More often than not they also share other roles with the researcher. Finally, though this is by no means a necessary characteristic, it tends to be qualitative. Language provides the vehicle by which the participants in an action research program communicate. That communication often provides a large part of the data which are analysed in coming to an understanding of the situation. I might sum up the characteristics under four headings.
Action research tends to be participative, qualitative, action-oriented, and emergent.
From some theoretical perspectives each of these might be regarded as a potential threat to rigour. In what follows, I demonstrate that on the contrary each of them can be drawn upon as a source of rigour. In most qualitative research people take part at least as informants. Even with this most elementary form of participation it is possible to use multiple sources of information to increase understanding. This approach increases the diversity of information by increasing the diversity of informants.