Administration is focused on issues of organizational behavior and work practices at a local level.
The field of interest thus lies in the phenomena of social psychology rather than in the issues of the traditional psychology. More closely, see Organization and Management, research projects. When the research on communities of practice is concerned, traditional designs with emphasis on testing of hypothesis have a limited ability to produce new understanding. That is the reason why the studies of the field stand for active participation of the organizational actors and apply the participatory action research approach. The methodological issues and the need for a local approach in the research build a bridge towards the action research tradition and to the developmental research approaches.