which helps explain how different traditions and approaches have developed.

Lewin 1946 described action research as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action, and research leading to social action” (p. 203), clearly engaged, change-oriented work. Lewin also went on to say, “Above all, it will have to include laboratory and field-experiments in social change” (p. 203). Post-positivist and constructivist researchers who draw their roots from Lewin should acknowledge his underlying positivist bent. They tend to focus more on his characterizing research objectives as being of two types: identifying general laws of behavior, and diagnosing specific situations. Much academic research has focused on identifying general laws and ignored the local conditions that shape outcomes, paying little attention to specific situations. In contrast, Lewin argued for the combining of “experts in theory,” researchers, with “experts in practice,” practitioners and others familiar with local conditions and how they can affect plans and theories, in order to understand the setting and to design studies likely to be effective. A fundamental part of action research that appeals to all variants of action research is building partnerships with practitioners, which Lewin 1946 described as “the delicate task of building productive, hard-hitting teams with practitioners . . .” (p. 211). These partnerships according to Lewin need to survive through several cycles of planning, action, and fact-finding. As action research has evolved and “split” into the streams mentioned in the initial section of this article, it has been interpreted in different ways, typically tied to how researchers interact with and share responsibility throughout the research process with practitioners ( Aguinis 1993 ).

Aguinis, H. 1993. Action research and scientific method: Presumed discrepancies and actual similarities. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 29.4: 416–431.

DOI: 10.1177/0021886393294003

Suggests that action research is application of the scientific method and fact-finding to applied settings, done in collaboration with partners. Views action research and the traditional scientific approaches not as discrepant as often they are made out to be. Does a good job of presenting historical development of action research, including perspectives of others contrasting action research and traditional experimental research, as well as presenting his perspective.

Cassell, C., and P. Johnson. 2006. Action research: Explaining the diversity. Human Relations 54.6: 783–814.

DOI: 10.1177/0018726706067080

This article outlines five categories of action research. Each category is discussed in terms of the underlying philosophical assumptions and the research techniques utilized. Importantly, the authors discuss the difficulties in using one set of criteria to evaluate the success of an action research approach, proposing that due to the different philosophical assumptions different criteria must be used.

Lewin, K. 1946. Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues 2:34–46.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1946.tb02295.x

This article includes Lewin’s original definition of action research listed above, as well as addressing the different research objectives, studying general laws and diagnosing specific situations. This article also appears as chapter 13 in K. Lewin, Resolving Social Conflicts (New York: Harper, 1948), pp. 201–216. Resolving Social Conflicts also was republished in 1997 (reprinted 2000) by the American Psychological Association in a single volume along with Field Theory in Social Science .

Lewin, K. 1951. Field theory in social science: Collected theoretical papers . Edited by D. Cartwright. New York: Harper.

Papers in this volume rarely address action research directly, but lay the groundwork for it through field theory, which recognizes that behavior results from the interaction of individuals and environments, B = f(P, E). To explain and change behaviors, researchers need to develop and understand general laws and apply them to specific situations and individuals. The book is a compilation of his papers, with edits done by Dorwin (Doc) Cartwright after Lewin’s death.

Rapoport, R. N. 1970. Three dilemmas of action research. Human Relations 23:499–513.

Rapoport provides excellent historical background on the work of Bion and colleagues, which led to creation of the Tavistock Institute. Describes links between Lewin’s Group Dynamics center and Tavistock. Describes action research as a professional relationship and not service.

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education, community-building and change

What is action research and how do we do it?

In this article, we explore the development of some different traditions of action research and provide an introductory guide to the literature.

Contents : what is action research ·  origins · the decline and rediscovery of action research · undertaking action research · conclusion · further reading · how to cite this article . see, also: research for practice ., what is action research.

In the literature, discussion of action research tends to fall into two distinctive camps. The British tradition – especially that linked to education – tends to view action research as research-oriented toward the enhancement of direct practice. For example, Carr and Kemmis provide a classic definition:

Action research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out (Carr and Kemmis 1986: 162).

Many people are drawn to this understanding of action research because it is firmly located in the realm of the practitioner – it is tied to self-reflection. As a way of working it is very close to the notion of reflective practice coined by Donald Schön (1983).

The second tradition, perhaps more widely approached within the social welfare field – and most certainly the broader understanding in the USA is of action research as ‘the systematic collection of information that is designed to bring about social change’ (Bogdan and Biklen 1992: 223). Bogdan and Biklen continue by saying that its practitioners marshal evidence or data to expose unjust practices or environmental dangers and recommend actions for change. In many respects, for them, it is linked into traditions of citizen’s action and community organizing. The practitioner is actively involved in the cause for which the research is conducted. For others, it is such commitment is a necessary part of being a practitioner or member of a community of practice. Thus, various projects designed to enhance practice within youth work, for example, such as the detached work reported on by Goetschius and Tash (1967) could be talked of as action research.

Kurt Lewin is generally credited as the person who coined the term ‘action research’:

The research needed for social practice can best be characterized as research for social management or social engineering. It is a type of action-research, a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action, and research leading to social action. Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice (Lewin 1946, reproduced in Lewin 1948: 202-3)

His approach involves a spiral of steps, ‘each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action’ ( ibid. : 206). The basic cycle involves the following:

This is how Lewin describes the initial cycle:

The first step then is to examine the idea carefully in the light of the means available. Frequently more fact-finding about the situation is required. If this first period of planning is successful, two items emerge: namely, “an overall plan” of how to reach the objective and secondly, a decision in regard to the first step of action. Usually this planning has also somewhat modified the original idea. ( ibid. : 205)

The next step is ‘composed of a circle of planning, executing, and reconnaissance or fact-finding for the purpose of evaluating the results of the second step, and preparing the rational basis for planning the third step, and for perhaps modifying again the overall plan’ ( ibid. : 206). What we can see here is an approach to research that is oriented to problem-solving in social and organizational settings, and that has a form that parallels Dewey’s conception of learning from experience.

The approach, as presented, does take a fairly sequential form – and it is open to a literal interpretation. Following it can lead to practice that is ‘correct’ rather than ‘good’ – as we will see. It can also be argued that the model itself places insufficient emphasis on analysis at key points. Elliott (1991: 70), for example, believed that the basic model allows those who use it to assume that the ‘general idea’ can be fixed in advance, ‘that “reconnaissance” is merely fact-finding, and that “implementation” is a fairly straightforward process’. As might be expected there was some questioning as to whether this was ‘real’ research. There were questions around action research’s partisan nature – the fact that it served particular causes.

The decline and rediscovery of action research

Action research did suffer a decline in favour during the 1960s because of its association with radical political activism (Stringer 2007: 9). There were, and are, questions concerning its rigour, and the training of those undertaking it. However, as Bogdan and Biklen (1992: 223) point out, research is a frame of mind – ‘a perspective that people take toward objects and activities’. Once we have satisfied ourselves that the collection of information is systematic and that any interpretations made have a proper regard for satisfying truth claims, then much of the critique aimed at action research disappears. In some of Lewin’s earlier work on action research (e.g. Lewin and Grabbe 1945), there was a tension between providing a rational basis for change through research, and the recognition that individuals are constrained in their ability to change by their cultural and social perceptions, and the systems of which they are a part. Having ‘correct knowledge’ does not of itself lead to change, attention also needs to be paid to the ‘matrix of cultural and psychic forces’ through which the subject is constituted (Winter 1987: 48).

Subsequently, action research has gained a significant foothold both within the realm of community-based, and participatory action research; and as a form of practice-oriented to the improvement of educative encounters (e.g. Carr and Kemmis 1986).

Exhibit 1: Stringer on community-based action research

A fundamental premise of community-based action research is that it commences with an interest in the problems of a group, a community, or an organization. Its purpose is to assist people in extending their understanding of their situation and thus resolving problems that confront them….

Community-based action research is always enacted through an explicit set of social values. In modern, democratic social contexts, it is seen as a process of inquiry that has the following characteristics:

• It is democratic , enabling the participation of all people.

• It is equitable , acknowledging people’s equality of worth.

• It is liberating , providing freedom from oppressive, debilitating conditions.

• It is life enhancing , enabling the expression of people’s full human potential.

(Stringer 1999: 9-10)

Undertaking action research

As Thomas (2017: 154) put it, the central aim is change, ‘and the emphasis is on problem-solving in whatever way is appropriate’. It can be seen as a conversation rather more than a technique (McNiff et. al. ). It is about people ‘thinking for themselves and making their own choices, asking themselves what they should do and accepting the consequences of their own actions’ (Thomas 2009: 113).

The action research process works through three basic phases:

Look -building a picture and gathering information. When evaluating we define and describe the problem to be investigated and the context in which it is set. We also describe what all the participants (educators, group members, managers etc.) have been doing.

Think – interpreting and explaining. When evaluating we analyse and interpret the situation. We reflect on what participants have been doing. We look at areas of success and any deficiencies, issues or problems.

Act – resolving issues and problems. In evaluation we judge the worth, effectiveness, appropriateness, and outcomes of those activities. We act to formulate solutions to any problems. (Stringer 1999: 18; 43-44;160)

The use of action research to deepen and develop classroom practice has grown into a strong tradition of practice (one of the first examples being the work of Stephen Corey in 1949). For some, there is an insistence that action research must be collaborative and entail groupwork.

Action research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of those practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out… The approach is only action research when it is collaborative, though it is important to realise that action research of the group is achieved through the critically examined action of individual group members. (Kemmis and McTaggart 1988: 5-6)

Just why it must be collective is open to some question and debate (Webb 1996), but there is an important point here concerning the commitments and orientations of those involved in action research.

One of the legacies Kurt Lewin left us is the ‘action research spiral’ – and with it there is the danger that action research becomes little more than a procedure. It is a mistake, according to McTaggart (1996: 248) to think that following the action research spiral constitutes ‘doing action research’. He continues, ‘Action research is not a ‘method’ or a ‘procedure’ for research but a series of commitments to observe and problematize through practice a series of principles for conducting social enquiry’. It is his argument that Lewin has been misunderstood or, rather, misused. When set in historical context, while Lewin does talk about action research as a method, he is stressing a contrast between this form of interpretative practice and more traditional empirical-analytic research. The notion of a spiral may be a useful teaching device – but it is all too easy to slip into using it as the template for practice (McTaggart 1996: 249).

Further reading

This select, annotated bibliography has been designed to give a flavour of the possibilities of action research and includes some useful guides to practice. As ever, if you have suggestions about areas or specific texts for inclusion, I’d like to hear from you.

Explorations of action research

Atweh, B., Kemmis, S. and Weeks, P. (eds.) (1998) Action Research in Practice: Partnership for Social Justice in Education, London: Routledge. Presents a collection of stories from action research projects in schools and a university. The book begins with theme chapters discussing action research, social justice and partnerships in research. The case study chapters cover topics such as: school environment – how to make a school a healthier place to be; parents – how to involve them more in decision-making; students as action researchers; gender – how to promote gender equity in schools; writing up action research projects.

Carr, W. and Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical. Education, knowledge and action research , Lewes: Falmer. Influential book that provides a good account of ‘action research’ in education. Chapters on teachers, researchers and curriculum; the natural scientific view of educational theory and practice; the interpretative view of educational theory and practice; theory and practice – redefining the problem; a critical approach to theory and practice; towards a critical educational science; action research as critical education science; educational research, educational reform and the role of the profession.

Carson, T. R. and Sumara, D. J. (ed.) (1997) Action Research as a Living Practice , New York: Peter Lang. 140 pages. Book draws on a wide range of sources to develop an understanding of action research. Explores action research as a lived practice, ‘that asks the researcher to not only investigate the subject at hand but, as well, to provide some account of the way in which the investigation both shapes and is shaped by the investigator.

Dadds, M. (1995) Passionate Enquiry and School Development. A story about action research , London: Falmer. 192 + ix pages. Examines three action research studies undertaken by a teacher and how they related to work in school – how she did the research, the problems she experienced, her feelings, the impact on her feelings and ideas, and some of the outcomes. In his introduction, John Elliot comments that the book is ‘the most readable, thoughtful, and detailed study of the potential of action-research in professional education that I have read’.

Ghaye, T. and Wakefield, P. (eds.) CARN Critical Conversations. Book one: the role of the self in action , Bournemouth: Hyde Publications. 146 + xiii pages. Collection of five pieces from the Classroom Action Research Network. Chapters on: dialectical forms; graduate medical education – research’s outer limits; democratic education; managing action research; writing up.

McNiff, J. (1993) Teaching as Learning: An Action Research Approach , London: Routledge. Argues that educational knowledge is created by individual teachers as they attempt to express their own values in their professional lives. Sets out familiar action research model: identifying a problem, devising, implementing and evaluating a solution and modifying practice. Includes advice on how working in this way can aid the professional development of action researcher and practitioner.

Quigley, B. A. and Kuhne, G. W. (eds.) (1997) Creating Practical Knowledge Through Action Research, San Fransisco: Jossey Bass. Guide to action research that outlines the action research process, provides a project planner, and presents examples to show how action research can yield improvements in six different settings, including a hospital, a university and a literacy education program.

Plummer, G. and Edwards, G. (eds.) CARN Critical Conversations. Book two: dimensions of action research – people, practice and power , Bournemouth: Hyde Publications. 142 + xvii pages. Collection of five pieces from the Classroom Action Research Network. Chapters on: exchanging letters and collaborative research; diary writing; personal and professional learning – on teaching and self-knowledge; anti-racist approaches; psychodynamic group theory in action research.

Whyte, W. F. (ed.) (1991) Participatory Action Research , Newbury Park: Sage. 247 pages. Chapters explore the development of participatory action research and its relation with action science and examine its usages in various agricultural and industrial settings

Zuber-Skerritt, O. (ed.) (1996) New Directions in Action Research , London; Falmer Press. 266 + xii pages. A useful collection that explores principles and procedures for critical action research; problems and suggested solutions; and postmodernism and critical action research.

Action research guides

Coghlan, D. and Brannick, D. (2000) Doing Action Research in your own Organization, London: Sage. 128 pages. Popular introduction. Part one covers the basics of action research including the action research cycle, the role of the ‘insider’ action researcher and the complexities of undertaking action research within your own organisation. Part two looks at the implementation of the action research project (including managing internal politics and the ethics and politics of action research). New edition due late 2004.

Elliot, J. (1991) Action Research for Educational Change , Buckingham: Open University Press. 163 + x pages Collection of various articles written by Elliot in which he develops his own particular interpretation of action research as a form of teacher professional development. In some ways close to a form of ‘reflective practice’. Chapter 6, ‘A practical guide to action research’ – builds a staged model on Lewin’s work and on developments by writers such as Kemmis.

Johnson, A. P. (2007) A short guide to action research 3e. Allyn and Bacon. Popular step by step guide for master’s work.

Macintyre, C. (2002) The Art of the Action Research in the Classroom , London: David Fulton. 138 pages. Includes sections on action research, the role of literature, formulating a research question, gathering data, analysing data and writing a dissertation. Useful and readable guide for students.

McNiff, J., Whitehead, J., Lomax, P. (2003) You and Your Action Research Project , London: Routledge. Practical guidance on doing an action research project.Takes the practitioner-researcher through the various stages of a project. Each section of the book is supported by case studies

Stringer, E. T. (2007) Action Research: A handbook for practitioners 3e , Newbury Park, ca.: Sage. 304 pages. Sets community-based action research in context and develops a model. Chapters on information gathering, interpretation, resolving issues; legitimacy etc. See, also Stringer’s (2003) Action Research in Education , Prentice-Hall.

Winter, R. (1989) Learning From Experience. Principles and practice in action research , Lewes: Falmer Press. 200 + 10 pages. Introduces the idea of action research; the basic process; theoretical issues; and provides six principles for the conduct of action research. Includes examples of action research. Further chapters on from principles to practice; the learner’s experience; and research topics and personal interests.

Action research in informal education

Usher, R., Bryant, I. and Johnston, R. (1997) Adult Education and the Postmodern Challenge. Learning beyond the limits , London: Routledge. 248 + xvi pages. Has some interesting chapters that relate to action research: on reflective practice; changing paradigms and traditions of research; new approaches to research; writing and learning about research.

Other references

Bogdan, R. and Biklen, S. K. (1992) Qualitative Research For Education , Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Goetschius, G. and Tash, J. (1967) Working with the Unattached , London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

McTaggart, R. (1996) ‘Issues for participatory action researchers’ in O. Zuber-Skerritt (ed.) New Directions in Action Research , London: Falmer Press.

McNiff, J., Lomax, P. and Whitehead, J. (2003) You and Your Action Research Project 2e. London: Routledge.

Thomas, G. (2017). How to do your Research Project. A guide for students in education and applied social sciences . 3e. London: Sage.

Acknowledgements : spiral by Michèle C. | flickr ccbyncnd2 licence

How to cite this article : Smith, M. K. (1996; 2001, 2007, 2017) What is action research and how do we do it?’, The encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education. [ https://infed.org/mobi/action-research/ . Retrieved: insert date] .

© Mark K. Smith 1996; 2001, 2007, 2017

Last Updated on December 7, 2020 by infed.org

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Action Research: What it is, Stages & Examples

The best way to get things accomplished is to do it yourself. This statement is utilized in corporations, community projects, and national governments. These organizations are relying on action research to cope with their continuously changing and unstable environments as they function in a more interdependent world.

In practical educational contexts, this involves using systematic inquiry and reflective practice to address real-world challenges, improve teaching and learning, enhance student engagement, and drive positive changes within the educational system.

This post outlines the definition of action research, its stages, and some examples.

Content Index

What is action research?

Stages of action research, the steps to conducting action research, examples of action research, advantages and disadvantages of action research.

Action research is a strategy that tries to find realistic solutions to organizations’ difficulties and issues. It is similar to applied research.

Action research refers basically learning by doing. First, a problem is identified, then some actions are taken to address it, then how well the efforts worked are measured, and if the results are not satisfactory, the steps are applied again.

It can be put into three different groups:

• Positivist: This type of research is also called “classical action research.” It considers research a social experiment. This research is used to test theories in the actual world.
• Interpretive: This kind of research is called “contemporary action research.” It thinks that business reality is socially made, and when doing this research, it focuses on the details of local and organizational factors.
• Critical: This action research cycle takes a critical reflection approach to corporate systems and tries to enhance them.

All research is about learning new things. Collaborative action research contributes knowledge based on investigations in particular and frequently useful circumstances. It starts with identifying a problem. After that, the research process is followed by the below stages:

Stage 1: Plan

For an action research project to go well, the researcher needs to plan it well. After coming up with an educational research topic or question after a research study, the first step is to develop an action plan to guide the research process. The research design aims to address the study’s question. The research strategy outlines what to undertake, when, and how.

Stage 2: Act

The next step is implementing the plan and gathering data. At this point, the researcher must select how to collect and organize research data . The researcher also needs to examine all tools and equipment before collecting data to ensure they are relevant, valid, and comprehensive.

Stage 3: Observe

Data observation is vital to any investigation. The action researcher needs to review the project’s goals and expectations before data observation. This is the final step before drawing conclusions and taking action.

Different kinds of graphs, charts, and networks can be used to represent the data. It assists in making judgments or progressing to the next stage of observing.

Stage 4: Reflect

This step involves applying a prospective solution and observing the results. It’s essential to see if the possible solution found through research can really solve the problem being studied.

The researcher must explore alternative ideas when the action research project’s solutions fail to solve the problem.

Action research is a systematic approach researchers, educators, and practitioners use to identify and address problems or challenges within a specific context. It involves a cyclical process of planning, implementing, reflecting, and adjusting actions based on the data collected. Here are the general steps involved in conducting an action research process:

Identify the action research question or problem

Clearly define the issue or problem you want to address through your research. It should be specific, actionable, and relevant to your working context.

Review existing knowledge

Conduct a literature review to understand what research has already been done on the topic. This will help you gain insights, identify gaps, and inform your research design.

Plan the research

Develop a research plan outlining your study’s objectives, methods, data collection tools, and timeline. Determine the scope of your research and the participants or stakeholders involved.

Collect data

Implement your research plan by collecting relevant data. This can involve various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, document analysis, or focus groups. Ensure that your data collection methods align with your research objectives and allow you to gather the necessary information.

Analyze the data

Once you have collected the data, analyze it using appropriate qualitative or quantitative techniques. Look for patterns, themes, or trends in the data that can help you understand the problem better.

Reflect on the findings

Reflect on the analyzed data and interpret the results in the context of your research question. Consider the implications and possible solutions that emerge from the data analysis. This reflection phase is crucial for generating insights and understanding the underlying factors contributing to the problem.

Develop an action plan

Based on your analysis and reflection, develop an action plan that outlines the steps you will take to address the identified problem. The plan should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals). Consider involving relevant stakeholders in planning to ensure their buy-in and support.

Implement the action plan

Put your action plan into practice by implementing the identified strategies or interventions. This may involve making changes to existing practices, introducing new approaches, or testing alternative solutions. Document the implementation process and any modifications made along the way.

Evaluate and monitor progress

Continuously monitor and evaluate the impact of your actions. Collect additional data, assess the effectiveness of the interventions, and measure progress towards your goals. This evaluation will help you determine if your actions have the desired effects and inform any necessary adjustments.

Reflect and iterate

Reflect on the outcomes of your actions and the evaluation results. Consider what worked well, what did not, and why. Use this information to refine your approach, make necessary adjustments, and plan for the next cycle of action research if needed.

Remember that participatory action research is an iterative process, and multiple cycles may be required to achieve significant improvements or solutions to the identified problem. Each cycle builds on the insights gained from the previous one, fostering continuous learning and improvement.

Explore Insightfully Contextual Inquiry in Qualitative Research

Here are two real-life examples of action research.

Action research initiatives are frequently situation-specific. Still, other researchers can adapt the techniques. The example is from a researcher’s (Franklin, 1994) report about a project encouraging nature tourism in the Caribbean.

In 1991, this was launched to study how nature tourism may be implemented on the four Windward Islands in the Caribbean: St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and St. Vincent.

For environmental protection, a government-led action study determined that the consultation process needs to involve numerous stakeholders, including commercial enterprises.

First, two researchers undertook the study and held search conferences on each island. The search conferences resulted in suggestions and action plans for local community nature tourism sub-projects.

Several islands formed advisory groups and launched national awareness and community projects. Regional project meetings were held to discuss experiences, self-evaluations, and strategies. Creating a documentary about a local initiative helped build community. And the study was a success, leading to a number of changes in the area.

Lau and Hayward (1997) employed action research to analyze Internet-based collaborative work groups.

Over two years, the researchers facilitated three action research problem -solving cycles with 15 teachers, project personnel, and 25 health practitioners from diverse areas. The goal was to see how Internet-based communications might affect their virtual workgroup.

First, expectations were defined, technology was provided, and a bespoke workgroup system was developed. Participants suggested shorter, more dispersed training sessions with project-specific instructions.

The second phase saw the system’s complete deployment. The final cycle witnessed system stability and virtual group formation. The key lesson was that the learning curve was poorly misjudged, with frustrations only marginally met by phone-based technical help. According to the researchers, the absence of high-quality online material about community healthcare was harmful.

Role clarity, connection building, knowledge sharing, resource assistance, and experiential learning are vital for virtual group growth. More study is required on how group support systems might assist groups in engaging with their external environment and boost group members’ learning. 

Action research has both good and bad points.

• It is very flexible, so researchers can change their analyses to fit their needs and make individual changes.
• It offers a quick and easy way to solve problems that have been going on for a long time instead of complicated, long-term solutions based on complex facts.
• If It is done right, it can be very powerful because it can lead to social change and give people the tools to make that change in ways that are important to their communities.

Disadvantages

• These studies have a hard time being generalized and are hard to repeat because they are so flexible. Because the researcher has the power to draw conclusions, they are often not thought to be theoretically sound.
• Setting up an action study in an ethical way can be hard. People may feel like they have to take part or take part in a certain way.
• It is prone to research errors like selection bias , social desirability bias, and other cognitive biases.

LEARN ABOUT: Self-Selection Bias

This post discusses how action research generates knowledge, its steps, and real-life examples. It is very applicable to the field of research and has a high level of relevance. We can only state that the purpose of this research is to comprehend an issue and find a solution to it.

At QuestionPro, we give researchers tools for collecting data, like our survey software, and a library of insights for any long-term study. Go to the Insight Hub if you want to see a demo or learn more about it.

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Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’s)

Action research is a systematic approach to inquiry that involves identifying a problem or challenge in a practical context, implementing interventions or changes, collecting and analyzing data, and using the findings to inform decision-making and drive positive change.

Action research can be conducted by various individuals or groups, including teachers, administrators, researchers, and educational practitioners. It is often carried out by those directly involved in the educational setting where the research takes place.

The steps of action research typically include identifying a problem, reviewing relevant literature, designing interventions or changes, collecting and analyzing data, reflecting on findings, and implementing improvements based on the results.

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Action Research model (Lewin)

Action Research model: this article explains the concept of Action Research (AR) , developed by Kurt Lewin in a practical way. It covers what AR is, what steps should be taken, based on the model and example and what conditions should be met. After reading you will understand the basics of this research method. Enjoy reading!

Background of Action Research theory

The German-American professor Kurt Lewin was mainly concerned with child psychology.

He became known for his contributions to “ Gestalt psychology ” and in 1951 he carried out ground breaking research into the way in which human behaviour could be changed towards democratic values and leadership. This is why he is considered to be the founder of Action Research .

What is the Action Research model? The theory

Kurt Lewin ’s approach of Action Research is a research method in which the researcher intervenes in and during the research. This serves two purposes: firstly, according to Kurt Lewin , it will bring about positive change and secondly, knowledge and theory will be generated.

It is important that the researcher acts as a social change expert who helps and encourages employees to change their behaviour towards democratic values and leadership. A cooperation between fundamental and applied research is essential in this.

According to Lewin scientific research is best achieved through cooperation between the researcher (academic) and the people in the work field (practitioners).

The definition of Action Research

The term was first suggested by Kurt Lewin . He described the practice as ‘a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action’ that uses ‘a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action’ .

Participatory action research in education

AR is also called Participatory Action Research (PAR). This concerns an individual method of this research method. Other working methods are community-based participatory research and school-wide action research.

Other names for the methodology are action cycle or research cycle . In education, action research refers to various evaluative, investigative, and analytical research methods, which are especially designed to study organizational, academic or educational problems or deficiencies.

In addition, these methods help teachers to develop practical solutions to address the aforementioned problems.

Action Research model and steps, an example of education

It is referred to as a cycle because the method usually consists of a predefined process that is repeated over time. Below is an action research example of what the cycle might look like. The model is aimed at education.

Figure 1 – the steps of action research example in education

1. Selecting focus

The AR-process starts with a reflective action aimed at discerning one or more topics worthy of the teacher’s or researcher’s time. Since different actions and teachers in the classroom are in high demand, all activities should be worthwhile for the researcher.

Therefore, focus selection is considered the first step in the action research process. Focus selection begins with the researcher or team asking questions about which elements of the research benefit practice or learning.

2. Clarifying and establishing theory

The next stage in the AR process is to identify and discern the values, beliefs and theoretical perspectives the researchers have about the focus they have chosen in the first step.

When researchers or teachers are concerned about a particular development in the classroom, it is helpful to first clarify which approach or method would work best. For example, should the teacher set up a reward system? Or should the students experience the consequences of their behavior in a natural way?

3. Identifying research questions

Now that the selection of focus areas has been completed and the perspectives of the researchers or lecturers have been clarified, the next step is to generate research questions that are intended to shape the research.

4. Collecting data

Accurate data and information is important because everyone bases decisions on it. This is also the case for researchers or teachers. Action researchers ensure that the data used to base decisions on is reliable and valid at the same time. Valid in this context means that the information accurately represents and conveys the researchers’ message.

Typically, researchers ensure that they get their information from multiple data sources. Many of them use triangulation. This is a process to increase the reliability and validity of data.

Triangulation is explained as studying or observing an object or information by looking at it from multiple perspectives. This helps a researcher to compare things and look at a topic from multiple angles.

Data collection is one of the trickiest parts of the action research process.

5. Analyzing data

Data analysis usually refers to complex statistical calculations and relationships. However, this is not always the case for teachers and researchers. There are easy-to-use procedures and best practices that help the user identify patterns and trends in the data.

6. Reporting

Although it may sound contradictory, many teachers consider their profession to be lonely. Many teachers spend every day teaching others, designing lessons and doing this on their own. Reporting action research is therefore very important. This usually takes place in an informal setting, unlike the formal setting where scientific research is shared.

7. Action planning

Action planning is also referred to as informed action. This is the final step in the research method process. When a teacher or researcher writes a plan or develops a program, he or she is usually also involved in the planning process. Action planning is more of an approach than a method.

It is a statement of what someone wants to achieve in a certain period of time. Drawing up and executing an action plan is an effective way to achieve goals.

Examples of AR

Different tools are used to support AR, depending on the working method and the problem to be studied. Examples of these methods are:

• Observation of groups or individuals;
• By means of audio and video recordings;
• Through interviews;
• Monitoring and taking notes;
• By means of photos or questionnaires.

Action Research and Intervention

Besides the research of social systems, Action Research is all about solving problems in order to bring about social change. During the research method, the researcher does not merely observe and interpret information but he is also an active participant in the process.

This allows him to intervene faster and better and bring about change. One major advantage is that he will have a better understanding of the problems. Close cooperation with the field will increase the perceptions of the researcher and the practitioners. During research method the focus can be centred on the activities or the research itself.

Conditions for Action Research

For this research method to be successful, Kurt Lewin established a number of conditions must meet:

• the research must be problem-oriented
• the employee (client) must be at the centre
• the current situation (status quo) must be included in the discussion
• the research must produce empirically demonstrable propositions (direct and indirect observations)
• propositions and findings must systematically fit into a useful theory.

Cyclical approach

Changes in accordance with the Action Research approach have the nature of an exception, in which stability (Freeze) is the standard, change the deviation from that standard and behaviour modification (Unfreezing) a response.

This research method is a cyclical process of change and is connected in his change model . During the Unfreezing stage a period of problem awareness takes places (Planning), during the change stage new forms of behaviour are tested (Action) and during the refreezing stage this new behaviour is reinforced and will become a habit over time (Results).

Action Research in practice

Action Research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry, undertaken by participants in social situations such as employees within an organization.

Because of the research they are able to analyze and improve their own social and/ or educational skills. Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice according to Kurt Lewin .

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Do you conduct Action research? If so, what are your experiences? If not, which new insights did you get by reading this post? What are in your opinion success factors for conducting Action research?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

• Coghlan, D. &amo; Brannick, T. (2014). Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization . Sage Publications Ltd.
• Dickens, L., & Watkins, K. (1999). Action research: rethinking Lewin. Management Learning , 30(2), 127-140.
• Lewin, K. , & Gold, M. E. (1999). Group decision and social change .
• Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems , in: G.W. Lewin (Ed) (1948) Resolving Social conflict. Harper & Row.

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1 What is Action Research for Classroom Teachers?

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• What is the nature of action research?
• How does action research develop in the classroom?
• What models of action research work best for your classroom?
• What are the epistemological, ontological, theoretical underpinnings of action research?

Educational research provides a vast landscape of knowledge on topics related to teaching and learning, curriculum and assessment, students’ cognitive and affective needs, cultural and socio-economic factors of schools, and many other factors considered viable to improving schools. Educational stakeholders rely on research to make informed decisions that ultimately affect the quality of schooling for their students. Accordingly, the purpose of educational research is to engage in disciplined inquiry to generate knowledge on topics significant to the students, teachers, administrators, schools, and other educational stakeholders. Just as the topics of educational research vary, so do the approaches to conducting educational research in the classroom. Your approach to research will be shaped by your context, your professional identity, and paradigm (set of beliefs and assumptions that guide your inquiry). These will all be key factors in how you generate knowledge related to your work as an educator.

Action research is an approach to educational research that is commonly used by educational practitioners and professionals to examine, and ultimately improve, their pedagogy and practice. In this way, action research represents an extension of the reflection and critical self-reflection that an educator employs on a daily basis in their classroom. When students are actively engaged in learning, the classroom can be dynamic and uncertain, demanding the constant attention of the educator. Considering these demands, educators are often only able to engage in reflection that is fleeting, and for the purpose of accommodation, modification, or formative assessment. Action research offers one path to more deliberate, substantial, and critical reflection that can be documented and analyzed to improve an educator’s practice.

Purpose of Action Research

As one of many approaches to educational research, it is important to distinguish the potential purposes of action research in the classroom. This book focuses on action research as a method to enable and support educators in pursuing effective pedagogical practices by transforming the quality of teaching decisions and actions, to subsequently enhance student engagement and learning. Being mindful of this purpose, the following aspects of action research are important to consider as you contemplate and engage with action research methodology in your classroom:

• Action research is a process for improving educational practice. Its methods involve action, evaluation, and reflection. It is a process to gather evidence to implement change in practices.
• Action research is participative and collaborative. It is undertaken by individuals with a common purpose.
• Action research is situation and context-based.
• Action research develops reflection practices based on the interpretations made by participants.
• Knowledge is created through action and application.
• Action research can be based in problem-solving, if the solution to the problem results in the improvement of practice.
• Action research is iterative; plans are created, implemented, revised, then implemented, lending itself to an ongoing process of reflection and revision.
• In action research, findings emerge as action develops and takes place; however, they are not conclusive or absolute, but ongoing (Koshy, 2010, pgs. 1-2).

In thinking about the purpose of action research, it is helpful to situate action research as a distinct paradigm of educational research. I like to think about action research as part of the larger concept of living knowledge. Living knowledge has been characterized as “a quest for life, to understand life and to create… knowledge which is valid for the people with whom I work and for myself” (Swantz, in Reason & Bradbury, 2001, pg. 1). Why should educators care about living knowledge as part of educational research? As mentioned above, action research is meant “to produce practical knowledge that is useful to people in the everyday conduct of their lives and to see that action research is about working towards practical outcomes” (Koshy, 2010, pg. 2). However, it is also about:

creating new forms of understanding, since action without reflection and understanding is blind, just as theory without action is meaningless. The participatory nature of action research makes it only possible with, for and by persons and communities, ideally involving all stakeholders both in the questioning and sense making that informs the research, and in the action, which is its focus. (Reason & Bradbury, 2001, pg. 2)

In an effort to further situate action research as living knowledge, Jean McNiff reminds us that “there is no such ‘thing’ as ‘action research’” (2013, pg. 24). In other words, action research is not static or finished, it defines itself as it proceeds. McNiff’s reminder characterizes action research as action-oriented, and a process that individuals go through to make their learning public to explain how it informs their practice. Action research does not derive its meaning from an abstract idea, or a self-contained discovery – action research’s meaning stems from the way educators negotiate the problems and successes of living and working in the classroom, school, and community.

While we can debate the idea of action research, there are people who are action researchers, and they use the idea of action research to develop principles and theories to guide their practice. Action research, then, refers to an organization of principles that guide action researchers as they act on shared beliefs, commitments, and expectations in their inquiry.

Reflection and the Process of Action Research

When an individual engages in reflection on their actions or experiences, it is typically for the purpose of better understanding those experiences, or the consequences of those actions to improve related action and experiences in the future. Reflection in this way develops knowledge around these actions and experiences to help us better regulate those actions in the future. The reflective process generates new knowledge regularly for classroom teachers and informs their classroom actions.

Unfortunately, the knowledge generated by educators through the reflective process is not always prioritized among the other sources of knowledge educators are expected to utilize in the classroom. Educators are expected to draw upon formal types of knowledge, such as textbooks, content standards, teaching standards, district curriculum and behavioral programs, etc., to gain new knowledge and make decisions in the classroom. While these forms of knowledge are important, the reflective knowledge that educators generate through their pedagogy is the amalgamation of these types of knowledge enacted in the classroom. Therefore, reflective knowledge is uniquely developed based on the action and implementation of an educator’s pedagogy in the classroom. Action research offers a way to formalize the knowledge generated by educators so that it can be utilized and disseminated throughout the teaching profession.

Research is concerned with the generation of knowledge, and typically creating knowledge related to a concept, idea, phenomenon, or topic. Action research generates knowledge around inquiry in practical educational contexts. Action research allows educators to learn through their actions with the purpose of developing personally or professionally. Due to its participatory nature, the process of action research is also distinct in educational research. There are many models for how the action research process takes shape. I will share a few of those here. Each model utilizes the following processes to some extent:

• Plan a change;
• Take action to enact the change;
• Observe the process and consequences of the change;
• Reflect on the process and consequences;
• Act, observe, & reflect again and so on.

Figure 1.1 Basic action research cycle

There are many other models that supplement the basic process of action research with other aspects of the research process to consider. For example, figure 1.2 illustrates a spiral model of action research proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (2004). The spiral model emphasizes the cyclical process that moves beyond the initial plan for change. The spiral model also emphasizes revisiting the initial plan and revising based on the initial cycle of research:

Figure 1.2 Interpretation of action research spiral, Kemmis and McTaggart (2004, p. 595)

Other models of action research reorganize the process to emphasize the distinct ways knowledge takes shape in the reflection process. O’Leary’s (2004, p. 141) model, for example, recognizes that the research may take shape in the classroom as knowledge emerges from the teacher’s observations. O’Leary highlights the need for action research to be focused on situational understanding and implementation of action, initiated organically from real-time issues:

Figure 1.3 Interpretation of O’Leary’s cycles of research, O’Leary (2000, p. 141)

Lastly, Macintyre’s (2000, p. 1) model, offers a different characterization of the action research process. Macintyre emphasizes a messier process of research with the initial reflections and conclusions as the benchmarks for guiding the research process. Macintyre emphasizes the flexibility in planning, acting, and observing stages to allow the process to be naturalistic. Our interpretation of Macintyre process is below:

Figure 1.4 Interpretation of the action research cycle, Macintyre (2000, p. 1)

We believe it is important to prioritize the flexibility of the process, and encourage you to only use these models as basic guides for your process. Your process may look similar, or you may diverge from these models as you better understand your students, context, and data.

Definitions of Action Research and Examples

At this point, it may be helpful for readers to have a working definition of action research and some examples to illustrate the methodology in the classroom. Bassey (1998, p. 93) offers a very practical definition and describes “action research as an inquiry which is carried out in order to understand, to evaluate and then to change, in order to improve educational practice.” Cohen and Manion (1994, p. 192) situate action research differently, and describe action research as emergent, writing:

essentially an on-the-spot procedure designed to deal with a concrete problem located in an immediate situation. This means that ideally, the step-by-step process is constantly monitored over varying periods of time and by a variety of mechanisms (questionnaires, diaries, interviews and case studies, for example) so that the ensuing feedback may be translated into modifications, adjustment, directional changes, redefinitions, as necessary, so as to bring about lasting benefit to the ongoing process itself rather than to some future occasion.

Lastly, Koshy (2010, p. 9) describes action research as:

a constructive inquiry, during which the researcher constructs his or her knowledge of specific issues through planning, acting, evaluating, refining and learning from the experience. It is a continuous learning process in which the researcher learns and also shares the newly generated knowledge with those who may benefit from it.

These definitions highlight the distinct features of action research and emphasize the purposeful intent of action researchers to improve, refine, reform, and problem-solve issues in their educational context. To better understand the distinctness of action research, these are some examples of action research topics:

Examples of Action Research Topics

• Flexible seating in 4th grade classroom to increase effective collaborative learning.
• Structured homework protocols for increasing student achievement.
• Developing a system of formative feedback for 8th grade writing.
• Using music to stimulate creative writing.
• Weekly brown bag lunch sessions to improve responses to PD from staff.
• Using exercise balls as chairs for better classroom management.

Action Research in Theory

Action research-based inquiry in educational contexts and classrooms involves distinct participants – students, teachers, and other educational stakeholders within the system. All of these participants are engaged in activities to benefit the students, and subsequently society as a whole. Action research contributes to these activities and potentially enhances the participants’ roles in the education system. Participants’ roles are enhanced based on two underlying principles:

• communities, schools, and classrooms are sites of socially mediated actions, and action research provides a greater understanding of self and new knowledge of how to negotiate these socially mediated environments;
• communities, schools, and classrooms are part of social systems in which humans interact with many cultural tools, and action research provides a basis to construct and analyze these interactions.

In our quest for knowledge and understanding, we have consistently analyzed human experience over time and have distinguished between types of reality. Humans have constantly sought “facts” and “truth” about reality that can be empirically demonstrated or observed.

Social systems are based on beliefs, and generally, beliefs about what will benefit the greatest amount of people in that society. Beliefs, and more specifically the rationale or support for beliefs, are not always easy to demonstrate or observe as part of our reality. Take the example of an English Language Arts teacher who prioritizes argumentative writing in her class. She believes that argumentative writing demonstrates the mechanics of writing best among types of writing, while also providing students a skill they will need as citizens and professionals. While we can observe the students writing, and we can assess their ability to develop a written argument, it is difficult to observe the students’ understanding of argumentative writing and its purpose in their future. This relates to the teacher’s beliefs about argumentative writing; we cannot observe the real value of the teaching of argumentative writing. The teacher’s rationale and beliefs about teaching argumentative writing are bound to the social system and the skills their students will need to be active parts of that system. Therefore, our goal through action research is to demonstrate the best ways to teach argumentative writing to help all participants understand its value as part of a social system.

The knowledge that is conveyed in a classroom is bound to, and justified by, a social system. A postmodernist approach to understanding our world seeks knowledge within a social system, which is directly opposed to the empirical or positivist approach which demands evidence based on logic or science as rationale for beliefs. Action research does not rely on a positivist viewpoint to develop evidence and conclusions as part of the research process. Action research offers a postmodernist stance to epistemology (theory of knowledge) and supports developing questions and new inquiries during the research process. In this way action research is an emergent process that allows beliefs and decisions to be negotiated as reality and meaning are being constructed in the socially mediated space of the classroom.

Theorizing Action Research for the Classroom

All research, at its core, is for the purpose of generating new knowledge and contributing to the knowledge base of educational research. Action researchers in the classroom want to explore methods of improving their pedagogy and practice. The starting place of their inquiry stems from their pedagogy and practice, so by nature the knowledge created from their inquiry is often contextually specific to their classroom, school, or community. Therefore, we should examine the theoretical underpinnings of action research for the classroom. It is important to connect action research conceptually to experience; for example, Levin and Greenwood (2001, p. 105) make these connections:

• Action research is context bound and addresses real life problems.
• Action research is inquiry where participants and researchers cogenerate knowledge through collaborative communicative processes in which all participants’ contributions are taken seriously.
• The meanings constructed in the inquiry process lead to social action or these reflections and action lead to the construction of new meanings.
• The credibility/validity of action research knowledge is measured according to whether the actions that arise from it solve problems (workability) and increase participants’ control over their own situation.

Educators who engage in action research will generate new knowledge and beliefs based on their experiences in the classroom. Let us emphasize that these are all important to you and your work, as both an educator and researcher. It is these experiences, beliefs, and theories that are often discounted when more official forms of knowledge (e.g., textbooks, curriculum standards, districts standards) are prioritized. These beliefs and theories based on experiences should be valued and explored further, and this is one of the primary purposes of action research in the classroom. These beliefs and theories should be valued because they were meaningful aspects of knowledge constructed from teachers’ experiences. Developing meaning and knowledge in this way forms the basis of constructivist ideology, just as teachers often try to get their students to construct their own meanings and understandings when experiencing new ideas.  

Classroom Teachers Constructing their Own Knowledge

Most of you are probably at least minimally familiar with constructivism, or the process of constructing knowledge. However, what is constructivism precisely, for the purposes of action research? Many scholars have theorized constructivism and have identified two key attributes (Koshy, 2010; von Glasersfeld, 1987):

• Knowledge is not passively received, but actively developed through an individual’s cognition;
• Human cognition is adaptive and finds purpose in organizing the new experiences of the world, instead of settling for absolute or objective truth.

Considering these two attributes, constructivism is distinct from conventional knowledge formation because people can develop a theory of knowledge that orders and organizes the world based on their experiences, instead of an objective or neutral reality. When individuals construct knowledge, there are interactions between an individual and their environment where communication, negotiation and meaning-making are collectively developing knowledge. For most educators, constructivism may be a natural inclination of their pedagogy. Action researchers have a similar relationship to constructivism because they are actively engaged in a process of constructing knowledge. However, their constructions may be more formal and based on the data they collect in the research process. Action researchers also are engaged in the meaning making process, making interpretations from their data. These aspects of the action research process situate them in the constructivist ideology. Just like constructivist educators, action researchers’ constructions of knowledge will be affected by their individual and professional ideas and values, as well as the ecological context in which they work (Biesta & Tedder, 2006). The relations between constructivist inquiry and action research is important, as Lincoln (2001, p. 130) states:

much of the epistemological, ontological, and axiological belief systems are the same or similar, and methodologically, constructivists and action researchers work in similar ways, relying on qualitative methods in face-to-face work, while buttressing information, data and background with quantitative method work when necessary or useful.

While there are many links between action research and educators in the classroom, constructivism offers the most familiar and practical threads to bind the beliefs of educators and action researchers.  

Epistemology, Ontology, and Action Research

It is also important for educators to consider the philosophical stances related to action research to better situate it with their beliefs and reality. When researchers make decisions about the methodology they intend to use, they will consider their ontological and epistemological stances. It is vital that researchers clearly distinguish their philosophical stances and understand the implications of their stance in the research process, especially when collecting and analyzing their data. In what follows, we will discuss ontological and epistemological stances in relation to action research methodology.

Ontology, or the theory of being, is concerned with the claims or assumptions we make about ourselves within our social reality – what do we think exists, what does it look like, what entities are involved and how do these entities interact with each other (Blaikie, 2007). In relation to the discussion of constructivism, generally action researchers would consider their educational reality as socially constructed. Social construction of reality happens when individuals interact in a social system. Meaningful construction of concepts and representations of reality develop through an individual’s interpretations of others’ actions. These interpretations become agreed upon by members of a social system and become part of social fabric, reproduced as knowledge and beliefs to develop assumptions about reality. Researchers develop meaningful constructions based on their experiences and through communication. Educators as action researchers will be examining the socially constructed reality of schools. In the United States, many of our concepts, knowledge, and beliefs about schooling have been socially constructed over the last hundred years. For example, a group of teachers may look at why fewer female students enroll in upper-level science courses at their school. This question deals directly with the social construction of gender and specifically what careers females have been conditioned to pursue. We know this is a social construction in some school social systems because in other parts of the world, or even the United States, there are schools that have more females enrolled in upper level science courses than male students. Therefore, the educators conducting the research have to recognize the socially constructed reality of their school and consider this reality throughout the research process. Action researchers will use methods of data collection that support their ontological stance and clarify their theoretical stance throughout the research process.

Koshy (2010, p. 23-24) offers another example of addressing the ontological challenges in the classroom:

A teacher who was concerned with increasing her pupils’ motivation and enthusiasm for learning decided to introduce learning diaries which the children could take home. They were invited to record their reactions to the day’s lessons and what they had learnt. The teacher reported in her field diary that the learning diaries stimulated the children’s interest in her lessons, increased their capacity to learn, and generally improved their level of participation in lessons. The challenge for the teacher here is in the analysis and interpretation of the multiplicity of factors accompanying the use of diaries. The diaries were taken home so the entries may have been influenced by discussions with parents. Another possibility is that children felt the need to please their teacher. Another possible influence was that their increased motivation was as a result of the difference in style of teaching which included more discussions in the classroom based on the entries in the dairies.

Here you can see the challenge for the action researcher is working in a social context with multiple factors, values, and experiences that were outside of the teacher’s control. The teacher was only responsible for introducing the diaries as a new style of learning. The students’ engagement and interactions with this new style of learning were all based upon their socially constructed notions of learning inside and outside of the classroom. A researcher with a positivist ontological stance would not consider these factors, and instead might simply conclude that the dairies increased motivation and interest in the topic, as a result of introducing the diaries as a learning strategy.

Epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, signifies a philosophical view of what counts as knowledge – it justifies what is possible to be known and what criteria distinguishes knowledge from beliefs (Blaikie, 1993). Positivist researchers, for example, consider knowledge to be certain and discovered through scientific processes. Action researchers collect data that is more subjective and examine personal experience, insights, and beliefs.

Action researchers utilize interpretation as a means for knowledge creation. Action researchers have many epistemologies to choose from as means of situating the types of knowledge they will generate by interpreting the data from their research. For example, Koro-Ljungberg et al., (2009) identified several common epistemologies in their article that examined epistemological awareness in qualitative educational research, such as: objectivism, subjectivism, constructionism, contextualism, social epistemology, feminist epistemology, idealism, naturalized epistemology, externalism, relativism, skepticism, and pluralism. All of these epistemological stances have implications for the research process, especially data collection and analysis. Please see the table on pages 689-90, linked below for a sketch of these potential implications:

Again, Koshy (2010, p. 24) provides an excellent example to illustrate the epistemological challenges within action research:

A teacher of 11-year-old children decided to carry out an action research project which involved a change in style in teaching mathematics. Instead of giving children mathematical tasks displaying the subject as abstract principles, she made links with other subjects which she believed would encourage children to see mathematics as a discipline that could improve their understanding of the environment and historic events. At the conclusion of the project, the teacher reported that applicable mathematics generated greater enthusiasm and understanding of the subject.

The educator/researcher engaged in action research-based inquiry to improve an aspect of her pedagogy. She generated knowledge that indicated she had improved her students’ understanding of mathematics by integrating it with other subjects – specifically in the social and ecological context of her classroom, school, and community. She valued constructivism and students generating their own understanding of mathematics based on related topics in other subjects. Action researchers working in a social context do not generate certain knowledge, but knowledge that emerges and can be observed and researched again, building upon their knowledge each time.

Researcher Positionality in Action Research

In this first chapter, we have discussed a lot about the role of experiences in sparking the research process in the classroom. Your experiences as an educator will shape how you approach action research in your classroom. Your experiences as a person in general will also shape how you create knowledge from your research process. In particular, your experiences will shape how you make meaning from your findings. It is important to be clear about your experiences when developing your methodology too. This is referred to as researcher positionality. Maher and Tetreault (1993, p. 118) define positionality as:

Gender, race, class, and other aspects of our identities are markers of relational positions rather than essential qualities. Knowledge is valid when it includes an acknowledgment of the knower’s specific position in any context, because changing contextual and relational factors are crucial for defining identities and our knowledge in any given situation.

By presenting your positionality in the research process, you are signifying the type of socially constructed, and other types of, knowledge you will be using to make sense of the data. As Maher and Tetreault explain, this increases the trustworthiness of your conclusions about the data. This would not be possible with a positivist ontology. We will discuss positionality more in chapter 6, but we wanted to connect it to the overall theoretical underpinnings of action research.

Advantages of Engaging in Action Research in the Classroom

In the following chapters, we will discuss how action research takes shape in your classroom, and we wanted to briefly summarize the key advantages to action research methodology over other types of research methodology. As Koshy (2010, p. 25) notes, action research provides useful methodology for school and classroom research because:

Advantages of Action Research for the Classroom

• research can be set within a specific context or situation;
• researchers can be participants – they don’t have to be distant and detached from the situation;
• it involves continuous evaluation and modifications can be made easily as the project progresses;
• there are opportunities for theory to emerge from the research rather than always follow a previously formulated theory;
• the study can lead to open-ended outcomes;
• through action research, a researcher can bring a story to life.

Action Research Copyright © by J. Spencer Clark; Suzanne Porath; Julie Thiele; and Morgan Jobe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Knowledge Base
• Methodology
• What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples

What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples

Published on 27 January 2023 by Tegan George . Revised on 21 April 2023.

Table of contents

Types of action research, action research models, examples of action research, action research vs. traditional research, advantages and disadvantages of action research, frequently asked questions about action research.

There are 2 common types of action research: participatory action research and practical action research.

• Participatory action research emphasises that participants should be members of the community being studied, empowering those directly affected by outcomes of said research. In this method, participants are effectively co-researchers, with their lived experiences considered formative to the research process.
• Practical action research focuses more on how research is conducted and is designed to address and solve specific issues.

Both types of action research are more focused on increasing the capacity and ability of future practitioners than contributing to a theoretical body of knowledge.

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Action research is often reflected in 3 action research models: operational (sometimes called technical), collaboration, and critical reflection.

• Operational (or technical) action research is usually visualised like a spiral following a series of steps, such as “planning → acting → observing → reflecting.”
• Collaboration action research is more community-based, focused on building a network of similar individuals (e.g., college professors in a given geographic area) and compiling learnings from iterated feedback cycles.
• Critical reflection action research serves to contextualise systemic processes that are already ongoing (e.g., working retroactively to analyse existing school systems by questioning why certain practices were put into place and developed the way they did).

Action research is often used in fields like education because of its iterative and flexible style.

After the information was collected, the students were asked where they thought ramps or other accessibility measures would be best utilised, and the suggestions were sent to school administrators. Example: Practical action research Science teachers at your city’s high school have been witnessing a year-over-year decline in standardised test scores in chemistry. In seeking the source of this issue, they studied how concepts are taught in depth, focusing on the methods, tools, and approaches used by each teacher.

Action research differs sharply from other types of research in that it seeks to produce actionable processes over the course of the research rather than contributing to existing knowledge or drawing conclusions from datasets. In this way, action research is formative , not summative , and is conducted in an ongoing, iterative way.

As such, action research is different in purpose, context, and significance and is a good fit for those seeking to implement systemic change.

Action research comes with advantages and disadvantages.

• Action research is highly adaptable , allowing researchers to mould their analysis to their individual needs and implement practical individual-level changes.
• Action research provides an immediate and actionable path forward for solving entrenched issues, rather than suggesting complicated, longer-term solutions rooted in complex data.
• Done correctly, action research can be very empowering , informing social change and allowing participants to effect that change in ways meaningful to their communities.

Disadvantages

• Due to their flexibility, action research studies are plagued by very limited generalisability  and are very difficult to replicate . They are often not considered theoretically rigorous due to the power the researcher holds in drawing conclusions.
• Action research can be complicated to structure in an ethical manner . Participants may feel pressured to participate or to participate in a certain way.
• Action research is at high risk for research biases such as selection bias , social desirability bias , or other types of cognitive biases .

Action research is conducted in order to solve a particular issue immediately, while case studies are often conducted over a longer period of time and focus more on observing and analyzing a particular ongoing phenomenon.

Action research is focused on solving a problem or informing individual and community-based knowledge in a way that impacts teaching, learning, and other related processes. It is less focused on contributing theoretical input, instead producing actionable input.

Action research is particularly popular with educators as a form of systematic inquiry because it prioritizes reflection and bridges the gap between theory and practice. Educators are able to simultaneously investigate an issue as they solve it, and the method is very iterative and flexible.

A cycle of inquiry is another name for action research . It is usually visualized in a spiral shape following a series of steps, such as “planning → acting → observing → reflecting.”

Sources for this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

George, T. (2023, April 21). What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 6 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/action-research-cycle/

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research methods in education (8th edition). Routledge.

Naughton, G. M. (2001).  Action research (1st edition). Routledge.

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Action Research

Action research can be defined as “an approach in which the action researcher and a client collaborate in the diagnosis of the problem and in the development of a solution based on the diagnosis” [1] . In other words, one of the main characteristic traits of action research relates to collaboration between researcher and member of organisation in order to solve organizational problems.

Action study assumes social world to be constantly changing, both, researcher and research being one part of that change. [2] Generally, action researches can be divided into three categories: positivist, interpretive and critical.

Positivist approach to action research , also known as ‘classical action research’ perceives research as a social experiment. Accordingly, action research is accepted as a method to test hypotheses in a real world environment.

Interpretive action research , also known as ‘contemporary action research’ perceives business reality as socially constructed and focuses on specifications of local and organisational factors when conducting the action research.

Critical action research is a specific type of action research that adopts critical approach towards business processes and aims for improvements.

The following features of action research need to be taken into account when considering its suitability for any given study:

• It is applied in order to improve specific practices.  Action research is based on action, evaluation and critical analysis of practices based on collected data in order to introduce improvements in relevant practices.
• This type of research is facilitated by participation and collaboration of number of individuals with a common purpose
• Such a research focuses on specific situations and their context

Advantages of Action Research

• High level of practical relevance of the business research;
• Can be used with quantitative, as well as, qualitative data;
• Possibility to gain in-depth knowledge about the problem.

Disadvantages of Action Research

• Difficulties in distinguishing between action and research and ensure the application of both;
• Delays in completion of action research due to a wide range of reasons are not rare occurrences
• Lack of repeatability and rigour

It is important to make a clear distinction between action research and consulting. Specifically, action research is greater than consulting in a way that action research includes both action and research, whereas business activities of consulting are limited action without the research.

Action Research Spiral

Action study is a participatory study consisting of spiral of following self-reflective cycles:

• Planning in order to initiate change
• Implementing the change (acting) and observing the process of implementation and consequences
• Reflecting on processes of change and re-planning
• Acting and observing

Kemmis and McTaggart (2000) do acknowledge that individual stages specified in Action Research Spiral model may overlap, and initial plan developed for the research may become obselete in short duration of time due to a range of factors.

The main advantage of Action Research Spiral model relates to the opportunity of analysing the phenomenon in a greater depth each time, consequently resulting in grater level of understanding of the problem.

Disadvantages of Action Research Spiral model include its assumption each process takes long time to be completed which may not always be the case.

My e-book,  The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: a step by step assistance  offers practical assistance to complete a dissertation with minimum or no stress. The e-book covers all stages of writing a dissertation starting from the selection to the research area to submitting the completed version of the work within the deadline.

References 

[1] Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2011) “Business Research Methods” 3 rd  edition, Oxford University Press

[2] Collis, J. & Hussey, R. (2003) “Business Research. A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Graduate Students” 2nd edition, Palgrave Macmillan

What is OD and the Action Research Model (ARM)?

• Dr. Nancy Zentis
• October 31, 2019

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The Action Research Model (ARM) was introduced by Kurt Lewin in the late 1930’s.  As a social scientist, his approach involved the researcher as a social change expert who helps the client by supporting and conducting research to help organizations bring about positive, sustainable change. The ARM process encourages collaboration and cooperation among leaders and employees to improve their relationships and communication. According to Lewin, change is best achieved when the researcher (OD Professional) and the client (Senior Leaders) cooperate together to identify needs and implement solutions.

The Action Research Model is the gold standard for organizational change. Through Action Research, the OD Practitioner gains a deeper understanding of the system at hand, while the client group takes ownership of their living system. The OD Professional and the client join forces to achieve the goals of the change process.

Action research is problem centered, client focused, and action oriented . It involves the client system and an OD change agent in conducting a diagnostic, active-learning, problem-finding, and problem-solving process. The client and the change agent collaborate together to identify and prioritize specific problems, analyze data to find the root causes, and develop action plans for coping with problems realistically and practically.

OD change agents use scientific methodology to plan and collect data, form and test hypotheses, and measure results. Although not pursued as rigorously as in a laboratory, it is nevertheless an integral part of the process.

Action research also sets in motion a long-range, cyclical, self-correcting mechanism for maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness of the client’s system by leaving the system with practical and useful tools for self-analysis and self-renewal.  This is called the maintenance, separation, and termination phase, which involves defining a new process, implementing the change, and measuring results.

For the Action Research Model to be successful, several conditions must be established:

• The problem must be owned by two or more members of the organization and tied to organizational goals
• An internal or external change agent (OD Expert) helps lead the change
• Employees must be involved in the feedback process
• Senior leaders must be involved in leading the change and provide resources, support, and involvement

When launching a change initiative, the OD Professional relies on the scientific approach of the Action Research Model to guide them to lead the change and create a customized approach to implement the change.

The OD Professional serves as more of a “helper” role than an “expert” role, although the role can also be a blend between these two. In most cases, the OD Professional leads the client group in every aspect of the project, including:

• Establishing change priorities
• Collecting and interpreting data
• Disseminating and making sense of the results
• Creating action plans based on the results
• Implementing the action plans

The OD Professional demonstrates a wide range of competencies in order to effectively help the client through the change management process.  Some of the competencies include: Organization Systems, Human Interaction, Facilitation, Influence Skills, Planning and Organizing, Problem Solving and Decision Making, Process Improvement, Change Management, Behavioral Science, Research Methodology, Strategic Action Planning, Measurement, Communication, Business Acumen and Strategy, Designing Interventions, and Contracting.

Developing OD competencies can be learned through experience, however, learning from other OD professionals can provide you with the support, advice, guidelines, examples and tools needed to be successful.

To learn more about becoming an OD Professional and the Action Research Model, visit www.instituteod.com .

Dr. Nancy Zentis is the CEO of Institute of OD, offering online certification programs for those interested in Organization Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching, and OD Advanced Skills Workshops for ongoing learning.  She can be reached at  [email protected] .  For more information about our certification programs and professional development workshops, please visit our website www.instituteod.com .

Institute of Organization Development

IOD offers online Organization Development Certification Programs to help participants gain skills to advance in their career in the field of OD.  If you are new to OD, you will benefit from the OD Process Consulting Certification Program (ODPC).  If you have been in the field for several years but lack formal OD training, the Organization Development Certification Program (ODCP) will provide you with the tools and skills needed to advance in the field of OD.

IOD’s OD Certification Programs are offered online over 8 months, meeting 3 hours per month.  Each session is delivered through Go-to-training.  Our expert faculty provide interactive discussions, examples, tools, guidelines, and resources to enrich your learning experience.

Testimonies:

This certification program provided me with the resources and tools I needed to practice OD.  The structure and process helped me to be more confident and focus on helping the client achieve their goals.

The practical experience I learned during this program gave me the confidence to support organization change management initiatives.  I used the skills to transfer my knowledge immediately after each session.

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• Open access
• Published: 03 May 2024

Monocytes prevent apoptosis of iPSCs and promote differentiation of kidney organoids

• Ekaterina Pecksen 1 ,
• Sergey Tkachuk 1 ,
• Cristoph Schröder 1 ,
• Marc Vives Enrich 1 , 2 ,
• Anindita Neog 1 , 2 ,
• Cory P. Johnson 2 ,
• Niko Lachmann 3 , 4 ,
• Hermann Haller 1 , 2 &
• Yulia Kiyan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2063-6327 1  

Stem Cell Research & Therapy volume  15 , Article number:  132 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived kidney organoids are a promising model for studying disease mechanisms and renal development. Despite several protocols having been developed, further improvements are needed to overcome existing limitations and enable a wider application of this model. One of the approaches to improve the differentiation of renal organoids in vitro is to include in the system cell types important for kidney organogenesis in vivo, such as macrophages. Another approach could be to improve cell survival. Mesodermal lineage differentiation is the common initial step of the reported protocols. The glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) activity inhibitor, CHIR99021 (CHIR), is applied to induce mesodermal differentiation. It has been reported that CHIR simultaneously induces iPSCs apoptosis that can compromise cell differentiation. We thought to interfere with CHIR-induced apoptosis of iPSCs using rapamycin.

Differentiation of kidney organoids from human iPSCs was performed. Cell survival and autophagy were analyzed using Cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) kit and Autophagy detection kit. Cells were treated with rapamycin or co-cultured with human monocytes isolated from peripheral blood or iPSCs-macrophages using a transwell co-culture system. Monocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) were isolated using polyethylene glycol precipitation. Expression of apoptotic markers cleaved Caspase 3, Poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and markers of differentiation T-Box Transcription Factor 6 (TBX6), odd-skipped related 1 (OSR1), Nephrin, E-Cadherin, Paired box gene 2 (Pax2) and GATA Binding Protein 3 (Gata3) was assessed by RT-PCR and western blotting. Organoids were imaged by 3D-confocal microscopy.

We observed that CHIR induced apoptosis of iPSCs during the initial stage of renal organoid differentiation. Underlying mechanisms implied the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and decreased autophagy. Activation of autophagy by rapamacin and by an indirect co-culture of differentiating iPSCs with iPSCs-macrophages and human peripheral blood monocytes prevented apoptosis induced by CHIR. Furthermore, monocytes (but not rapamycin) strongly promoted expression of renal differentiation markers and organoids development via released extracellular vesicles.

Our data suggest that co-culturing of iPSCs with human monocytes strongly improves differentiation of kidney organoids. An underlying mechanism of monocytic action implies, but not limited to, an increased autophagy in CHIR-treated iPSCs. Our findings enhance the utility of kidney organoid models.

Introduction

Several protocols for differentiating human iPSCs to 3D structures termed ‘organoids’ resembling the anatomical structure of the corresponding organ have been developed [ 1 ]. As understanding of kidney embryonic development progressed, several approaches towards the differentiation of stem cells to kidney organoids have been reported [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Generally, these approaches rely on the same signaling pathways and achieve similar development of kidney organoids. Metanephric kidney develops from reciprocally interacting metanephric mesenchyme and the nephric duct [ 6 ]. Both cell populations derive from intermediate mesoderm that takes its origin from late-stage primitive streak. Nephric duct is derived from anterior and metanephric mesenchyme from posterior intermediate mesoderm [ 2 , 7 ]. Nephron progenitors of metanephric mesenchyme produce factors including Glial Cell Line-derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF), Fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) ligands to promote branching morphogenesis of ureteric bud – outgrowth of the nephric duct invading the metanephric mesenchyme. In turn, BMP, FGF and canonical Wingless/Integrated (Wnt) signals produced by ureteric bud support proliferation and maintenance of nephron progenitors [ 8 ]. Several transcriptome studies have been performed to address robustness and reproducibility of kidney organoids differentiation protocols and revealed batch-to-batch variability and differences in the degree of differentiation between the compared protocols. Furthermore, the main problem of kidney organoids in vitro remains their immaturity. Transcriptional similarities with human kidney of trimester I have been reported [ 3 ]. In addition, recent single-cell transcriptome studies suggested that there are significant differences between cell types in organoids and human fetal tissues [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Also, morphological structure and functional maturation of kidney organoids need to be improved [ 12 ]. Despite these limitations, kidney organoids have found an application for studying kidney development, modeling renal diseases, and for drug screening. Therefore, improvements in the differentiation protocols should enable wider applications of renal organoids. One of the approaches to improve kidney organoids differentiation in vitro is to include in the in vitro system other cell types that are important for kidney organogenesis in vivo, primarily macrophages [ 13 , 14 ] and vascular cells [ 15 , 16 ].

Macrophages are inborn phagocytes and are important to the early stages of organ development. Macrophages can be detected in a renal interstitium even before renal organogenesis [ 13 ]. However, the role of macrophages is not limited to the clearance of apoptotic cells and fighting the infection. Tissue-resident macrophages maintain homeostasis, conduct disease responses, and organize tissue and organ repair [ 15 , 17 ]. During renal development, macrophages regulate fate and restrict the nephron progenitors population, participating in signaling, conducting trophic function, and promoting vasculature interconnections [ 13 , 14 ]. Recent work showed that kidney tissue macrophages originate from fetal liver monocytes [ 18 ]. Depletion of renal tissue macrophage pool in the adult kidney leads to recruitment of circulating monocytes that acquire specific phenotypes under the influence of renal niche [ 18 ].

The influence of monocytes on the differentiation of iPSCs-kidney or other organ organoids in vitro has not been addressed yet. We reasoned that macrophages could play a role in the differentiation of iPSCs along the renal development not only in vivo but also in our in vitro setting. To investigate the crosstalk between differentiating renal progenitors and monocytes, we established a co-culture system of human monocytes or iPSCs-derived macrophages and kidney organoids. We found that monocytes promote iPSCs survival during initial CHIR-induced differentiation via the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and induction of autophagy. Furthermore, the superior survival resulted in more effective kidney organoids differentiation.

Autophagy is a pathway of lysosomal degradation of damaged internal cellular components such as proteins and organelles [ 19 ]. It is a fundamental process for the maintenance of postmitotic tissue homeostasis as well as for controlling stem cells’ fate [ 20 ]. Autophagy can be activated in response to various stresses including oxidative stress, DNA damage, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and starvation to promote cell survival [ 20 ]. In addition, autophagy can be activated by extracellular signals. Thus, tumor-associated macrophages induced autophagy in cancer cells by an unknown mechanism [ 21 ].

Mesodermal lineage differentiation induction by the glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) activity inhibitor, CHIR99021 (CHIR), is the common initial step of all reported protocols for iPSCs differentiation to kidney organoids. Reports showed that CHIR induces dose-dependent apoptosis in mouse embryonic cells [ 22 ] and that massive apoptosis takes place during initial stages of human iPSCs differentiation towards cardiogenic mesoderm lineage [ 23 , 24 ]. Cell death is an important aspect of differentiation and development [ 25 ]. During iPSCs differentiation in vitro, blockade of apoptosis prevented mesodermal commitment [ 23 ]. However, excessive apoptosis hurdles efficient iPSCs differentiation. One of the approaches to regulate cell death and to improve cardiomyocyte differentiation was the activation of autophagy by application of the Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, rapamycin [ 26 ]. We also applied rapamycin and observed better iPSCs survival during CHIR stimulation. However, no improvement of organoid differentiation was induced by this approach.

Our data show that by adding macrophages we could induce a positive effect on renal organoid development. Our novel approach promotes the successful application of renal organoids for disease modeling and drug development.

Material and methods

All reagents, kits, antibodies, RT-PCR primers used in the study are listed in the Additional file 2 Table S1.

Cells and cell culture

Human Episomal iPSCs Line (ThermoFisher Gibco, A18945) was used in the study. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were cultured using StemFlex medium (Gibco) on Geltrex (Gibco)-coated cell culture plates. ED-iPSCs cell line was a kind gift of Dr. Aloise Mabondzo (CEA, Institute Joliott, Paris, France). Cell lines authentication was performed at Eurofins ( https://eurofinsgenomics.eu/de/ ). Results are shown in Additional file 3 Table S2. No matching cell line was found using Short Tandem Repeats search of the DSMZ database ( https://celldive.dsmz.de/str/search ) [ 27 ].

Human peripheral blood CD14 + CD16– monocytes were isolated from buffy coats obtained from the German Red Cross (DRK-Blutspendedienst NSTOB, Springe, Germany) using a Classical Monocyte Isolation Kit (Miltenyi Biotec). The methods were in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The functionality of monocytes has been tested by their ability to differentiate into macrophages in the presence of Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and then polarize into M1- and M2-like macrophages [ 28 ]⁠. Monocytes were treated with 20 ng/mL M-CSF (Peprotech) for 7 days and then polarized during 24 h. For M1-like polarization, cell stimulation with 20 ng/mL Interferon gamma (IFNγ) (Peprotech) and 20 ng/mL Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (Sigma) was used, for M2-like polarization 20 ng/mL of Interleukin 4 (IL-4) (Peprotech) was used. Expression of Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Interleukin 10 (IL-10), and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFɑ) was used to characterize polarization of macrophages. Only co-cultures with functionally differentiated monocytes have been used for further analysis.

Human iPSCs-derived macrophages were differentiated as previously described [ 29 , 30 ].

iPSCs-kidney organoid differentiation

We performed kidney organoid differentiation according to the protocol reported by Morizane et al. [ 4 ] with modifications. We applied an adherent culture differentiation protocol. Cells were differentiated in Basal Medium (BM) consisting of Advanced RPMI 1640 Medium (Gibco) with 200 µM L-Glutamine and 0.5% KnockOut Serum Replacement (Gibco). iPSCs were seeded at a density of 0.75 × 10 6 cells/cm 2 . On the following day, 10 µM CHIR-99021 (Selleckchem) and 5 ng/ml noggin (PeproTech) were applied for 4 days with refreshment of the medium after 2 days. On Day 4 medium was changed to BM supplemented with 10 ng/ml Activin A (PeproTech) where cells were cultured for 3 days. Then 10 ng/ml Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) Protein (R&D Systems,) was added in BM for 2 days. On Day 9 of the differentiation supplemented with 10 ng/ml FGF9 and 3 µM of CHIR BM medium was refreshed. From day 11 to 14 was used BM with 10 ng/ml FGF9. From day 14 until day 28 day of differentiation, organoid progenitors were switched to BM, which was refreshed every 2 days. A discrete aggregate of progenitor cell, recognizable in bright-field microscopic image as a cluster of 3D nephron-like structures was counted as a single organoid.

On Day 0 of kidney organoids differentiation iPSCs-derived macrophages or human monocytes were placed at a density of 1 × 10 5 or 2 × 10 5 as indirect co-culture in Thincert cell culture inserts with pores diameter 0.4 µm for 24 or 6-well plate, respectively. The volume of medium has been adjusted proportionally to the total cell number. Rapamycin was added at a concentration of 0.4 µM.

Kidney organoid fixation and staining

For fluorescence microscopy, kidney organoids were fixed for 1 h in 4% paraformaldehyde in Dulbecco's Phosphate-Buffered Saline (DPBS) for 60 min at room temperature. The fixation solution was removed, organoids were washed 3 × with 0.1% Triton X-100, blocked in DPBS containing 5% goat serum, 5% donkey serum with 1% Triton X-100 in 5% BSA for 1 h twice, and incubated overnight with primary antibodies at 4°C. Then they were 3 × washed with 1%Triton X-100 in DPBS for 1 h and incubated with secondary antibodies overnight at 4°C or at room temperature for 3 h. To clear the organoids was used 20% Formamide/DPBS vol/vol for 30 min, 40% Formamide/DPBS vol/vol for 30 min, 80% Formamide/DPBS vol/vol for 1 h, 95% Formamide/DPBS vol/vol for 2 h. Images were taken using oil-immersed x 20 objective at the Research Core Unit for Laser Microscopy at Hannover Medical School. ImageJ software was used for creating plot profile, sum of z-stacks and 3D viewer plugin was used for creating animations.

Cell assays

Live cell numbers were quantified using Cell counting kit 8 (CCK8, Dojindo). Briefly, inserts with monocytes were removed from the wells and 10 µl of reagent per 100 µl of medium was added to the wells. Cells were placed in the incubator. After 1 h absorbance was measured at 450 nm. Then, cells were rinsed with pre-warmed PBS and medium was replaced.

The ROS levels were assessed using 5- (and 6-)Carboxy-2',7'-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein-Diacetate (Carboxy-H 2 DCFDA, ThermoFisher) dye. CellROX green reagent (ThermoFisher) was used as recommended by the supplier, and MitoSOX green reagent (ThermoFisher) was used as recommended by the supplier to detect mitochondrial superoxide production. For normalization of the cell number per well, cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for 10 min at room temperature, then 50 µl of 0.5% crystal violet/H 2 O solution was added to each well, cells were stained for 30 min on the orbital shaker, then washed 3 times with 200 µl PBS/well. After the last wash, 200 µl of 1% SDS solution was added, and absorbance was read at 570 nm.

Biotracker 488 Green Mitochondria Dye (Millipore) was used to quantify mitochondria content in the cells using Nunc 96-Well Optical Coverglass Bottom plates and TECAN Multiplate Reader (Tecan Group). Normalization of cell number /well was performed as described above. We used Cyto-ID Autophagy Detection Kit (ENZO Life Sciences) as recommended by the supplier to detect the process of autophagy.

EVs from monocyte conditioned medium were concentrated using the protocol described recently [ 31 ] with slight modifications. Briefly, EVs were isolated from conditioned media from six transwell inserts each containing 2,5 × 10 5 monocytes. Cells were incubated either in BM, or BM containing 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin, or from monocytes and iPSCs co-cultured in BM containing 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin for 3 and 6 days. Conditioned medium was centrifuged at 500 g to remove cell debris. Then, conditioned medium was mixed in a 1:1 ratio with a concentrating solution containing 24% of polyethylenglycol (PEG) with an average molecular weight of 6000 and 1 M sodium chloride. After overnight incubation, EVs were enriched by centrifugation at 10 000 g for 1 h at 4 °C. Supernatant was then removed and EVs were dissolved in BM and applied to three wells of iPSCs at Day 0 of renal organoid differentiation protocol. 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin were added to the iPSCs simultaneously with EVs. The experiment has been independently repeated two times.

L-lactate was analyzed using an assay Kit from Promocell.

Cell lysis and western blotting

For western blotting cells were washed with ice-cold PBS, placed on ice and lysed using RIPA lysis buffer containing 25 mM Tris–HCl, pH 7.6, 150 mM NaCl, 1% NP-40, 1% sodium deoxycholate and 0.1% SDS with added inhibitors of proteases and phosphatases (1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluorid, 10 µg/ml aprotinin, 10 µg/ml Leupeptin, 0.3 mM sodium orthovanadate). Cells were scraped and allowed to lyse on ice for 10 min. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and semi-wet protein transfer on PVDF membrane were performed. Antibodies used in the study are listed in the Additional file 2 Table S1. Western blotting membranes were imaged and quantified using VersaDoc and QuantityOne software (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.). Uncropped western blotting images are shown in Additional file 1 Figs. S2 and S3.

We isolated RNA from renal organoids using Qiagen RNeasy mini kit. Approximately 100 organoids were used for each RNA probe. The list of TaqMan gene expression assays from ThermoFisher Scientific used in the study is given in the Additional file 2 Table S1. LightCycler480 RNA Master Hydrolysis Probes (Roche Diagnostics GmbH) and Roche LightCycler96 were used.

All data were obtained with at least 3 biological replications. Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Multiple comparisons were analyzed by ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. GraphPad Prism 8.3.0 (GraphPad Software) was used for data analysis. *means P values less than 0.05; **means P values less than 0.01; ***means P values less than 0.001.

CHIR induced apoptosis of iPSCs

Several groups reported that CHIR induced apoptosis during iPSCs differentiation [ 24 , 26 ]. Since we have also observed strong cell death during iPSCs stimulation with CHIR and noggin, we first quantified cell survival using a CCK8 kit. We applied 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin as these were optimal concentrations for the differentiation of renal organoids [ 4 ]. Cells were stimulated with CHIR and noggin for 48 h. CHIR at a concentration of 10 µM and even at a lower concentration of 5 µM but not noggin at 5 ng/mL induced a strong decrease of live cell number (Fig.  1 A). Next, we assessed whether or not cell stimulation with CHIR results in the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We treated cells with varying concentrations of CHIR and noggin alone and in combination and then applied CellROX green fluorogenic indicator to detect the level of cellular ROS. The dye becomes fluorescent and binds to DNA after being oxidized by O2 − and/or •OH in the living cells. Data presented in Fig.  1 B show that CHIR induced oxidative stress in the cells in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the application of noggin did not cause any ROS production. Accordingly, cell treatment with CHIR and noggin simultaneously induced ROS similarly as CHIR alone. To clarify the source of cellular ROS, we used the same experimental setting as above and applied mitochondrial superoxide indicator MitoSOX. Our data showed that mitochondria also produced superoxide in response to stimulation with CHIR (Fig.  1 C). Though CHIR-induced superoxide increase was statistically significant, the degree of activation was significantly less than the one detected by CellROX reagent.

CHIR induces apoptosis of iPSC. A iPSC live cell number after 48 h of stimulation with different concentrations of CHIR or noggin was assessed using CCK8 kit. B Cellular level of ROS in the presence of different concentrations of CHIR and noggin separately and together was analyzed 24 h after their addition using CellRox green reagent. Concentrations of CHIR is in µM, concentrations of Noggin is in ng/mL. C Mitochondrial superoxide production in the presence of different concentrations of CHIR and noggin separately and together was analyzed 24 h after their addition using MitoSOX green reagent. Concentrations of CHIR is in µM, concentrations of Noggin is in ng/mL. D iPSC treated with different concentrations of CHIR in the presence of 5 ng/ml Noggin were lysed and expression of cleaved caspase 3, cleaved PARP-1 was assessed by western blotting. Full-length blots are shown in Additional file 1 Fig. S2

Increased oxidative stress resulted in turn in cell apoptosis. Expression of cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved Poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase 1 (PARP-1) was concentration-dependently increased by CHIR (Fig.  1 D). However, decreasing CHIR concentration interfered with iPSCs differentiation and strongly inhibited the formation of kidney organoids (data not shown).

Rapamycin and human monocytes promote survival of iPSCs via activation of autophagy

We selected two approaches to look for possible interventions that could decrease cell death during CHIR stimulation. We based our first hypothesis on the report that upon activation of WNT signaling, β-catenin negatively regulates autophagy [ 32 ]. Since inhibition of autophagy was reported to induce cell death in iPSCs [ 33 ] and activation of autophagy decreased apoptosis and promoted cardiomyocyte differentiation [ 26 ] we decided to apply the mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin. Secondly, since macrophages co-cultured with hepatocellular carcinoma cells could induce autophagy in tumor cells and promote their survival [ 21 ]⁠, we performed differentiation of iPSCs using indirect transwell co-culture with human monocytes and iPSCs-macrophages. Classical human CD14 + /CD16- monocytes were isolated from buffy coats using negative selection magnetic sorting. The functionality of monocytes has been routinely tested by their ability to differentiate into macrophages in the presence of M-CSF and then polarize into M1- and M2-like macrophages. For M1-like polarization, IFNγ and LPS stimulation was used, for M2-like polarization IL-4 was used. Expression of IL-6, IL-10, and TNFɑ was used to characterize the polarization of macrophages (Additional file 1 Fig. S1A). Despite some variability between cells isolated from different donors, differentiated macrophages demonstrated similar pattern of expression. To determine the optimal ratio of monocytes and iPSCs, we performed co-culture using different numbers of monocytes (Additional file 1 Fig. S1B). We selected the ratio of 2.5 × 10 5 monocytes / 10 7  iPSCs because increasing the numbers of monocytes did not result in further improvement of their effect on iPSCs survival.

Next, we analyzed the levels of ROS in cells treated with rapamycin and in co-culture with monocytes. Since we showed before that superoxide production by mitochondria was only slightly increased by cell treatment with CHIR, we applied H 2 DCFDA ROS indicator for these experiments. H 2 DCFDA has wide specificity and detects hydroxy, peroxy, and other ROS in the cell. We observed that both, rapamycin and monocytes, significantly decreased production of ROS (Fig.  2 A, B).

Rapamycin and monocytes rescue iPSC from apoptosis via activation of mitophagy. A , B ROS accumulation in the presence of 10 µM CHIR was measured using Carboxy-H2DCFDA dye after 48 ( A ) and 72 ( B ) hours of cell stimulation. 5 ng/mL Noggin was added to all cells. Rapamycin (Rapa) and monocytes (Mono) were applied as indicated. After measurement of fluorescence, cells were fixed and stained using crystal violet for normalization of cell number. C Autophagy in iPSC cells treated as indicated was assessed using Autophagy detection kit after 48 h. 5 ng/mL Noggin was added to all cells. Normalization of cell number was performed as in A . D Mitochondria content was assessed using Mitotracker green after 48 h. Normalization of cell number was performed as in A . E Survival of iPSC in the presence of Rapa and monocytes has been determined using CCK8 kit. F CCK8 assay was performed on ED-iPSC cell line stimulated with 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL Noggin in mono-culture (Control) and in co-culture with iPSC-derived macrophages (MΦ) on Day 1, 4 and 7

Autophagy was analyzed using an Autophagy detection kit that selectively labels accumulated autophagic vacuoles. We showed that both, rapamycin application and co-culture with monocytes promoted autophagy (Fig.  2 C). It was reported recently that despite increased mitochondrial activity, mitochondrial content is decreased in mesoderm in comparison to undifferentiated iPSCs [ 34 ]⁠. Since mitophagy, the degradation of mitochondria by the process of autophagy, represents the main mechanism of mitochondria quality control [ 35 ]⁠, we assessed the accumulation of mitochondria using mitotracker green (Fig.  2 D). The CHIR-induced increase of mitochondria content was decreased by the addition of rapamycin or co-culturing with monocytes. Accordingly, cell survival was improved (Fig.  2 E).

Furthermore, we performed a CCK8 assay using different iPSCs cell lines and co-cultured the cells with human iPSCs-derived macrophages during the differentiation to kidney organoids. Our data showed (Fig.  2 F) that co-culturing with iPSCs-macrophages also strongly improved cell survival. We also observed that rapamycin and monocytes promoted a formation of autophagosomes containing mitochondria and their fusion with lysosomes. We stained cells with mitotracker green and Lysosome-associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2) as a lysosomal marker and performed confocal microscopy (Fig.  3 A). We detected co-localization of mitochondria and lysosomes in cells treated with rapamycin and in co-culture with monocytes. Fluorescence plot profiles created using ImageJ software showed localization of LAMP2 around mitochondria suggesting the fusion of these organelles (Fig.  3 A). Expression of apoptosis markers cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved PARP-1 in CHIR-treated iPSCs was assessed by western blotting (Fig.  3 B–D). Apoptosis was decreased by both, rapamycin and in co-culture with monocytes. Decreased content of Sequestosome-1/ Ubiquitin-binding protein p62 (p62) in rapamycin-treated iPSCs and cells co-cultured with monocytes confirmed activation of autophagy.

Rapamycin and monocytes rescue iPSC from apoptosis A Cells treated with 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL Noggin for 48 h were fixed and stained using Mitotracker green and LAMP-2 antibody. Co-localization of Mitotracker green and LAMP-2 is shown by white asterisk. Higher magnification images of an autophagosome and Plot Profile of green and red fluorescence created using ImageJ software are shown in bottom panels. B Expression of autophagy marker p62, cleaved caspase 3 ( C ) and cleaved PARP-1 ( D ) in iPSC cells treated for 48 h with CHIR and Noggin was assessed by western blotting. The upper panels show typical western blotting picture. The lower panels show quantification for at least three independent experiments. Full-length blots are presented in Additional file 1 Fig. S2

Together these data imply that autophagy was decreased during iPSCs stimulation with CHIR which led to the accumulation of cell damage and death. We conclude that stimulating autophagy by rapamycin or via co-culturing of differentiating iPSCs with monocytes, improved cell survival.

Mechanism of monocyte action

EVs are membrane vesicles released by cells to deliver proteins, metabolites, nucleic acid and other bioactive molecules to recipient cells [ 36 ]. EVs are recognized as one of the key mechanisms of intercellular communications and important regulators of multiple biological processes including development. Classical EVs include exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies, though recent works suggest the existence of further EVs types [ 36 ]⁠. Several methods of EVs isolation have been developed. Recently, PEG-based precipitation method has proven to be efficient in EVs isolation from various sources including cell culture conditioned medium [ 31 , 37 ]⁠. Monocytes have also been reported to release bioactive EVs that can affect other cell types [ 38 ]⁠. To test whether monocytes release EVs to improve survival and differentiation of iPSCs, we incubated monocytes in BM, BM supplemented with 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin, and in co-culture with iPSCs in the presence of CHIR and noggin for 2 days. Experimental setting is schematically shown in Fig.  4 A. Then, EVs were isolated from conditioned medium as described in Methods. Isolated EVs fraction was tested on the presence of exosomal marker Heat shock protein 90 alpha family class B member 1 (HSP90AB1) and Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), endoplasmic reticulum marker Calnexin, and actin (Fig.  4 B). After confirming that isolated fractions contain EVs from monocytes, we added EVs to iPSCs on Day 0 of the renal organoid differentiation protocol simultaneously with 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin. On Day 2 medium change on differentiating organoids has been performed and the second portion of monocytes-secreted EVs was added to the cells. CCK8 assay was performed on Day 4 of differentiation (Fig.  4 C). To make sure that traces of the EVs precipitation reagent, can affect cell survival, we performed a control and showed that it does not affect on cells (Fig.  4 C). EVs from monocytes incubated in BM slightly decreased survival of iPSCs though this difference has not reached statistical significance. On the contrary, EVs from CHIR- and noggin-treated monocytes and from co-cultured monocytes strongly improved the survival of differentiating iPSCs and the values of rescue effect were very similar. We have also performed RT-PCR for the expression of the Late Primitive Streak Marker T-Box Transcription Factor 6 (TBX6) [ 4 ] since cells at Day 4 of differentiation should demonstrate the expression of this gene (Fig.  4 D). We observed that not only survival but also differentiation of iPSCs was improved by EVs isolated from CHIR- and noggin-treated as well as co-cultured monocytes. Furthermore, we have also demonstrated that the expression of posterior intermediate mesoderm marker odd-skipped related 1 (OSR1) was increased by the monocytes-derived EVs already at day 4 (Fig.  4 E). Since we observed that EVs from co-cultured monocytes demonstrate similar effects on iPSCs survival and expression of differentiation markers as EVs form monocytes treated with CHIR and noggin in mono-culture, we concluded that monocytes released EVs in response to CHIR and noggin and this effect is not further improved by the presence of iPSCs at least during the first days of differentiation.

Monocytes-released EVs promote survival and differentiation of iPSC. A Schematic presentation of experimental design. On Day -3, monocytes (Monos) were seeded in the inserts in (i) BM; (ii) BM containing 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin (CN), and (iii) in coculture with iPSC in BM supplemented with CHIR and noggin (Co-cult). After 48 h (Day -1), medium from the well was collected, cell debris were removed by centrifugation, and EVs were precipitated overnight (ON). Monocytes were given the same medium (i-iii) once again. On Day 0, exosomes were added to iPSC in BM containing 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin. On Day, 1 EVs were harvested from monocytes and precipitated overnight (ON). On Day 2, exosomes were added to iPSC during medium refreshing with BM containing 10 µM CHIR and 5 ng/mL noggin. On Day 4, CCK8 assay was performed and RNA was extracted from cells for RT-PCR. B Western blotting was performed to confirm the presence of EVs marker proteins in the isolated EVs fraction. Uncropped gels are shown in Additional file 1 Fig. S3. C CCK8 assay was performed on iPSC differentiated in the presence of monocytes-derived EVs on Day 4. (PS)—precipitation solution control. (Mono)—mono-cultured iPSC. D , E Relative expression of late primitive streak marker TBX6 ( D ) and posterior intermediate mesoderm marker OSR1 ( E ) by iPSC differentiated in the presence of monocytes-derive EVs was assessed by RT-PCR on Day 4

Taking together, our data show that in response to CHIR and noggin treatment monocytes release EVs that in turn exert anti-apoptotic and pro-survival effects on iPSCs and promote their differentiation to renal organoids.

During the differentiation of iPSCs metabolic reprogramming from aerobic glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation is taking place. Since the content of L-lactate in conditioned medium reflects aerobic glycolysis, we measured L-lactate using a colorimetric assay kit. As shown in Additional file 1 Fig. S1C, we have not observed any differences in the concentration of L-lactate in cells treated with exosomes from monocytes, at least during the initial stages of differentiation.

Monocytes strongly improve iPSCs differentiation to renal organoids.

To further characterize the effects of rapamycin and monocytes on the differentiation of iPSCs towards renal organoids, we applied rapamycin during the first 4 days of CHIR-induced cell differentiation. Co-culture of iPSCs with monocytes was performed during the whole protocol. In order to understand, at what stage of organoid development the effects of monocytes are important, co-culture with monocytes was also performed starting from Day 7 of the differentiation protocol. Expression of E-Cadherin, Nephrin, Paired box gene 2 (Pax2), and GATA Binding Protein 3 (GATA3) was assessed by TaqMan RT-PCR after completion of protocol from several independent experiments. We observed a robust increase of renal marker expression in cells co-cultured with monocytes during the whole protocol (Fig.  5 A–E). On the contrary, co-culturing from Day 7 did not significantly improve organoids differentiation (Fig.  5 A–E). Expression of some stroma-related markers like platelet derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRβ) was not affected by co-culturing with monocytes. Though rapamycin application increased survival during the first four days, treatment with rapamycin during that period failed to improve the differentiation of kidney organoids.

Monocytes promote differentiation of renal organoids. iPSC differentiation to renal organoids has been performed in the transwell co-culture with human monocytes from Day 0 (Mono D 0) or Day 7 (mono Day 7) of the differentiation protocol and in the presence of rapamycin (Rapa). Expression of renal markers ( A – E ) was assessed by TaqMan RT-PCR on Day 28 of the protocol. F Number of organoids per area unit was quantified on Day 28 of the protocol

We quantified the number of organoids after 4 weeks of differentiation in mono- and co-culture with monocytes and with and without the presence of rapamycin. Monocytes but not rapamycin strongly promote renal differentiation of iPSCs (Fig.  5 F). These data suggest that, even though improvement of autophagy at the first step of renal organoid differentiation can improve cell survival, effects of monocytes during the differentiation are not limited to the activation of autophagy. Furthermore, if co-culturing has begun from Day 7 of the protocol, monocytes failed to improve differentiation of iPSCs to kidney organoids.

We then performed immunohistochemical staining followed by 3D-confocal microscopy, to assess morphological appearance of renal organoids differentiated in co-culture with monocytes (Fig.  6 A, B). Two examples of renal organoids differentiated in mono- and co-culture with monocytes and stained using Nephrin and E-cadherin antibodies are shown in Fig.  6 A and B. Shown sum of z-scans demonstrate more advanced development of organoids in co-culture with increased size in z-dimension (Fig.  6 C). We have performed 3D reconstruction of confocal z-scans using ImageJ. Additional files 4 and 5 videos illustrate improved development of organoids in co-culture. Our data show that EVs released by monocytes promote survival and differentiation of iPSCs during initial phase of the differentiation protocol that results in higher number and better development of iPSCs-renal organoids (Fig.  6 ).

Monocytes promote differentiation of renal organoids. iPSC differentiation to renal organoids has been performed in the transwell co-culture with human monocytes from Day 0 up to the Day 28. A and B 3D-Confocal microscopy of the renal organoid differentiated in mono culture and in transwell co-culture with human monocytes was performed. A For mono- and co-culture 64 and 135 Z-scans, respectively, were imaged with Z-distance of 1 µM. Sum image of Z-scans was obtained using ImageJ. B For mono- and co-culture 90 and 140 Z-scans, respectively, were imaged with Z-distance of 1 µM. Right panel shows fragment of one of Z-scans with higher magnification. C Size of organoids in z-dimension was analyzed. D Schematic diagram of our observations. EVs released by monocytes promote survival and differentiation of iPSC during initial stages of kidney organoids differentiation. This results in higher number and improved development of organoids

Developing the iPSCs-derived renal organoids in vitro was a notable advance in generating new approaches with the promise to overcome some disadvantages of animal models [ 39 , 40 ]. However, kidney organoids are not yet widely accepted as a model for human disease, and applications for drug development appear distant. Further improvement of the differentiation of iPSCs to kidney organoids remains an important and necessary step. Earlier studies focused on the renal developmental signaling pathways, though some aspects of the iPSCs differentiation remain poorly understood. As a result, the role of cell removal (cell death) during organoid development was not appreciated and remains poorly studied. The novel findings of our study could improve that state of affairs by underscoring the role of autophagy and macrophages in kidney organoid development.

During the initial stages of iPSCs differentiation to renal progenitors GSK3β kinase inhibition using CHIR is performed. This treatment results in non-specific activation of Wnt signaling pathway. A similar approach is used during the differentiation of iPSCs to cardiomyocytes. Using two different iPSCs cell lines we observed strong cell death by apoptosis during this step. This was paralleled by increased production of ROS and expression of apoptotic markers cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved PARP-1 (Fig.  3 ). Our data are consistent with results presented by several groups investigating cardiomyocyte differentiation [ 24 , 26 ]. Investigators reported that stabilized β-catenin can inhibit both, basal and stress-induced, autophagy [ 32 ]. We used the Autophagy detection kit and demonstrated a decreased rate of autophagy rates in the presence of CHIR (Fig.  2 C). The importance of autophagy during development and for normal tissue function is undisputed [ 19 ]. Activating autophagy by application of rapamycin promoted iPSCs survival and differentiation towards cardiomyocytes [ 23 , 24 ]⁠. During the differentiation of iPSCs to renal organoids rapamycin improved cell survival by increasing autophagy. However, in contrast to cardiac differentiation, rapamycin could not improve the robust differentiation of renal cells and the formation of kidney organoids.

Our idea was to expand the parameters, as it might be in vivo. We added macrophages into this (complex) equation by co-culturing with human iPSCs-derived macrophages and human blood monocytes. Others observed that tumor-associated macrophages can induce autophagy in the tumor cells thus promoting their survival [ 21 ]. However, the mechanism of this effect remains unknown. A recent report pointed out the role of iPSCs-derived microglia in brain organoid development [ 41 ]. They showed the role of cholesterol-contained lipid droplets released by microglia-like cells. To investigate whether EVs released by monocytes can promote survival and differentiation of iPSCs, we isolated EVs from monocytes using PEG precipitation. Enriched EVs could indeed promote iPSCs survival and differentiation without monocytes present (Fig.  4 ). Detailed investigation of monocytes-derived EVs and their cargo remains the objective of further study. The process of autophagy was activated in iPSCs co-cultured with monocytes, similar to the application of rapamycin. Cell survival was also dramatically improved by monocytes and macrophages (Fig.  2 ). Furthermore, the efficiency of differentiation and the formation of renal organoids has been strongly improved in co-culture with monocytes. One possible explanation for the improved differentiation could be a more efficient removal of damaged mitochondria by the process of autophagy. Such a state of affairs not only could prevent formation of ROS but also may promote the biogenesis of new mitochondria. Mitophagy is a necessary mechanism for mitochondrial biogenesis [ 42 ]. During the differentiation of renal organoids, iPSCs switch from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation [ 43 ] and biogenesis of mitochondria is important for the metabolic reprogramming of the iPSCs. However, it is likely that the role of monocytes is not limited to the activation of autophagy during CHIR stimulation.

There is an opportunity that monocytes in addition to the release of EVs exert also other more basic regulatory functions. We believe it is unlikely that the presence of monocytes can significantly affect the availability of nutrients in the culture because first, the ratio of monocytes to iPSCs was 1:40, respectively; and second, we adjusted the medium volume in co-culture. We have also analyzed the content of L-Lactate in the conditioned media since it reflects the rate of aerobic glycolysis and observed no difference.

Macrophages play an important role during the embryogenesis of the kidney. During organ’s functional development, tissue resident macrophages fulfill anti-inflammatory and repair functions. In vivo, macrophages do not differentiate from the renal progenitors but infiltrate the developing kidney from the yolk sac and fetal liver early in the development [ 15 ]. Depletion of macrophages resulted in disturbance of kidney organogenesis and decreased the number of vascular anastomoses in vivo [ 14 ]. Our data show that monocytes/macrophages can also promote the differentiation of kidney organoids from iPSCs in vitro. Detailed transcriptomic investigation of kidney organoid differentiation remains the objective of future studies. Nevertheless, our findings provide a novel tool for improving iPSCs differentiation towards kidney organoids.

Conclusions

Our study showed that the differentiation of iPSCs to kidney organoids can be significantly improved by co-culturing with human classical monocytes. Oxidative stress and apoptosis of iPSCs induced by CHIR are reduced in the presence of monocytes and by the application of rapamycin. Underlying mechanisms imply the activation of autophagy. Furthermore, monocytes but not rapamycin can strongly promote differentiation of iPSCs that results in higher number and better morphological structure of kidney organoids. Our study provides a novel approach for improving the utility of kidney organoid models.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary information files.

Abbreviations

Basal medium

Bone morphogenetic protein

5- (And 6-)Carboxy-2',7'-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein-Diacetate

Cell counting kit 8

Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline

Extracellular vesicles

Fibroblast growth factor

Fibroblast growth factor 9

GATA binding protein 3

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor

Glycogen synthase kinase-3

Heat shock protein 90 alpha family class B member 1

Heat shock protein 70

Interferon gamma

Induced pluripotent stem cells

Interleukin 4

Interleukin 6

Interleukin 10

Lysosome-associated membrane protein 2

Lipopolysaccharide

Mammalian target of rapamycin

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor also known as colony stimulating factor 1

Odd-skipped related 1

Poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase 1

Sequestosome-1/ Ubiquitin-binding protein p62

Paired box gene 2

Platelet derived growth factor receptor beta

Polyethylenglycol

Polyvinylidene difluoride

Reactive oxygen species

Sodium dodecylsulfate

T-Box transcription factor 6

Tumor necrosis factor alpha

Wingless/Integrated

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Professor F. Luft for critical reading the manuscript. There is no work that was outsourced. All data were collected by authors.

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The study was funded by Scott MacKenzie Foundation.

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Clinics for Kidney and Hypertension Disease, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Ekaterina Pecksen, Sergey Tkachuk, Cristoph Schröder, Marc Vives Enrich, Anindita Neog, Hermann Haller & Yulia Kiyan

Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Marc Vives Enrich, Anindita Neog, Cory P. Johnson & Hermann Haller

Department of Pediatric Pneumology Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Niko Lachmann

Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, Hannover, Germany

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HH, NL, YK designed the study; EP, MVE, AN, ST, CPS, CPJ performed experimental work; EP, HH and YK made a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yulia Kiyan .

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During this study, buffy coats were obtained as a waste product of German Red Cross blood donations. Buffy coats were anonymized by the Red Cross before delivery. Accordingly to the Ethics Commetee of the Hannover Medical School, experiments using anonymized biological material that no longer allows any connections to the identity of the corresponding donor and that do not serve commercial purposes do not require additional ethical approval.

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Supplementary Information

Additional file 1.

. Supplementary figures.

Additional file 2

. Supplementary Table 1. List of reagents and antibodies used in the study.

Additional file 3

. Supplementary Table 2. Results of authentication of iPSC cell lines.

Additional file 4 . Supplementary movie of organoid differentiated in mono-culture.

Additional file 5 . Supplementary movie of organoid differentiated in co-culture.

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Pecksen, E., Tkachuk, S., Schröder, C. et al. Monocytes prevent apoptosis of iPSCs and promote differentiation of kidney organoids. Stem Cell Res Ther 15 , 132 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-024-03739-8

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Desorption Strain Kinetics of Gas-Bearing Coal based on Thermomechanical Diffusion–Seepage Coupling

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• Published: 04 May 2024

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• Chengmin Wei 1 ,
• Chengwu Li 1 ,
• Zhenfei Li 1 ,
• Mingjie Li 1 ,
• Min Hao 2 , 3 &
• Yifan Yin 1  

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The characteristics of coal desorption strain play a crucial role in coal permeability, coalbed methane (CBM) recovery, and the prevention of outbursts. This study developed an improved thermomechanical diffusion–seepage (TMDS) coupling model to investigate the strain evolution during the gas desorption process in coal. The model considers the time-varying diffusion coefficient, the Klinkenberg permeability effect, and the impact of moisture on adsorption, amending the traditional coal deformation equation and coal permeability model. Utilizing this model, the study explored the mechanism, contribution, and spatiotemporal evolution of desorption strain, while analyzing quantitatively the effects of gas types and TMDS parameters on the dynamics of desorption strain. The results demonstrate that desorption strain consists of fracture pressure, matrix pressure, desorption action, and temperature effects, with desorption action being the predominant factor. The impact of gas type, especially CO 2 , on desorption strain is significant, with CO 2 enhancing CH 4 desorption strain more than N 2 . Additionally, the study explored the sensitivity of desorption strain to TMDS parameters, revealing that gas pressure, permeability, and Langmuir pressure significantly impact desorption strain. Desorption strain can serve as an indicator for predicting and evaluating the risk of outbursts, and the injection of low-temperature liquid nitrogen could help reduce this risk. This research provides insights for further understanding the desorption mechanism in gas-bearing coal, improving CBM recovery, and preventing disasters.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52004292), and the Guizhou Scientific Support Project (2023 General 430).

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School of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China

Chengmin Wei, Chengwu Li, Zhenfei Li, Mingjie Li & Yifan Yin

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Urban and Industrial Safety, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

College of Safety Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

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Correspondence to Chengwu Li or Min Hao .

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About this article

Wei, C., Li, C., Li, Z. et al. Desorption Strain Kinetics of Gas-Bearing Coal based on Thermomechanical Diffusion–Seepage Coupling. Nat Resour Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-024-10346-0

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Received : 15 December 2023

Accepted : 09 April 2024

Published : 04 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-024-10346-0

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