Table 1.

Strengths and weaknesses of RCTs and Action Research

	RCT	Action Research
Epistemology (positivist, critical, interpretivist)	Positivist	Critical, interpretivist
Ways of knowing	One	Many
Aim and design
Aims at improvement	Yes	Yes
Aims to measure effectiveness of a clinical intervention	Yes	Yes, among other things
Co-design of research plan, involving participants	No	Yes
Participatory and democratic	No	Yes
Controls for bias and confounding factors	Yes	No
Accounts for and investigates context, social processes, patient engagement, equity	No	Yes
Measures context-dependent interventions and interactions	No	Yes
Incorporates complexity	Limited	Yes
Creates communicative space	At design phase	Throughout
Methods
Quantitative methods	Yes	Not necessarily
Qualitative methods	No	Primarily
Blinding	Yes	No
Intervention improvement via cyclical iterations	No	Yes
Results/findings
Design adjusted concurrent to emerging findings	No	Yes
Derives data and results from practice of reflexivity	No	Yes
Emergence (new, unexpected/expected knowledge)	Yes, as incidental findings, unintended consequences	Yes, as emergent findings specifically sought
Results in immediate multidimensional change	No	Yes
Results in later change in clinical practice	Yes	Yes