For this assignment you are asked to read the two articles. Don’t Shoot and Home Free and
Chapter 9 of Action Research.
The intervention strategies described in the two articles. Ceasefire and Housing First!, have
both, over the past decades, attracted national attention. Versions of both, if not exact
replicas of the original conceptions, are used in communities across the country today.
Both claim impressive and documented success — and yet both remain highly
controversial.
You are asked, first, to do additional independence research into each program and come
to your own conclusions about whether you think either or both are deserving of support
or marginalization.
In a 3-5 page paper, please share your thoughts about the ways in which the principles
of action research are embedded in the research and implementation processes
used in both cases. What personal qualities, skills, strenghts, allowed these advocates to
reach their counter-intuitive (or seemingly counter-intuitive) conclusions? What kinds of
research did they undertake to reach their conclusions? What conflicting narratives were
they forced to contend with?
Are the interventions they have champtioned feasible, socially, politically, fiscally? Do they
solve the problem they address? Part of the problem? Do they solve enough of the problem
to warrant conitnued or expanded support from citizens and policy makers?
The questions above are only intended to be guides or suggestions. You needn’t answer all,
but you must in your discussion make clear your understanding of the ways in which both
of these research projects made use of action research principles.
