Emancipatory action research promotes emancipatory praxis in the participatnts, that is, it promotes a critical consciousness which is expressed in political as well as practical action for change. There are two goals for the researcher using this approach, one is to increase the closeness between the actual problems encountered by in a specific setting and the theory used to explain and resolve the problem. The second goal, which goes beyond the other two approaches, is to empower participants in identifying problems and making them explicit by raising their collective consciousness. Jurgen Habermas presents a framework of critical social theory for action research. In critical theory the mediation of theory and practice is possible.
Much action research is participatory .
That is, people who may be affected by the outcomes of the action and the research, the stakeholders participate in all stages of the research, including initial idea, planning, implementation, and reporting. In health sciences all three types of action research, technical, practical and emancipatory are valid. So are participatory and individualistic action research projects. My personal preference is for participatory action research as a process in which groups of people attain critical understanding and improvement of their situation through participating in planning, acting, observing and reflecting. In summary, technical action research aims at effectiveness and efficiency in performance.