Our work can be considered as interventionist research,
which can be defined as a reflective process of progressive
problem solving in which both the members of the organization
in question and the researchers work together as a
team to improve the way inwhich organizational issues are
addressed. According to Jönsson and Lukka (2007), interventionist
research implies that the researchers acquire the
position of ‘insiders’, in the sense that they become wellrespected
members of the organizations studied in their
fieldwork, while at the same time they maintain their link
with the theory in the interpretation of their findings.
There are several streams of interventionist research.
Action research is probably the most well-known. It
emphasises the co-production of knowledge by researchers
and professionals in organizations. Design-oriented or clinical
research, as advocated by van Aken (2004), is another
branch of interventionist research, which makes use of the
so-called problem solving cycle, comprising problem identification,
diagnosis of alternative interventions for solving
the problem at hand, and implementation and assessment
of the interventions. Van Aken especially emphasises
the need for testing and grounding alternative interventions
by means of field research. As such this form is a
method-driven stream of interventionist research. Next,
constructivist research stands out in comparison with the